Jaune Ryu-Long, the Dragon Contractor
by azndrgn
Summary: Jaune, formerly known as Arc, is banished from the family. However, in his blood legacy, is something powerful. The power to form a contract with the most powerful of Remnant. Dragons. Watch as Jaune Ryu-Long rises from banishment and show the world his power and legacy. Jaunexharem
1. Chapter 1 The legend begins

**Hello! Welcome to the expanded version of Jaune of Dragon! Hope you enjoy! As I stated, this story starts before Jaune heads to Beacon.**

 **Edited 1/20/2017. I didn't notice, but the chinese Pinyin for dragon is Long, not Lung. My bad!**

* * *

 _In the ancient times of Remnant, when humans nor Grimm existed, there were a variety of species living there. From the smallest ant inside it's home to the heavenly beings that flew the sky, they all existed. However, there was one species that stood apart from them all. They were powerful that only a few could oppose them. They were the Dragon Race. History has always depicted dragons as beings of power. This was true, as they were the ruler of Remnant of long past. Soon, the 'god of light' and 'god of darkness' started to wage war against each other. The two brothers quarreled, and the land they fought upon would always be wastelands. However, the other species took solace at where the dragons resided. For not even the brothers dared to openly fight in there._

 _Even when the younger brother of darkness created grimms, the dragons took no notice of them. Legends say that it was the older brother who put his foot down after the creation of Grimm, but that was for from the truth. It was when the creature the younger brother had created decided to attack a young hatchling did they make a mistake. The Grimm tried to take the form of a dragon to trick the hatchling away from its nest. However, it was stopped when the nesting mother came forth and almost killed the Grimm. The Grimm dragon fled for its life. The dragons were furious and brought their wrath to the older brother of light with an ultimatum. Either he stopped his younger brother and both leave Remnant forever, or the god of darkness would cease to exist. The brothers knew that the dragons had the power to do so. Unwilling to have his brother die as well as also disliking what his brother had created, the god of light forced his younger brother to apologize. It was then, he proposed to create one final creation together._

 _Interested, the dragons watched them create humanity. The ability to choose life or destruction. When humanity had become self-sufficient, did the brothers obey and leave Remnant. The dragons watched as humanity slow grow. Soon, Faunus also came forth through another creation of another 'god'. Still, the dragons were content in observing, so long as they weren't disturbed. After a while, many of the dragons decided it was also time for them to leave Remnant, and let the age of humans come forth. However, before they left, some of the dragon-kings of their elements made contact with a clan of humans and faunus they viewed as respectable. From there, the Dragon Clan was born. Being able to wield the powers of dragons, they grew in size and power. Each member had different types of power, depending on what their souls contracted to what elemental dragons. After the contract had been made, the dragons left Remnant. Many years passed, and the Dragon Clan became extinct due to all kinds of assaults, ranging from jealousy to fear to discrimination as well. Some of the legends today can be traced back to the Dragon clan, although many people have forgotten about that clan. Some say the silver-eye warriors were a descendant of the light dragon contracts. One legend could even say that the wizard who gave the four season maidens their power was a dragon in disguise. None of these could be proven, though, and the legends of dragons were lost in time to many. However, it's blood was carried through the human bloodline, and the potential for the Dragon Clan to arise again came forth in a young boy. Our story starts at the continent of Sanus, far North of Vacuo, isolated from many._

* * *

A young blonde boy about ten years old was laying down on the field, crying. This young boy's name was Jaune Arc. Or rather, was Jaune Arc. Right now, his father, Vlad Arc, a rather buff man with yellow goatee and combed back yellow hair, was debating on whether or not to let the boy even use the Arc name. The boy just couldn't learn the Arc style of fighting. His muscle structure and bone structure wouldn't allow him to wield the style to its full potential. It involved pouring all your power into strikes, weaving your blade in arcs. When done correctly, the enemy would be unable to stop its progress. However, when Jaune tried to follow this style, his father found out that he was lacking in power. Even with all the training he put Jaune through, Jaune was unable to create arcs of unstoppable power like the rest of his family who were huntresses. His seven sisters were able to at least perform the basics of the Arc style, even if they weren't all fighters. Vlad didn't even consider telling Jaune about Aura at all. If one couldn't perform the basics of the Arc style, then he considered that Jaune wasn't worthy of it.

"How did I end up with a son like you!" Vlad spat out angrily for the hundredth time.

Vlad then kept belittling, telling Jaune he was failing his ancestors, failing the Arc name. That he would not take Jaune to get his own weapon, even if he was of age. It was important for any Arc hunter to find out what weapon suited them the best at a young age. That way, they could truly master and bond with their weapon. In the Arc tradition, when the child came of age, they would be accompanied to a well-known blacksmith, where they could see the process of their weapons being crafted. After going through a few pre-made models as well as designing their own weapon, then they would have their weapons crafted by the best blacksmith money could buy. This was done to allow the children to see all the hard work that went into crafting their chosen weapon, to allow them to understand the privilege of wielding a weapon.

Jaune Arc would not get that privilege. His father had deemed him unworthy, even if it was a tradition within their family. Sure, there might be complaints, but Vlad Arc always had his way. He didn't want to break tradition, but he sure as hell wasn't going to allow... "that boy" the right to have his own weapon. Jaune's family begged Vlad to reconsider, that maybe unlocking his aura would prove something. His seven sisters begged Vlad to at least consider it, but nobody wanted to oppose him. He had an iron grip of what happened within the family. His mother, Yu Arc, had no control over her husband's actions either.

Soon, Vlad returned, along with the rest of the Arc family. With him was a shield and sword. _Crocea Mors_ , an ancient blade used by the Arc ancestors. However, it had no special functions when compared to modern weaponry. Unable to transform at all, it provided no range attacks. The shield could transform into a sheath, but that was the extent of it. The weapon itself had been gathering dust in the attic, lost and forgotten until Yu Arc found it. Since Vlad was so committed to following his decision, she appealed to him to at least allow Jaune a weapon. Since it didn't cost him anything and was making room in the attic, Vlad complied. The blade was covered with dust, and the hilt of it was ragged and covered with a simple cloth over its rusty parts.

"Jaune Arc. The Arc family has never had anyone who could not even master the basics of the Arc style of fighting. You have shown that you are unable to even wield this style. Therefore, I, Vlad Arc, banish you from the Arc family! Let it be known today that you are not Jaune Arc anymore, you are just Jaune. You are not my son! You have 24 hours to depart from this land. You will never call yourself an Arc again," declared Vlad Arc.

He tossed _Crocea Mors_ to Jaune along with the shield. The shield, however, had been slathered with black paint over the usual white background with the golden Arc at the middle, covering the usual Arc symbol, to prevent anyone from identifying him as an Arc.

"No!"

"Are you serious, Dad?"

"He's too young!"

"Silence!" shouted Vlad, "I have made my decision, and you will follow it!"

The sisters became silent, though they were all steaming in anger. The eldest, Xanthe Arc, was only 17 and was not an adult yet. Still, she swore as soon as she was 18 that she would find Jaune and take him in, even if she had to split time from Beacon academy to be with him. Perhaps Ozpin could allow him to stay as an intern. Family was family, and in her view, they should be together. Still, that was a year away, and a lot could happen within a year.

* * *

Jaune couldn't stop his tears from shedding after hearing his heartless father's decision. Soon, he had everything he owned as well as any items he could carry to survive in the wilderness. As Jaune was about to depart, Yu stopped him for a bit.

"I'm so sorry," cried Yu, "So sorry." She proceeded to hug him. His seven sisters had already come by and say their goodbyes, promising that they would rescue him when they were old enough.

"I couldn't convince your father to stop, but I can give you something to help you. The sword and shield was from your father, who I convinced to allow you to have something to defend yourself with. I will unlock your Aura for you, at the very least."

"Aura?" asked Jaune.

Yu nodded her head before giving him a large Scroll tablet and a solar charger for it. "This has everything you need to know as a Huntsmen, as well as some basic information on how to live in the wilderness. I know you still dream to become one. Now Jaune, close your eyes and concentrate," said Yu as she placed her hand on his cheeks. Then she began to recite the words. These words felt like it gave power and hope

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I r_ -"

"Stop," commanded a voice. Jaune and Yu turned around to see Vlad, very angry.

"You were only allowed to give him one blessing, and that was the sword and shield," said Vlad as he strode over, separating both of them.

"But.. wasn't that yours?" asked Yu.

Vlad grinned creepily, "I gave him the right to live in exile. That should be enough. However, looking back at it now, I feel like I was too generous. Gotta make sure nobody traces you to us. Can't have a weakling like you be known to be connected to me."

At this, he grabbed Jaune by his hair, forcing him to look up. Vlad then roughly put his hand onto his cheek before reciting his lines. This one lines, however, gave him despair.

" _For it is in passing that you understand your failures. Through this, you become a paragon of dishonor and condemnation for all to see. Finite at distance and bound to death, I bind your soul, and under my foot, forsake thee."_

Jaune screamed as he felt his basic life force slipping away. It became harder and harder to breathe. It felt like he was being jammed into a tiny box.

"You're killing him!" screamed Yu, causing all seven sisters to scramble towards Jaune. However, Vlad stabbed his sword into the ground, causing them all to cease.

"I'm merely binding his soul. He's a disgrace to the Arc, so I'm making sure nobody can release his aura except me. If he dies, then it's not my fault," spat Vlad as he turned around, "You're all not allowed to help him. If he gets through it, then he can get his sorry ass out of my land. It's up to him now."

He gave Jaune one last look before spitting him on the face. He grinned as he walked away. Finally! The weakling was gone! Perhaps his mistress's son could be the heir. That boy certainly took the Arc style much better than that weakling. His wife certainly gave all the good parts to his daughters.

Aura, even when it wasn't unlocked, would always stream within the body. However, what Vlad did was completely binding it inside his body, not even letting it leak out. Jaune would now be the weakest human alive. Even if Jaune lived through this, he wouldn't live for any longer in the outside world. The Grimm or any bandit would make quick work of him without even trying. And with all the negativity Jaune was bound to have, it would Jaune would be lucky if he lasted two days.

However, as Vlad walked away, he felt a sudden chill go over him. It was as if someone ancient was staring at him in disgust and anger. It wasn't pure rage, but it was enough to make him stop. He looked back to see Jaune's body floating in the air now, aura flowing out of his body like a flood. Soon, it seemed to form a dragon's head.

"Impossible! He shouldn't have any Aura! I bound it within his body!" said Vlad. He quickly turned to the rest of his family, "Did you do something to him when I forbade it!? And what creature is this?"

" _ **Foolish human,"**_ said a voice. It seemed like there were seven voices all talking at once, at the same time, **_"This is something that was in this boy long ago. Something ancient and rare. Since you have shown clear distaste for your son, we will take him to raise him as our own. Do not even attempt to find him. You have already broken a cardinal rule, never awaken a sleeping dragon. However, we will be... merciful this time as it allowed us to finally reach one of our people. The next time, will not be so."_**

A bright flash of light blinded them all, and when their eyes readjusted to the light, Jaune was gone, along with his stuff.

"Hmph, a lowly creature, warning me? I have no need to worry," muttered Vlad Arc as he turned to head home.

* * *

Jaune had no idea where he was. All he know was that he had been at home in pain. Then suddenly broke through the barrier by pure force with the emotion of anger at the forefront. The power cuddled around as if protecting him from evil. Jaune blinked again to see that he was laying down on a patch of grass. However, around him, was an empty void.

"Where am I? Am I dead?" Jaune asked himself.

" _ **No, but you were about to, and you might still be once we're done with you,"**_ grumbled a voice. Its voice seemed to be very deep and sounded like someone who had lived through centuries.

"Who's there!?" shouted Jaune., "Please, don't hurt me."

" _ **HAHAHA! This human is funny!"** _ said another voice, _**"We just saved him, and he thinks we're here to hurt him!"**_

" _ **Don't be so rude. It's understandable that he's afraid since he doesn't know who we are, nor does it help he doesn't see us. Add to the fact that he's merely a child,"**_ chided a female voice.

"Then-n sh-show yourselves!" cried out Jaune.

" _ **As you wish then,"**_ said the voice.

The light brightened, causing Jaune to close his eyes. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed he was surrounded by 7 different dragons. Some looked like the Eastern style dragons, others took on the Western style dragons. Some had wings, others didn't. He stared at them all in awe.

"What are you?" asked Jaune.

" _ **Hmph. Your education is sorely lacking. We are dragons. The original rulers of Remnant until our departure,"**_ muttered the fierce red-scaled dragon.

" _ **Based on his expression as well as his families expression when they saw a dragon's head, I think it's safe to say that they don't know what dragons are,"**_ replied the green feathery female dragon.

" _ **In short kid, We're awesome and you should bow to us!"**_ laughed a black-scaled male dragon.

" _ **That's not even a proper attitude,"**_ scolded the yellow-scaled female dragon.

" _ **I suppose we should introduce ourselves to our young contract holder,"**_ said a majestic blue-scaled dragon

"Contract holder?" asked Jaune.

" _ **Indeed, young one,"**_ said a green feathery female dragon, **_"Only one of a specific descent may even make a contract with us. Although I find it unusual that you are able to all seven of us, especially dragon-king tier."_**

"Contract? Dragon? Descent?" asked Jaune, who was completely confused, "What do those mean?"

" _ **Great. So he's stupid,"**_ said the brown-scaled dragon.

" _ **Now, now,"**_ said a white-scaled male dragon, **_"He's only ten. And from what we gleaned from what we saw, his father didn't really take much on educating him. In short, due to your vast aura reserves, which I must say is quite impressive even for someone your age, along with the blood of the Dragon Clan which has been diluted quite a bit through time, combined with a stroke of luck, resulted in being able to form a contract with us as your 'Semblance', you could say. With your power, the Dragon Clan will once more walk on Remnant."_**

Jaune's head was spinning. He still couldn't quite understand everything, but he managed to get a general idea.

"So something of a miracle happened, and so now I can make contracts with you all?" summarized Jaune.

" _ **He can be taught!"**_ laughed the black dragon. The white dragon automatically raised his claw and smacked the black one on his head.

" _ **In short, yes,"**_ said the red dragon, **_"We have already seen your memories when we felt our holder. We can see your desire to become a Huntsmen, but more importantly, someone who wishes to help and protect those in need. Your will to help has fulfilled one of the conditions to becoming our contract holder."_**

" _ **Your father was a fool,"**_ murmured the blue dragon, **_"He didn't even attempt to try to correct your style, modify, or even attempt a different style. Thankfully, your body structure is perfect for the martial arts we have in mind for you."_**

" _ **Be warned, though,"**_ said the yellow dragon, **_"You still need to train your body. The training that we will put you through can be considered hellish if you chose to form a contract with all of us, as well as conditions, all applying to you."_**

Jaune pondered it for a bit. His ex-father would always jay just jump into the fray, for it would always work out. His mother lectured to Jaune about the importance of looking before leaping. Deciding that his mother would always be right, Jaune asked, "Can I hear the conditions?"

The green dragon smiled kindly, _**"Good. You're already learning caution."**_

" _ **Hmph,"**_ huffed the red dragon, **_"Even you have to start somewhere I suppose. It's pretty simple. Protect those who deserve protection. Safeguard your personal belongings. Don't rape. Don't kill unless self-defense. All in all, the same code as a Huntsmen. But most of all, show your pride as a dragon contractor. Don't let anyone trample over you."_**

Jaune nodded before asking, "Is that for all people who are contractors with dragons."

The brown dragon shook his head, _**"It's only because you hold the contract as with dragon kings. We are naturally protective of our race as kings. There is one more thing, though. Because there are seven of us, you're going to have to find a mate for each element. That means seven."**_

"Ewww," said Jaune, "I don't wanna marry that fast. Girls except my family are icky."

" _ **The young fool doesn't even know how lucky he is! He gets to have a different flavor each day! Sometimes more!"**_ roared the black dragon.

" _ **He's still a child. Humans don't hit puberty until their teens,"**_ chided the green dragon, **_"Don't worry Jaune. This can be explained more as you grow older."_**

"Then I accept," said Jaune.

" _ **Stand up, Jaune Arc. Stand in the middle and show us you are not afraid. Prove to us you are worthy,"**_ said the blue dragon.

Jaune stood up and looked at each one of the dragons in their eyes, allowing them to see his the depths of his soul.

" _ **Be prepared. When we form the contract, this will hurt. Knowledge of how to fight will be given to you, but you must train your body to wield it, as we have warned you. We will all be able to communicate with you through your mind. You will no longer be known as Jaune Arc, or rather formerly Arc. You will be forever be known as Jaune Ryu-Long. This is your last chance to back out."**_ said the red dragon.

"I accept," said Jaune.

" _ **Good,"**_ replied the blue dragon, **_"Then let us begin."_**

At once, all seven dragon started to inhale deeply. Jaune could see different elements forming in their mouths, but he stood still and tall, waiting for what was to come.

" _ **Remember our names, young one. For you will bring forth the Dragon clan on Remnant once again,"**_ said the light dragon.

At once, each dragon fired their respective elements at Jaune. It was painful for him, but he could feel each element fusing in with his body.

" _ **I am Lung Wang of Fire,"**_ : red dragon. (male western scale dragon with wings)

" _ **I am Andusk of Light,"**_ : white dragon. (male eastern scale dragon with wings)

" _ **I am Othim of Shadow,"**_ : black dragon. (male eastern scale dragon with wings)

" _ **I am Alaerth of Lightning,"**_ : yellow dragon. (female western scale dragon with wings)

" _ **I am Aryz of Wind,"**_ : green dragon (female western feather dragon with wings)

" _ **I am Fafnir of Earth,"**_ : brown dragon(male western scale dragon without wings.)

" _ **I am Ryo-Wo of Water,"**_ : blue dragon(male eastern dragon without wings)

" _ **And we have been given the title "Kings" of our respective element!"**_ they roared as one, **_"Come forth, Jaune Ryu-Long! Show the world of our rebirth! Let those who threaten you learn why it is they who trembles before us! Show them what it means to face a dragon, and why nobody dares to oppose us!"_**

In a bright flash, Jaune disappeared from their view, going back to the real world.

" _ **Hmm,"**_ said Lung Wang, **_"It seems that even with our contract, the binding that numbskull has placed on Jaune is holding. However, thankfully, it is no longer as life-threatening as before. All we need is someone to help him unlock his aura, although it seems that it has to be someone special. If only the mother unlocked his aura before his bastard father sealed it."_**

" _ **It'll be fine, Lung Wang,"**_ said Ryo-Wo, **_"He will still access to some of our power, even if it is smaller than planned. He won't be terribly weakened. Perhaps it is for the best. We can focus more on training his body to its proper form."_**

* * *

Jaune woke up in pain. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked around to see he wasn't at his home anymore. He was in a huge cave, with all his belongings, including _Crocea Mors_. The cave was big enough to contain all seven dragons Jaune had met inside without being cramped.

"Ok, now where am I?" asked Jaune out loud.

" _ **In the ancient nesting grounds,"**_ rumbled Lung Wang, **_"Located on a small island. If there was a map, we could show you."_**

Jaune quickly took the tablet out and opened a map of Remnant.

" _ **Intriguing,"**_ said Alaerth, **_"So humans have been able to create such devices. This will make educating much easier."_**

"Education?" asked Jaune.

" _ **You're still a child. That means your general education about the world is incomplete. We will teach you how to at least read and write at a proficient level for your age as you grow older. We will not have a contractor who only knows how to fight,"**_ lectured Aryz.

"So, where are we?" asked Jaune.

Fafnir quickly located their position, _**"Remnant's land has changed quite a bit since we were last here. However, from the ground, I can detect that we are on the southeast island. The island is called Menagerie. Interesting, though, is that they are all clustered in one place. And to make it more interesting, they are all Faunus. They must not be able to handle the deserts here."**_

Jaune gulped, "Will that be any problem for me?"

" _ **No,"**_ replied Andusk, **_"The cave is a nesting ground. There is a pure water source nearby that you can drink without worry. As for food, there should be plenty of animals for you to eat, as well as a jungle for you to forage."_**

" _ **I'm surprised it hasn't been exploited yet. Then again, these grounds have been sealed to prevent anyone from finding this place. Not to mention the natural protections too."**_ said Othim.

" _ **Now then. You will remain here for at least 2-4 years, depending on how fast you progress your training. Then, you will leave to explore this land of Remnant. Meet with new people, and perhaps find potential mates, as well as someone to fully release your bindings,"**_ said Alaerth.

Before Jaune could ask, Lung Wang interrupted, _**"Your father managed to bind some of your Aura. However, we are confident that it can be released in time or by someone. The second option would be preferable. Now, we need to begin your training."**_

Jaune was excited. Was he going to learn awesome sword techniques, moves that could wipe out Grimm in one shot?

" _ **Run**_ ," said Lung Wang. Jaune stood there confused.

" _ **Are you deaf? I SAID RUN!**_ " roared Lung Wang. Jaune quickly obeyed in fear.

" _ **And I want you to run at least 20 laps around the cave as a warm up!**_ " shouted Lung Wang. Jaune grew in despair as he saw how big the cave was. The dragons weren't kidding when they said they were going to put him through hell in training.

* * *

 **Hope you've enjoyed the first chapter! No promises on fast updates. Incoming school and stuff. I will try to aim for faster than once per month, but no promises. Only the first chapter is a bit angsty, I promise it'll lighten up.**

 **If you've noticed, most of the dragon names come from actual legends. The other names are dragon names I looked up that matched the respective elements. Originally for this story, I was going to get dragons related to French history. That didn't work out so well, as most of them are either evil or neutral. I've tried to portray what each dragon's personality would be like, but on the next chapter I'll expand more upon them to give you readers the idea of what they're like.**

 **I'm not going to start Jaune as someone op as hell. I want to have him do it in a gradual process, unlike the one-shot I had. Yes, this will still be a Jaunexharem. Wonder what's the name called, though. Jaune's knights of the round table, with all girls? I have already chosen what girl gets what dragon mate/mark. All except the Water Dragon. There is a poll on my profile for you readers to vote which girl becomes the one to get Water Dragon mate mark, so go vote for your favorite choice! Ending the poll for that on Monday, Read and Review! Also looking for Beta Readers. Don't know how that works, though.**


	2. Chapter 2 At Menagerie, Kuo Kuana

**And the winner of the poll is Weiss Schnee! So I'll be writing with her in mind. Anyways new chapter! Jaune doesn't go to Beacon yet. I'm having him explore and show how he gradually becomes powerful. I may have borrowed some elements from other anime, but in name only because they match what I was thinking.**

 **Also, for Lien, I've color coded each value, and making it 1 Lien=1 Us Dollar to get a rough idea. Theory of why these colors can be seen at the end of this chapter in Author's note. Knowing why though isn't too important to the story, though.**

 **Read and Review!**

* * *

Three years passed since Jaune began his training in the cave. The dragons had quickly settled into roles as family for Jaune. Aryz acted like his mother with Alaerth was the elder sister. Othim and Andusk settled as his older brothers, while the others settled themselves as a variety of uncles. Since then, Jaune's strength, flexibility, and skills increased dramatically. Instead of using the Arc techniques, the dragons taught him martial arts that had been derived from the dragons themselves and what the Dragon Clan used. For swordplay, it was the **Hiten Mitsurugi-Ryu** style, otherwise known as Heavenly Governing Sword Style. The sword style was modified slightly for Jaune to use in conjunction with a shield, although he was still taught the original style, too. For CQC, it was **Dragon Style** as the main fighting style with a few other styles they thought was an important supplement to it. Jaune asked what was with the names, and Lung Wang responded by forcing Jaune to triple his training for asking such a stupid question.

For reflexes, Jaune meditated and went into his mindscape, where they would proceed to attack him and make him dodge. Othim was especially harsh on this, as he would yell dodge every time before he landed a hit, driving in the point that Jaune couldn't always rely on tanking it, even if he did have massive aura reserves.

Alaerth and Aryz were mainly in charge of teaching Jaune how to survive as well as education. Thankfully, the Scroll from his mother Yu provided him with books that he could download to read, although in current events they didn't focus too much upon that. Ryo-Wo taught him proper behavior as well as swimming and combat skills. Fafnir was in charge of learning how to utilize the land around him to his advantage as well as making sure he could recognize landmarks. On a side note, he also told Jaune to make sure he kept _Crocea Mors_ , saying that the sword was special. He wouldn't go any further. Andusk and Othim taught him stealth and fighting. Lung Wang was mostly in charge in pushing Jaune to his limits as well as fighting and training. His pride would not allow his contract holder to be unprepared.

Jaune had grown since then. His clothes didn't fit him at all, and several times he had to learn how to sew when he ripped it. The shirt he was wearing now was several of his old shirts patched up together. His pants were the same way. Some of his other clothing were fur from various animals, skinned and tanned. Even if he couldn't use Aura to heal his injuries, he was able to at least channel some Aura into his sword after concentrating. They promised him it would be much easier once he had his Aura unlocked. All his muscles were lean, as his fighting style involved flexibility, endurance, and power. A perfect combination of red muscle and white muscle. Lung Wang called it pink muscles.

Soon, Lung Wang declared that Jaune had met the 'minimum' requirements to start exploring Remnant and explore the other nesting caves at the other continents. The dragons told him it was vital he got there at least once. He would keep training, but it was time for some much need human interaction. That, and it was time to buy Jaune some much needed clothing, training equipment, and perhaps light armor and ranged weaponry. Since Jaune did not have access a good amount of abilities from his contract, it was better if he had something to fall back to, as well as build up his base. As Jaune packed up whatever he had left, he suddenly remembered something important. Something that was a must to live in this world. Something that the world quite revolved around.

"I don't have any Lien!" shouted Jaune in despair.

" _ **What's Lien,"**_ asked Othim curiously.

" _ **That's this worlds currency,"**_ replied Aryz, **_"And don't worry Jaune. Merely go through the cave and enter the inside of one of the holes that we told you not to go. You have permission this time."_**

Curious, Jaune went ahead and saw a pile of priceless jewels, both uncut and cut, all laid there waiting for it to be spent.

" _ **If you're wondering why there's a stash here, it's because before our race departed, we left a few treasures on Remnant as a gift to those who found it. Since you're going to bring the Dragon Clan back, this is all yours. There are several more locations with treasure, as we didn't want to pile it in one place,"**_ explained Alaerth.

" _ **There should also be a bag made from dragon skin,"**_ said Ryo-Wo **_"It's been enchanted to be able to keep all that treasure in a bag. Merely wish for what you need, and it'll come to your hand."_**

" _ **And don't lose it,"**_ warned Lung Wang, **_"Although nobody can have access to it except you and perhaps your mates, it is still a valuable item. And I can not stand losing an item by carelessness."_**

Nodding, Jaune found the bag and stuffed all the treasure as well as a few personal items and supplies into the bag. He found it completely light and grinned. He wouldn't be breaking his back carrying what seemed to be 30 pounds of items, and was able to carry it like a backpack. Soon, he was ready to leave the cave with _Crocea Mors_ strapped on his waist. He left the safety of the cave and jungle and saw endless sand. Looking behind him, he saw the oasis shimmer and suddenly disappear, as if it never existed. Jaune remembered about Othim's word about how it was sealed from others gaining entrance.

"All right. I'm ready!" shouted Jaune as he began his trek to the closest city.

* * *

"I am not ready!" panted Jaune as he continued to walk, using his sword sheath as a walking stick. He had been walking for at least three days now. It was a wonder why he wasn't lost yet. Not to mention all the Grimm he had to fight. Luckily, they were small ones that Jaune had no problem taking care of. Thankfully, all the guidance from Fanrir paid off as he noticed he was finally nearing civilization. It took another two days before he finally reached the town of Kuo Kuana at night. He was almost out of water and food. Upon arrival, he decided to wear a cloak made of tiger skin he made to do disguise the fact he was a human. He felt a bit out of place in an all Faunus town. Locating the mayor's house, he decided to trade some of the gold for Lien there, or at least find directions to an exchange.

Kali Belladonna, a cat faunus, sighed as she drank her tea. Her husband Ghira Belladonna was busy as usual being the new mayor of Kuo Kuana. Her daughter, who had inherited the same ears as her, had left after a huge argument with her husband. Blake Belladonna wanted to keep supporting the White Fang after Ghira passed leadership to Sienna Khan in order to become mayor, to fight for Faunus rights. Ghira wanted his family to stay together at Kuo Kunana. After much anger and words thrown out, Bella left with her mentor/ almost boyfriend Adam Taurus. Ghira was not happy, and almost pulverized the nearest White Fang member when Kali managed to calm him down. Thus, the house was quiet as it had been for a year, with her just sipping her tea. Suddenly, she heard someone knocking on the door. She cautiously opened the door to see a cloaked figure standing there.

"Who is that?" shouted Ghira from his workplace.

"I don't know," replied back Kali before turning her attention back to the figure. She couldn't tell who it was, but based on figure and scent, she figured that it was a young boy who hadn't bathed in days. She estimated the boy was perhaps the same age as her daughter, maybe older due to his height.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I need Lien," replied the figure. Based on the voice, Kali was sure it was a young boy, still unsure of his age, though. "I have some items to trade in for Lien. I was wondering if I could do it here or if you could direct me to a bank or pawn shop." He began to shift, and Kali could see his hands moving into a bag.

She felt sorry for the boy. Clearly, this boy was a young orphan.

"Wait. Not here," she said as she opened her doors. "Come inside. You look like you haven't bathed in days. My husband will handle the transactions."

Cautiously, the figure entered through the door. Kali guided him to a table and had him sit while offering some tea. The boy thanked her before taking a sip, not letting his hood slip off. Kali observed him for a bit before she went off, calling her husband in. Ghira responded right away. His secretary told him that he still had work, but Ghira waived if off, saying he could do it later. Family was first for him. Upon entering the room, he saw Kali sitting with a stranger, who was sipping tea. Ghira noticed the stranger's calloused hands and deduced that it was a young boy who had been working hard. He didn't seem to come from rich family, where they children tended to have soft hands, leaving all the work to servants.

"So, what can I do for you today?" asked Ghira after the couple introduced themselves, "My wife said you wanted to trade some items for Lien?" Ghira had already made up his mind to give the boy the best rate, thinking the boy needed money.

The boy nodded, never letting his hood drop.

"All right. I can do that for you. But I'm going to need you to at least take off your cloak. I like to handle business with an open face," said Ghira. His tone told the boy he wasn't taking no for an answer.

In Jaune's mind, he was slightly panicking. He didn't want to let anyone see his face.

" _ **Just follow my instructions,"**_ said Ryo-Wo, **_"It won't matter if they see it. Just maintain a proper behavior, and you'll be fine."_**

Jaune nodded before taking his cloak off. Kali and Ghira were surprised to see a young blonde human boy about the same age as their daughter Blake. What became more obvious was the clothes he was wearing was clearly falling apart already, and that he had sewn several shirts together as well as pants to continue wearing it. Ghira took stood up, walking around Jaune to observe. He was a tall muscular man, and he was quite impressed with Jaune's muscles for his age. At first glance, he seemed just lean, but Ghira knew that those muscles also had explosive strength. This made him confused, though. Clearly, the boy wasn't living as harsh as he thought, but the clothes told a different story. Lastly, he didn't expect a human to actually be here in Menagerie, at least not of his age.

"Where do you come from, boy?" asked Ghira.

"From somewhere far way," replied Jaune, "if possible, that's a subject I would rather not discuss in detail. In short, I was abandoned."

Kali could only sob as she attempted to hug the poor boy. It didn't matter if the boy hadn't bath. SHe couldn't imagine abandoning her child.

"And how long ago was this?" asked Ghira, trying to prod a bit more information.

"About three years ago, when I was ten," replied Jaune, causing Kali to hug him harder.

"Kali, you're starting to make it hard for the boy to breath," chuckled Ghira. Kali looked to see that Jaune had started to turn blue. She jumped back and apologized. She did, however, get a good feel of Jaune's body and was impressed at how fit Jaune was.

"It's okay, ma'am," rasped out Jaune as he got his breath back. He tried to get a gem from his bag when Ghira raised his hand to stop him.

"Stay for the night, boy," said Ghira warmingly, "You look like you could use a bath and some food. We'll discuss about trading in the morning."

"Thank you, sir," said Jaune. Kali quickly lead him to the guest room and bath. After a nice hot bath, Jaune fell asleep in the bed they had prepared. It was lights out for him as soon as his head hit the pillow. His sword stayed at his side, though. He was taught to always be prepared, even when asleep.

* * *

Jaune woke up at 6:00 AM as usual. He had a bit of trouble getting out of bed because it was so warm and cozy, and was tempted to just fall back asleep. However, Lung Wang roared in his mind, telling him to get up or he would quadruple the training. That got Jaune up fast. However, Lung Wang said it was too late, making Jaune cry. Lucky for him, it became clear that Jaune did not have enough room to do his usual training, so Lung Wang grudgingly turned for light training. However, he said that Jaune would be making up for it later. Jaune began running in place for 10 minutes, allowing him to warm up. After that, he began a series of stretches to loosen up before he followed the training regimen Lung Wang had set for the day. It was around 8 AM that Jaune heard someone knocking on the door. Quickly calling out and wiping his sweat away, he opened the door to see Kali.

Kali had woken up and prepared breakfast as usual. However, this time she made it for three. She sighed as she made the extra portion. It had been a year since her daughter left them for the White Fang. She finished it and set it on the table before calling Ghira to eat. She walked up to the guest room and knocked on the door. She heard the boy shout, saying just a minute, before opening the door.

"Breakfast is ready. Please, join us," said Kali before walking away. Jaune quickly found another set of clothes in his bag before walking to join them.

After a silent breakfast with Jaune feeling slightly uncomfortable that Ghira was staring at him while also glad to finally have a delicious home-cooked meal, they finally got down to business.

"So, what did you have in mind of trading? And what's your name?" asked Ghira.

"My name is Jaune Ryu-Long. I was hoping to trade something I found in my travels," replied Jaune as he withdrew a rough diamond piece weighing at 3 carats.

Ghira and Kali eyes opened wide as soon as they saw this. Looking at Jaune, they could tell that he didn't steal this, but it was suspicious how he ended with this.

"Where did you find this?" asked Ghira cautiously.

"At a cave," replied Jaune, "I found it while traveling."

Ghira scrutinized at Jaune closely, trying to detect any lie. After a minute of failing to find any deceit, he sighed, "We don't have enough Lien, at least not at the price your looking at. Diamonds are very rare, you would be better off selling to a Schnee." He sneered at the mention of a Schnee, "Although I can tell you they'll try to lower the price as much as possible. You're lucky you're human, otherwise, they would lower it even more, if not just claim you stole it."

Jaune pondered at this before making a decision, "Then can you just give me enough to travel? I just need Lien for food and passage towards the continent Anima. I'll still give you the diamond."

Kali raised her eyebrow at the Jaune to be so willingly selling a diamond to them at a low price, even if they were Faunus. Jaune clearly didn't discriminate against them, but that could be because he wasn't old enough to be influenced by other views, being abandoned so early in age. What she didn't know was that Alaerth made sure Jaune wouldn't discriminate others based on appearance.

"Honey," said Kali, "I think we should help Jaune buy some better clothes and make arrangements for the next ship to come and take him to Anima. A cruise ships comes near port to dock for the night. Even if they are an arrogant bunch, one of them would be willing to buy such a diamond. Especially if it's from Jaune."

"But he's just a child. They'll be sure to take advantage of that!" said Ghira.

"Which is why you should be with him when making the deal," explained Kali, "to emphasize that they shouldn't be trying take advantage of him. Then, you can make the arrangements with one of our friends who is captain of his ship to take him to Anima."

"I'm worried that he might be carrying too much Lien with him. That'll make him a prime target for anyone," said Ghira.

Jaune coughed out loud, letting them know he was there, "Don't worry about it, sir. I can just give some Lien to you guys. I'm sure the town needs some Lien for expansion."

Ghira was liking this boy more by the minute. He wasn't racist, he was polite, and he was kind. Having a strong body was just a bonus. Something that punk Adam Taurus didn't have. Why Blake chose to run off with him, he still didn't understand.

* * *

With the plan set, Jaune spent the rest of the day inside the house, reading. It wasn't safe for him to out, especially if some of the White Fang saw him. They might not outright hurt him, but they could harass him still. The only time Jaune went out was with Kali and Ghira to buy some clothes. Kali had a fun time shopping for clothes for Jaune, much to the distress of both Jaune and Ghira. Jaune bought a hoodie because he liked it. He now had quite a few clothes, a sleepwear, and a formal wear. A few days later, the cruise ship finally docked. Of course, only a few tourist would actually venture out, as many of them viewed the town as dirty. Using his power as mayor, Ghira managed to get Jaune on board. There, he managed to sell it to a jeweler at a rather fair price. Since the diamond was a 3 carat diamond, Jaune got 7,200 Lien from it. Jaune then surprised them by showing them another rough diamond, which the jeweler immediately bought from him at 10,000 Lien. In total, Jaune had 167 white cards(100Ⱡ ), 4 red cards(50Ⱡ), 6 yellow cards(20Ⱡ), 11 blue cards(10Ⱡ), 11 gray cards(5Ⱡ), and 15 green cards(1Ⱡ). Although Jaune could easily put them all in his bag, he gave 150 of the white cards to Ghira.

"Are-re you sure?" asked Ghira in amazement. He had only expected 10-15 white cards at best. Even with all the purchases that they had done for Jaune, they spent at best 5 white cards.

"Yea. Some of it is to repay you for all the clothes and kindness you showed me. You can use that Lien to arrange a ship for me while spending the rest on your town," replied Jaune.

Ghira laughed out loudly, "Boy, with this much Lien, I thought you were providing a dowry and asking my daughter in marriage." Jaune blushed and sputtered at this.

Kali smiled at this generosity. Truly, a blessing for them. If only Blake would had gone for this boy instead. Then, she smirked as she had an idea.

"Jaune," she began, "Will you also be traveling to the continent Sanus and going to Vale?"

Jaune nodded. Andusk and Othim both said that they felt something vital would happen there, so it was on his itinerary after he went to visit Mistral first and perhaps some other places. Perhaps at Mistral, he could find a weapon shop and grab a ranged weapon. Kali went inside the house for a bit before coming out with a necklace locket, the latest picture of Blake, and an envelope.

"My daughter, Blake Belladonna, is somewhere out there. We have no way of contacting her. However, should you ever meet her, please, give these to her. This is her latest photo. Although who knows how much she's changed, she still should almost look like me. She also has cat ears like I do, although she may try to hide it with a bow," said Kali, giving the items to Jaune. "I have a feeling you'll run into her sooner than my husband and I will."

Jaune nodded as he took the items and put them into his bag, swearing that he would pass them on.

A few more days passed, and another ship headed towards Anima came. Jaune said his farewells and boarded the ship. Kali gave him one last hug while Ghira shook his hand before just giving him a bear hug, crushing Jaune's ribs.

Before Jaune left, Ghira also gave him an envelope, "I have a few blacksmith friends who owe me a favor at Mistral. I can see you don't have weapons that can act as both close and ranged weapons. Merely show this to letter to a shop called _Weapons Works_ and he'll help you craft the best weapon they can make for free. He should have a few friends that also specialize in armor if you need it. They can send the bill to me. And before you say anything, don't. You gave me so much Lien for my town, it's the least I could do."

Jaune nodded, giving them both another hug, surprising them both. Jaune was never one to initiate the hug, and it felt nice. Almost like a son was hugging them.

"Good-bye," said Jaune as he got on the ship. Soon, the ship left for Anima.

"I'm going to miss him.," said Ghira, "I would have preferred him as a boyfriend for my daughter instead of that dam Adam."

"I know," said Kali, "Which is why I can't wait to see her reaction when she reads that letter."

"What did you do?" asked Ghira curiously.

"A little family secret. It's how my mom managed to convince me to date you," replied Kali, smirking. Ghira could only laugh out loud at this while pitying Jaune. He remembered when he had his stepmother's blessing to chase after Kali, and giving him a letter to give to Kali. After he gave the letter to Kali, Kali pounced on him like a predator, with a gleam in her eyes. He wasn't sure how he felt about Jaune becoming a son to him, but it was a lot better than Adam Taurus.

* * *

 **Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter, Jaune heads off towards Mistral. Who will he meet? .0**

 **A/N Lien. Not very important to the story, but if you want to read my reasoning, go for it.**

 **White Lien is 100 because when Cinder offered Lien to Adam in one of the episodes, they showed a briefcase full of white cards. Obviously, this would equate to a briefcase of high value money, like 100 dollar bills. Let's face it, offering a case full of 1 Lien is pathetic.**

 **When Qrow finished his drink, leaving a tip, he paid with green cards. I would think their value would be lower.**

 **Finally, when they showed Ruby's wallet, they had a red, yellow, and green card. A total of 71 Lien would be reasonable, perhaps a little too much, for a girl at a festival.**

 **The value of each Lien isn't terribly important to the story, so just bear with me.**


	3. Chapter 3 To Mistral!

**New Chapter! Brought to you by the fact I finished my first fanfic FFX: With a Machina Twist**

 **So far, I've gotten quite a bit of positive responses and some criticism. Thanks for the reviews, keeps me going. This next chapter takes place in Anima, where Mistral is! Guess who's in it! And for the names that I chose for some characters, read the A/N at the end of this chapter.**

* * *

Jaune had finally gotten off the boat a week later and was traveling up towards Mistral. During his travels, his dragons kept making him train. Lung Wang started to get creative and had Jaune tie rocks on his body to serve as weights temporarily until he could buy some quality ones. He forced Jaune to keep up with his usual training and doubled it whenever he felt like it, which was often. Fafnir helped Jaune keep track of the land. The rest of the dragons tutored on whatever subject they had been teaching prior. Jaune stopped at many other villages, helping others in need in return for a place to sleep. He encountered a lot of Grimm on his travels, but the older species of Grimm were keen on staying away from him. Lung-Wang huffed, saying that the Grimm at their base instinct was avoiding him due to the fact they could feel the dragon king's aura around him while the younger ones didn't. The ones that did attack lost easily, as Jaune had been training to fight. Sometimes, Lung Wang and Ryo-Wo encouraged him to take on a few Grimm with just his hands, making sure he didn't forget about his CQC skills. They stopped by another ancient dragon nesting ground, where Jaune spent 4 months just training and meditating. Inside the cave, however, was a giant chunk of ores instead of jewels. Fenrir told him to keep them all, saying it would be useful. Jaune was thankful the bag lightened the load, as it was very heavy to get them all in.

A year had passed, and a 14-year-old Jaune Ryu-Long had finally arrived at Mistral. Eager to explore, he walked around, not knowing he was in the rich district. People watched him in disdain, and one of them walked up to Jaune, telling him he was in the wrong area. Naturally, Lung Wang roared and yelled at Jaune to teach this arrogant person a lesson. However, before he could do so, security came. After a few minutes of talking, they 'kindly' escorted Jaune out of the rich district and into one of the seedier places.

"Well, that wasn't nice," muttered Jaune. He was agreeing with Lung Wang that they should get revenge for such attitude, but Aryz reminded them they had other places to go and better things to do. Shelving revenge, for now, Jaune asked around about _Weapons Works._ Unfortunately, the first few people he met ignored him or tried to mug him. It wasn't hard for Jaune to show the appropriate response, walking away with bloody fists. The blood wasn't from him. Finally, a lady was nice enough to point him towards the right direction.

"Hello? Anyone here?" asked Jaune as he finally entered _Weapons Works_. The location was located at the edge of the poor side of town, right near a large stadium.

"What do you want, kid?" grunted a rather buff man with a beer belly. He was bald but had a red beard with a frown on his face. "You don't look like someone who has the Lien to afford my jobs. Scram!"

"I have a letter for you," said Jaune, holding out the envelope.

Eyeing it with caution, the man took it and opened it slowly, as if wary of a trap. Seeing there was nothing to harm him, he opened the letter and read through it. As he was reading through it, the frown slowly became a very small smile, but a smile none the less.

"So, says here Ghira's willing to cover the cost of a weapon you want to be built. Got anything in mind? Names Hephaestus, by the way," grunted the man as he introduced himself.

Jaune slightly grinned. He had been planning a specific design his whole life. Granted, with the sword that Fenrir insisted that he keep and learn how to use, it cut down some of his choices. However, he was planning to discard the sheath/shield that he had gotten. Fenrir had told him that those weren't special and that he was free to discard them after use. Jaune decided to keep it as a sheath for his sword as well as a backup, just in case. After months of planning with all seven dragons providing him with advice, he finally drew out his plans onto the Scroll tablet. Quickly opening it, he showed it to Hephaestus.

"Interesting," said Hephaestus, "That's not going to be easy. Since you do have Ghira's recommendation, I'll craft it. But first! You have to get me the materials. And none of the material can be cheap iron for this to work. I also refuse to work with such bad materials."

Jaune was about to complain when Fenrir quickly reminded him of the ores he had and recommended a specific one for his plans. Jaune turned around, hiding his bag from Hephaestus's view before withdrawing the huge dull silver-looking ore he had.

"Will this do?" Jaune asked as he struggled to get it on the table with both hands. Finally, he gave up and just put it on the floor.

Hephaestus was wondering how Jaune even managed to hide such a huge chunk of ore from him, but when he saw it, he gasped.

"Kid. Where did you find such a huge ore with such purity?" gasped Hephaestus.

"Uhh I found it?" said Jaune. It was technically true. "Is it not good? I have others."

At this, Jaune took out another huge ore, this one with a brighter sheen with a touch of a blue tint on the silver-looking ore. At this, Hephaestus's mouth just dropped to the floor.

"Hello? Did I do something wrong?" asked Jaune. He waved his hands in front of Hephaestus before snapping his fingers to get his attention.

"Jaune, was it? You just brought me an Adamantine ore and a Mithril ore of the highest purity I have ever seen in a huge chunk," said Hephaestus.

Jaune looked a bit scared, but stood his ground, staring at Hephaestus. His dragons told him he had to look strong and have pride in his deeds. Soon, Hephaestus chuckled before it became a full-blown laughter.

"I'll take the job! I haven't worked with such materials at such purity and quantity! I'll probably only need the Adamantine for your design, along with a few other metals I can get easily. However, I have a friend who would be willing to craft you a Mithril shirt with that other ore. I will personally guarantee that all leftover ores will be returned to you," stated Hephaestus, "I'll stake my pride on that. I'll build you the best one you've ever had! And don't worry about those intricate designs. I'll have my other friend help me with that. But now that I noticed, how come you don't want to trade in that sword of yours?"

Jaune shrugged before drawing _Crocea Mors_ out, "I don't know. I feel like this sword is special. Like it wasn't crafted by normal means." Obviously, Jaune didn't know that, only that Fenrir insisted he not throw that blade away.

"Aye, that's a nice sword. One of the finest blades I've ever seen," said Hephaestus, nodding his head as he inspected the sword, "Even my rival Muramasa would be hard to compete against that blade."

Then, he looked around and motioned Jaune to come closer before whispering, "Umm, sorry to ask you of this, Jaune. Even after finishing crafting that design of yours, you'll have some leftover Adamantine. I was hoping you could spare some for me to use. I want to make a shield for my niece."

At this, he started to blush before continuing, "She has such a talent of becoming a Huntress. However, I want to make sure she goes out with the best, and with your Adamantine, I can craft a nice shield for her. It would relieve my worries."

"Sure," said Jaune without a thought. Some of the dragons in his head scolded him for not even thinking this through, although they would have agreed with his decision. Still, they wanted Jaune to always think before leaping forward.

"Thank you, Jaune," said Hephaestus, giving him a quick hug before dragging the ores to his forge with a grin. He was going to have so much fun with this.

"Since this'll take awhile, and also for the fact I need you to come back just to make sure the design fits you, got a place you're living right now?" asked Hephaestus.

Jaune shook his head, making Hephaestus frown before coming with an idea, "Tell you what. Go to this address. It's my brother's address. Tell him Hephaestus sent you, and that I think you're a good kid. If he asks for a password, just say these lines, 'give them nothing, but take from them everything',"

"I don't-" started Jaune, but Hephaestus cut him off. "You're providing me valuable material for my niece. I think it's only fair I find you somewhere to live a little. I'd offer my place, but I live in this shop, and it's too messy. Plus, you'll get to meet the famous two-time champion of the Mistral Regional Champion! And she'll continue her streak, no doubt!"

Jaune sweat-dropped as he saw the blacksmith start spouting off about his precious niece. Sighing, he took the address and walked out the store. As he walked past the stadium, he could hear people fighting. However, he decided to ignore that, walking off to quickly introduce himself to whoever Hephaestus had sent him off to. Just as he left, two people came out. One was a boy with black hair with a strip of pink on a lock of his hair while the other was an orange-haired girl.

"Ren! Ren! We should totally go see sloths. Ooh, maybe get some pancakes. And then, then, we can, like..." said the orange-haired girl.

"Of course, Nora," replied Ren, already getting ready for whatever Nora was planning. He never had the heart to refuse any of her requests unless they were extremely dangerous. Suddenly, he felt an energy he thought he would have never felt. An energy that his deceased parents had told him to always look for. Ren looked around but noticed the energy was gone. Shrugging his shoulder, he walked with Nora, letting her talk excitedly about, well anything.

* * *

Soon, Jaune was walking through another rich neighborhood. The people here seemed... nicer, but many still had the same arrogant attitude as before. Still, Jaune decided to walk a bit faster just in case. As he turned another corner, he bumped into someone with long red hair.

Pyrrha Nikos sighed as she was walking back home after doing her job as a model for a cereal company called Pumpkin Pete's. She enjoyed being with her family, her job as a cereal poster girl, and her fights, but she felt lonely. At Sanctum, she had no real friends. Just fans who were always trying to admire her or use her for their own popularity. After winning the tournament two times, she was placed on a pedestal by her peers, where she stood alone. Any potential friends she had before the tournament were driven away by jealousy or awe. She had already made up her mind to head to an academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses far away from Mistral. Sure, she would miss her family, but she wanted a fresh start. Somewhere where nobody really knew her fame. Somewhere where she could make friends. She was so caught up in thinking that she didn't notice a someone turning a corner and bumped into him.

"I'm sorry," said Pyrrha quickly. She slightly closed her eye, as if prepared to receive a gibbering fan apologizing or asking for an autograph.

"It's my fault," was the reply. Slightly opening her eyes, she saw a handsome blonde boy with amazing blue eyes. She could see that this person trained based on his muscles. Which she was admiring heavily.

"Excuse me but..." began the boy. Pyrrha internally winced, ready to answer that she was, indeed, Pyrrha Nikos.

"Do you know where this address is? I was sent by my friend, who's a blacksmith, to this place," finished the boy. Pyrrha slightly widened her eyes. Did this boy not know who she was, or what she had done. Or did he know and just not care? Quickly, she took a look at the address and was surprised to see her home address as well as her uncle's signature.

"You met my uncle Hephaestus?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yea. I have made an order for an item, and he told me to stay at this place for the while. Wait, your uncle?" asked the boy.

Pyrrha nodded before replying, "Yea. Come, I'll show you the way. I was heading home anyway."

As they were walking, Pyrrha was taking note of the boy. He seemed strong, confident, and, if her uncle was actually sending him to live with her family for awhile, special. She couldn't help but slightly blush at this boy. She felt attracted to him. Perhaps it was the fact that he didn't act like all her other peers at Sanctum. But where was he from? And would he react the same way as everyone once he knew who she was? She had never seen him before at Sanctum or any other combat school around Mistral. Yet from his muscle tone, he had been training to fight, to become a Huntsmen.

Meanwhile, Jaune was also admiring the girl. Her lithe yet strong body showed she was a fighter. Her long red hair the flowed with the wind, enhancing her beauty. Her armor showed skin, attracting her beauty. And though the girl seemed to be his age, she was already starting to develop into her womanhood. Her green eyes, with a hint of green eye-shadow, attracted more beauty to her face.

" _ **Hahaha. Already hitting puberty?"**_ laughed Othim, **_"Can't wait to see you plow this girl."_**

" _ **Othim!"**_ chided Aryz, **_"That was uncalled for. Jaune just hit puberty. It's not entirely his fault for noticing her body."_**

" _ **She seems strong. She would make a good mate for you,"**_ said Lung Wang.

" _ **Not you too!"**_ said Alaerth, **_"Although I do admit, she would do fine."_**

Jaune decided to ignore his dragons talking in his head for now. Finally, they reached a modest house with a dojo besides it.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" shouted Pyrrha. Nobody answered.

"Gone again," sighed Pyrrha. Her father was a combat teacher at Sanctum and also a Huntsmen, while her mother was a business woman who was an ex-Huntress. They were usually busy, leaving her by herself. She loved them, and they loved her, but they were just so busy. Luckily, her uncle would come by to keep her company, but he was also busy with his forge.

"Well, they're not here," said Pyrrha, "Come on in, though. You can wait here... I never got your name, did I?"

"Jaune Ryu-Long," said Jaune as he stuck out his hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Pyrrha Nikos," Pyrrha warmly greeted back, "You can sit on the couch and wait. I'm going to my room to shower and change up."

Jaune nodded as he sat down on a couch and opened his Scroll for a bit. After 30 minutes, Pyrrha came out wearing civilian clothing.  
She went to the refrigerator, grabbing something to drink before offering Jaune some, who accepted. Soon, they started to talk with one another about their hobbies, their likes, anything they could talk about. They were both so engrossed talking with one another and even playing games with each other that Pyrrha never noticed the time fly by, nor did she notice her mother and father returning home.

"Pyrrha, who is this?" asked the mother, making both teenagers jump in surprise.

"Mom! Dad! I'm sorry!" said Pyrrha, "This is Jaune Ryu-Long."

"Pleasure to meet you," said the mother with long dark-brown hair, showing that Pyrrha had inherited her hair color from his father, "I am Golga Nikos, and this is my husband Leonidas Nikos. What brings you to our place?"

Golga and Leonidas were already analyzing Jaune as he stood up to greet them. Was this boy trying to seduce their daughter? Use her for his own benefits? Well, they would show him the way out if that was the case. Especially Leonidas.

"Hephaestus sent me to ask if I could live here. Not for that long, I promise," said Jaune as he passed the letter to Leonidas. He scanned it and saw it was true. However, if it was truly his brother who sent him, then there should one more thing.

"Anything else he says?" asked Leonidas lightly.

"Yea. Something about a password. Give them nothing, but take from them everything," replied Jaune. That cinched it for Leonidas. His brother really did send him here.

"Welcome! I'm surprised my brother Hephaestus sent you here," said Leonidas, "He never does that for any clients. You must be a special one."

Jaune shyly scratched his head in embarrassment.

* * *

Soon, the Nikos family got to know Jaune better for the next few days. Even Hephaestus, who barely left his forge, came over to visit. For them, it was like having another family member. However, any subject about Jaune's family was always driven off. Leonidas noticed that Jaune would always wake up at 6:00 to go training. Impressed, he took Jaune into a store to show him a few equipment, advising him what some of them did. Since Jaune was going to be on the move, he bought himself a few strap on weights, much to Lung Wang's approval.

One day, Leonidas took his family into the dojo with Jaune. In the dojo was where the Nikos family would always train any techniques they wanted to test out.

"Jaune. I want you to fight Pyrrha to see how strong you are," requested Leonidas, "Depending on how well you do, I might approve of you with my daughter." The adults giggled with a joking tone at that part.

"Dad!" blushed Pyrrha, Even so, she drew out her weapons. It was a xiphos that could easily change into a javelin or rifle and a shield. Its name was _Milo_ and _Akouo_. She had wanted to fight Jaune at least once.

"Sure," replied Jaune. His new design wasn't done yet, but he could still fight with his sword. Leaving his sheath at his belt, he drew out _Crocea Mors_ , drawing an eyebrow raise out of the Nikos family. Very few people used such old weapons to fight now. Time had shown that the ability to fight with a weapon that was versatile was the best.

"Fight!" announced Hephaestus, who decided to act as the judge for this fight.

Pyrrha was planning to slowly get used to her opponent's move, using her usual strategy. It came to no surprise to her when Jaune charged in. She had dealt with opponent's like that before. Jaune came with an overhead chop, which Pyrrha parried easily with her shield to her left, forcing Jaune to also go left. With her right hand, she tried to stab him with Milo at his stomach. She was surprised to see Jaune in the air with a sickle kick towards her head. She ducked under it before spinning, using her shield to bash Jaune. He blocked it with his sword but was sent flying back a little before landing. When Pyrrha had parried Jaune, instead of trying to regain balance, he jumped, predicting the stab to his stomach.

Pyrrha was grinning. This was going to be a good fight.

Ten minutes later, both fighters were sweating. Jaune had shown that his fighting style was very flexible, mixing in kicks and punches with his swordsmanship. Pyrrha proved to be worth of the title "Invincible Girl" as she continued to parry, block, and counterattack. Grapples were met with counter grapples. Pyrrha showed that she had not slouched in unarmed CQC either. Each of the dragons in Jaune's head was impressed. Lung Wang grumbled about upping Jaune's training again as well as hoping to find someone to unlock his Aura. So much more could be done if that dam so-called father didn't seal it. Aura could have easily healed Jaune if he injured himself. Instead, he had to wait patiently if he did injure himself, speeding it up with any outside sources.

Pyrrha was also impressed. Some of her combos that she did was aimed at forcing an opening against her opponent, but here was a boy who was able to dodge it, block it, or even attack her right in middle of her combo, forcing her back. Even trying to surprise him with sudden extending spear thrusts didn't work.

The rest of the Nikos family was observing keenly. They had never seen someone to actually match Pyrrha in a match so much. Sure, there were a few times when she had "trouble" with her opponent. But Pyrrha's semblance, polarity, gave her a huge advantage over almost everyone. She never showed it outright, letting people think that they themselves had messed up.

However, Pyrrha had tried to do that to Jaune's sword but almost found herself at the end of a slash that she couldn't move. She quickly dodged out of the way, unwilling to try that again. Jaune had streamed a bit of Aura into the sword. That was the extent of any Aura he could use at all, thanks to the seal. Pyrrha tried to manipulate the sheath, but Jaune wasn't letting her concentrate long enough to hinder his movement. In the end, Jaune actually used the sheath as a projectile to distract her. Pyrrha didn't try to use the thrown sheath against him as she became focused on blocking his attacks. They were very fast and powerful strikes.

Both were getting tired but both were enjoying the fight. Pyrrha had never had someone her age challenge her so much, and Jaune was just enjoying fighting a strong opponent. Pyrrha switched to her rifle to gain some ground. Jaune deflected the shots before charging in. Pyrrha threw her shield towards his head which responded by sliding under it on his knees before jumping back to his feet and running towards her. Pyrrha met the charge, running towards him. They both slashed, locking each other's blade against each other with two-handed strikes. The shield bounced around the room, flying right towards Jaune from behind.

As the shield got closer, Jaune was looking into Pyrrha's eyes. They were so green, so clear with life and happiness. Something she hadn't had for quite a while. Then, he noticed the clunking noise and a whirling sound. Jaune knew the shield was flying straight for the back of his head based on instinct. Without turning, he let go of his left hand on the sword and raised it towards the shield. His hands were positioned in a position that instead of trying to catch it like a normal human being, fingers open, they were adjusted. His second and third finger were together while his fourth and pinky were together. There was a gap in between his third and fourth finger as well as the usual gap on the thumb. It formed like a dragon's claw, which was what it was called. Jaune stopped the shield with his left hand before using the momentum and swinging it right towards Pyrrha's face. Surprised, she reacted immediately by releasing her right hand to raise it up towards her shield and halting its path with her semblance. She wasn't confident enough that she could stop it with her bare hands and strength.

The Nikos family was surprised to see Pyrrha show her semblance so easily. Then again, it had been forced.

Gritting his teeth, Jaune tried to move the shield forward, finding it unable to move. He noticed a black glow on the shield and Pyrrha's hand with the same glow. Letting go of the shield, he tried to punch her instead. Pyrrha let go of the shield and caught the fist. Still, in a deadlock, Jaune used a low kick. Not expecting an attack from there, Pyrrha slightly faltered, allowing Jaune to gain the upper hand. He pushed his blade down, forcing Pyrrha to kneel slightly. Pyrrha raised her head and used headbutt onto Jaune's nose. Wincing in pain while the other felt like she had bashed her head into a wall, they both jumped back to regain their wits. Jaune quickly stomped the ground, making the sheath flip up in the air before catching it with his left hand. He then reversed the handling of his blade, using a reverse grip. Pyrrha didn't bother hiding her semblance anymore and recalled her shield back to her. Upon grabbing _Akouo_ , she noticed that there were indents at where Jaune had grabbed.

* * *

"Amazing," said Leonidas, "I didn't think there would be anyone in her age group who could fight my daughter like this. Heck, even Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training are weaker than them."

"Indeed," boomed Hephaestus, liking his new job more and more by the minute. With the new design, he wasn't sure his niece could win if Jaune had it, although he was confident she would find a way.

Golga, however, was observing something closely. Jaune had a bloody nose from Pyrrha's attack. However, the injury seemed to stay there instead of letting Aura do it's work and healing him. Actually, the Aura shouldn't have even let him have a bloody nose. The more she observed, the more she became convinced and horrified about the truth. Jaune was fighting Pyrrha without any Aura protecting him! If Jaune landed a 'fatal strike', Pyrrha's aura would protect her. Granted she would be injured, but at least not fatal. Jaune didn't have such a luxury.

"We have to stop this fight!" urged Golga. Both Leonidas and Hephaestus looked at her in befuddlement. "Jaune's fighting without Aura! The bloody nose proves that!"

Horrified, Hephaestus tried to call for a halt. However, both fighters were too far absorbed in their battle to hear it. They both charged for one last attack. Pyrrha stabbed her blade at Jaune. The butt of her weapon exploded, shooting the xiphos into a javelin as she proceeded with her thrust. Its increased speed would surprise many. Jaune, however, had other plans. It was time to try to put one of the **Hiten Misurugi** techniques to the test.

As they had gotten closer, Jaune suddenly sheathed his blade into the sheath at a high speed, allowing a huge noise to be heard. As he sheathed it, though, he swung his sheath in his left hand right past Pyrrha's ear, blasting right through. At the end of their strikes, they stood still. Suddenly, Jaune's left arm suddenly spurt out blood. A deep gash from his wrist all the way to his elbow on the back of his forearm spurt out blood. Jaune slightly wobbled and fell to the ground on his knees.

"Jaune? Jaune!" shouted Pyrrha as she realized that her attack had struck flesh. She tried to move when her world suddenly wobbled. Unable to stand, she collapsed onto her knees and hands, trying to figure out what was wrong. She felt blood dripping from her left ear. Aura could black and heal exterior injuries, but internal injuries were much harder to recover from Aura. She almost threw up due to the fact her world was still spinning before her eyes. She tried to stand up, but could only stumble in surprise.

"The dragon's howl has reached deep," muttered Jaune as he grasped his wound with his hand.

"I declare this a draw!" shouted Hephaestus before quickly rushing over to Jaune to bind his wounds. Leonidas and Golga quickly rushed over to their daughter, trying to help her and find out what Jaune did. Leonidas had a vague idea, but Golga had nothing. Soon, both fighters found themselves leaning on a couch, resting.

* * *

"That was stupid, Jaune," scolded Golga, "You should have told us you hadn't unlocked your Aura, otherwise Leonidas would have never asked for you to spar with Pyrrha! You could have been accidentally killed! "

Pyrrha's eyes opened wide at that. She had been fighting someone who was only using his physical strength and technique only? It made sense how her attack managed to get through, but when she thought about it, she thought it was strange how Jaune was able to still stream a bit of Aura into the sword. She voiced this thought, surprising everyone before turning to Jaune for answers.

"Umm... Can we not discuss my past? It's a bit... painful," asked Jaune weakly.

"Never the less, you should have had said something, kid," grunted Hephaestus, "I thought you already had your Aura unlocked for you when you asked for that new item."

"Jaune," said Pyrrha, putting her hand on his, "Please. Tell us a little. It doesn't have to be everything. Why do you not have your aura unlocked? We won't judge you. I promise I'll always be there for you."

At this, Jaune felt his will start to weaken. Looking at Pyrrha's face made it even worse, as he could see concern and care from her face. Golga hugged him, whispering in his ears it was all right, that he was in safe hands now. Finally, unable to resist, Jaune confessed to some of his life. How his father hated him, stating he would never be a proper Huntsmen. How his treatment towards him was before banishing him when he was only ten. However, he refused to give a name.

Leonidas was calm on the surface, but inside, he was growing angrier by the minute. It took all his willpower not to grab his spear and shield and hunt the so-called father down. The women had tears in their eyes while Hephaestus looked angry. Leonidas then felt he could at least do one thing right.

"Jaune. Come here," he said softly. Jaune obeyed, and felt the man's calloused hand on his face, in the same position as his mother had done before reciting the lines.

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."_

Leonidas started to glow red, showing his aura. However, Jaune's body flickered a little before it stopped glowing. Leonidas opened his eyes, completely confused.

"This should have worked," said Leonidas.

"Umm, my father did the same thing as you did, except rougher, and recited a different line before banishing me out of the family," confessed Jaune.

Hephaestus, Pyrrha, and Golga looked confused, but Leonidas' face was completely murderous. Pure unadulterated fury could be seen escaping from his entire body.

"Jaune. What did your father recite?" asked Leonidas darkly.

" _For it is in passing that you understand your failures. Through this, you become a paragon of dishonor and condemnation for all to see. Finite at distance and bound to death, I bind your soul, and under my foot, forsake thee."_ said Jaune with a dull voice, "That's when all I felt was pain. Before I knew it, I was out in the cold with only a few things."

"Dad? I've never heard those lines before," said Pyrrha.

"And no child should," said Leonidas darkly, "Those lines along with the same gesture forcibly seals the person's Aura within his body. The only way to release it is if the same person releases it. It should only be done to criminals with life sentences. To do such a thing to a child is inhumane."

"Aye, and considering in order to become a Huntsmen, you need Aura. I'm afraid young Jaune here will never be allowed into Huntsmen academies. It's a requisite upon attending. If they find out he doesn't have it, he'll be expelled, no matter how good his grades or skills are," said Hephaestus. "Jaune can only get his aura back from his dad, but if he's how Jaune's described him, there's no way he's getting it back."

Golga was in tears, "How could a man do that to his child? Where was your mother, Jaune?"

Jaune shook his head as he explained that his mother and seven sisters tried their best, but their family was run under patriarchal rule, so his father always had the last word, no matter what.

As Leonidas, Golga, and Hephaestus put their head together to think of a way to help Jaune, Pyrrha approached Jaune, putting her right hand on his cheek, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I'm so sorry," said Pyrrha as she softly touched the wound she had inflicted with her left hand, "I should have known when I bashed my head on your nose. You were bleeding right in front of me."  
"Pyrrha, it's okay. I went into this spar knowing the consequences," said Jaune softly as he put his hands on each of her hand.

"Is it impossible for anyone to unlock except for your father?" asked Pyrrha.

Jaune shrugged, "Don't know. Your father just tried it, and it didn't work. I can feel it slightly coming undone as time passes, but it's going to take a long time before I get rid of this lock. I can only stream a little bit of my Aura into my weapon."

"Then let me try," said Pyrrha fiercely. Before Jaune could reply, Pyrrha titled her head so her forehead was touching his before closing her eyes. Her left hand was still on his cheek.

" _For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."_

All three adults looked at the two teenagers and sighed. Pyrrha could be stubborn sometimes. Before Leonidas could say anything, there was a bright flash of light. Pyrrha was glowing red with her aura, just like her father. However, the similarities ended there. Jaune's body was pulsating with aura! The aura around arranged itself like a dragon. The adults had to cover their eyes, and missed the fact that some of Jaune's Aura seeped into Pyrrha.

* * *

Inside Jaune's mind, all the dragons roared in unison.

" _ **Finally! About time we got rid of this seal,"**_ said Othim.

" _ **Now we can finally have Jaune learn our true power,"**_ roared Andusk.

" _ **That Vlad Arc better watch out for us,"**_ growled Fafnir. Ryo-Wo roared in agreement.

" _ **Now I can really push Jaune to his limits!"**_ laughed Lung Wang.

" _ **Interesting how Pyrrha's the one who was the key,"**_ said Alaerth.

" _ **Indeed. We should definitely have Pyrrha as one of his mates,"**_ mused Aryz.

* * *

Soon, the glow started to fade away, but everyone could see that Jaune had Aura streaming all over his body. For Jaune, it felt like a missing piece of him had returned. To finally complete his body.

"You have a lot of Aura," panted Pyrrha. She didn't know that unlocking someone's Aura could be tiring. Then again, looking at Jaune, it was obvious he had massive reserves. The gash on his arm was already starting to heal based on the glow beneath the bandages. Jaune took it off in amazement as his skin started to heal, leaving no mark after it was done.

"Pyrrha, honey? Did you just somehow unlock Jaune's Aura when Leonidas couldn't?" asked Golga. Both teenagers just shrugged.

"And do you know the significance of doing that with someone of your age and not related to you?" continued Golga. They both shook their head.

Hephaestus started to laugh out loudly while Leonidas could only facepalm.

"If it's between a parent and child, it means nothing, just a way to unlock aura within the family. When a non-parental adult does it to a child, it also doesn't carry as much significance. It could be interpreted as someone taking on an apprentice in name, like how Leonidas would have done to Jaune. Of course, Jaune doesn't have to accept it, but it's an offer done after unlocking his aura. However, when a male and female of similar age does the ritual, in some cultures, it constitutes as... marriage."

Both teenager's face became flushed and couldn't bear to look at each other. Hephaestus was just laughing even louder now.

Finally, Jaune spoke up, "I didn't know that otherwise, I wouldn't have let Pyrrha do that. However, I am willing to take responsibility for this."

Pyrrha's face turned even brighter red while Hephaestus just couldn't breathe anymore.

"No, no, no! You misunderstood me," said Golga hastily, "I just wanted you two to know about this, just in case you decided to help someone unlock their aura. I didn't want misunderstandings to happen."

Jaune tried to sink into his hoodie in embarrassment while Pyrrha put her face to a pillow. Inside her mind, though, she really didn't mind if she was married to Jaune.

After that embarrassment, Jaune was a little more open to the Nikos family. Sometimes, he made trips to Hephaestus just to help him out or watch. Pyrrha would be latched on his side almost every second she had time. She was lucky she was on break at Sanctum, otherwise, she would spend her time at school hoping it would end faster. They would spend their time walking, talking, or even training with each other. Jaune even allowed Hephaestus to take _Crocea Mors_ and the sheath. Hephaestus promised to make a better hilt than the one that was on it, something Jaune was grateful for. The sheath was taken to another friend of Hephaestus, promising to professionally paint it all black instead of the giant smear on the middle. Soon, but too fast for Pyrrha, Jaune's new item was done.

* * *

 **Read and Review! I purposely kept saying item because I don't want to reveal so easily what it is. If someone can guess it, I'll be amazed and might put the next chapter earlier than planned. And yes, I already do have the item thought of, how it works, and the name.**

 **Hope the fight description was done well enough. Tell me what I can improve on it! Yes, Jaune's aura was still binded during the spar, but I did say that he was able to access a bit of it, enough to stream into his sword but not enough to provide protection like most others.**

 **As for the names, keep in mind that the adults don't have to follow the color name. For instance, we have Ozpin, Glynda, Peter, Qrow, etc. None of those really relate to a color scheme name. The Colors War in canon was during their time when they were young or something like that. It was only in Ruby's generation that the majority of the people started to have their names as colors. I will follow the same rule if and when I have to make up some minor characters on the side.**

 **Also hoped you liked the name choices for Pyrrha's parents and uncle. Though it would be appropriate, considering Pyrrha's like a Spartan, so why not have the famous King of Spartans and his wife as her parents, and a famous blacksmith with the same background.**


	4. Chapter 4 Mistral to Atlas

**Wow! Thanks for all the reviews and views! Since the view count has just hit past 9000, I am obligated to post a new chapter because of this, just like I did with my past fics. If you haven't noticed, I usually post a new chapter every time I hit 9000 on something. So here's what the items that were crafted for Jaune! I got requests to make his shield/sheath to decorate it instead of making it black. Going to have to ignore those because of what was crafted. You'll see why right now!**

 **For all those who tried to guess, nice try. Keep in mind Crocea Mors is a special blade, so that won't get replaced.**

 **Also, don't expect me to be able to shoot out chapters this fast. It takes a lot of rereading what I wrote and re editing it.**

 **Read and Review!**

* * *

The whole Nikos family and Jaune were back at the Nikos home again. Hephaestus was carrying five carefully wrapped items with him when he entered the house.

"Jaune, my boy! I had a great time crafting this beauty," said Hephaestus. Before he could reveal any of it, Leonidas stood up.

"Brother. I was wondering if you could let me pay for Jaune. He has almost become like family, spending time with Pyrrha. I admit that since Gorga and I were busy, we didn't nearly have enough time to spend with our daughter. And based on your reports as well as what I saw at school, Pyrrha was becoming more isolated from her peers. I want to thank Jaune for coming into her life, chasing those lonely times away."

Hephaestus laughed, "No worries there brother. I was doing this for free anyways. Me old friend Ghira actually asked me to do it for free. Jaune even provided the materials for me!"

At that, Leonidas sat back down with a smile. Gorga was at his side, leaning on him. Pyrrha was unconsciously following her mother and doing the same to Jaune, not that he minded.

Hephaestus grabbed the first small parcel as well as grabbing a pouch from his pocket, "All right, first off then! I had my friend do this one, as weaving is more of her specialty. Here's your Mithril Shirt. As a bonus, my friend made it so it won't react with anybody's aura except for the wearer as thanks for letting him use such a high purity material."

Jaune opened it to see a beautifully weaved shirt It felt light and could be worn under all his clothes like an undershirt. The other Nikos family member watched it in amazement. Hephaestus was about to toss him the pouch that had the leftover Mithril when Jaune stopped him.

"Keep it. If you can, use up the remaining one to make something for Pyrrha," insisted Jaune.

"Why, offering a dowry already, Jaune?" smirked Gorga, causing Pyrrha to blush.

"Pfft, technically he already has with this next item," bragged Hephaestus, causing the Nikos family to raise their eyebrows. He unveiled the second item, showing the exact same replica of a shield the Pyrrha used. "Meet _Akouo Mark II_! When Jaune gave me the materials for his items, he dumped the biggest Adamantine ore with the highest purity I'd ever seen at my store and asked if it was enough. Now my niece has probably one of the most indestructible shields I've ever made. Even Muramasa's best blades would be hard-pressed to even scratch this one."

Pyrrha gazed in awe as her uncle passed the shield to her. The shield felt a bit heavier but even stronger than her previous shield. She grinned as she tested it out with her semblance, happy to see that it would still respond to her. She hugged Jaune and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush even more. Othim was hooting inside his mind while the others just smiled.

"Finally, your special shield, Jaune," said Hephaestus, revealing what was under the wrappings. A rather large shield, almost the same size, and shape as _Akouo_ , appeared. The key differences were the color schemes, the fact it was completely round unlike Pyrrha's who had curves to allowed to use her rifle easily. The outer circle had designs of various dragons roaming about. The background of the whole shield was silver-gray. At the center, though was seven dragon heads of different colors. Red, white, black, yellow, green, brown, and blue dragon heads could be seen. The layer of the shield was also a bit thicker than Akouo.

" _ **Aww, how sweet,"**_ said Alaerth, **_"He put our respective elements and dragons on his shield to show how we're always protecting him."_**

" _ **Indeed,"**_ said Ryo-Wo, **" _I find it quite fitting."_**

"Trust me Jaune, the way you had your blueprints, I had a hard time trying to figure how I could craft this. I had to use some of your Mithril along with Adamantine to finally craft this baby out," said Hephaestus.

Jaune held it, checking its weight. It was heavy, as expected. Pyrrha asked to touch it, which Jaune easily allowed, and found it heavier than it looked.

"Why is this so heavy? And why does it feel like this is more than just a shield?" asked Pyrrha suspiciously.

"Good eye, Pyrrha," said Hephaestus, "That's because inside that shield has a lot of surprises. Do you want to reveal them, Jaune?"

"Sure. I don't mind," said Jaune. Normally, Lung Wang would have discouraged Jaune from showing his new shield so easily, but he was basically in the presence of family and a future mate. The shield edge near Jaune's hand when using it suddenly separated, showing a muzzle of a hand cannon as it came forward.

"This mode is to pick off enemies at mid-range. Each one of the muzzles comes with a magazine that I can easily reload or change into dust rounds. Hephaestus even managed to make it consume Aura. Usually, that's a last ditch effort, but because of my apparent massive reserves, it makes a good deterrence weapon even if I'm out of ammo."

"Muzzles, as in plural?" asked Gorga. Leonidas smiled as he heard that, knowing that there had to be something else.

"Yep," replied Jaune before the muzzle collapsed back to its original form. With a flick of his Aura, a small cranking sound could be heard from within the shield. It opened up again to reveal the muzzle of a sniper rifle. A small scope appeared at the side, allowing Jaune aim precisely with it. Jaune repeated it one more time, and this time, a double barrel shotgun muzzle revealed itself.

"I have all ranges covered. Not to mention that even if I can't use it, I still have my trusty sword."

"Amazing," said Pyrrha. She looked at her shield, feeling like she should have had her uncle modify it. As if reading her mind, Hephaestus laughed before telling Pyrrha to tap the button inside her shield. Raising her eyebrow, she noticed a small button hidden in her shield. Pressing it, her shield suddenly morphed. Collapsing itself, it turned into another xiphos for her to use. Pyrrha grinned at this. With this, it would be even harder for her to lose a weapon. Not to mention she could easily hide her shield or store it. Sometimes, the shield just took too much space. She would have to learn how to dual wield, though, something she looked forward to training with.

Hephaestus passed back Jaune's sword and sheath afterward. Jaune admired how the new hilt looked. It was much more comfortable to hold now, and the sheath was painted black. Even when expanded into a shield, the layer of coating was even. Hephaestus even threw in a bit of an upgrade for it, stating it was almost as strong as his new shield.

"Well, that's all. Jaune, here's the last of the adamantine," said Hephaestus.

"Keep it for now," replied Jaune, "I might consider getting armor. I'll know who to look for when I finish my armor designs."

Hephaestus grinned as he put the pouch in his pocket again. He looked forward to seeing what Jaune wanted next. "So what's the name of your new shield?"

Jaune looked at it for a bit before grinning, "I'm calling it _Dragonscales._ "

Leonidas looked to his wife, who nodded back before they both stood up along with Hephaestus, standing before Jaune.

"Jaune. I know its only been a few weeks, but the time you've spent with us is something unforgettable. We wish to continue that trend. We want to adopt you. Or Hephaestus will adopt you. Either works," said Gorga as she bent down to see face to face with Jaune.

"I can enroll you to Sanctum for the time being with Pyrrha. After that, any school for Huntsmen and Huntresses you two want to apply, I'll send you there," said Leonidas.

"Cmon, Jaune. What do ya say? Become our family. You can keep your last name, or we can add Nikos to it. Hmm, Jaune Nikos. Jaune Ryu-Long Nikos. Not bad," said Hephaestus, rubbing his chin.

Pyrrha's eyes opened wide and hoped Jaune would accept.

Jaune was floored by this offer. He felt.. wanted. Happy. A family that would take him in. However, before he could say yes, his mind was dragged into his mindscape forcibly.

* * *

Jaune opened his eyes to see the seven dragon kings again.

" _ **Jaune,"**_ began Aryz uneasily, **_"There's no easy way to say it."_**

" _ **You can't accept,"**_ said Lung Wang bluntly.

"But, why?" asked Jaune.

" _ **We're not finished with your training**_ ," said Ryo-Wo mournfully, **_"There are a few more nesting grounds you must visit. In time, when you hit seventeen, we will allow you to enroll in a Huntsmen school of your choice to further your training. However, it is vital that you travel the world and visit the nesting grounds. The remaining energy within each cave can help strengthen you. This stops when you hit seventeen."_**

" _ **And you cannot delay it,"**_ added Alaerth.

" _ **Indeed. I'm usually the one that's for getting the girl, but Andusk and I sense trouble brewing in the future. And you're going to need all the power you can get,"**_ said Othim, his usual lax and joking attitude gone.

" _ **Not to mention if you do get adopted, it might attract the attention of a certain 'ARC'. Since your still a minor, he can choose to override the adoption, saying he wants you back. If he does, he might just kill you instead or try to lock up your Aura. Only when your seventeen and enrolled in a Huntsmen school is he not allowed to do that anymore,"**_ mentioned Fafnir, **_"For once you're in training, you are considered an an adult who can make their own choices with no allegiance."_**

Jaune closed his eyes, holding back his tears. The Nikos family was certainly everything he wanted, but he knew his dragons were right. They had saved him, and never guided him wrong. He had to keep traveling.

" _ **We're sorry it has to be like this,"**_ said Andusk, " ** _Perhaps when you're older, you can come back."_**

"I understand," said Jaune sombrely. Each dragon nodded before Jaune was whisked back to reality.

* * *

"Jaune? Are you okay?" asked Pyrrha, noticing Jaune had a blank stare for a second. It disappeared, and Jaune shook his head as to clear off the cobwebs.

Jaune wasn't going to like what he had to say, but it had to be done.

"Hephaestus, Leonidas, Gorga,... Pyrrha. I thank you for this, but I regretfully have to say no."

"Why?" asked Gorga in shock.

"I have to continue my travels. I didn't tell you this, but I was rescued from my so-called ' _father_ ' when he bound me. If they didn't, he would have dumped me right next to a Grimm and watch me die, saying that it wasn't his fault a Grimm was there when he banished me. I made a promise to them to travel the world for specific things.'

"We could help you kid," said Hephaestus, "We can buy you airship tickets to where you need to go. I can close my shop for a bit to come with you. Leonidas and Pyrrha can help too!"

Jaune shook his head, "This journey has to be done on foot and alone. I'm sorry. I can't tell you any more than this."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune, "But, can't you do it when you're older?" Inside, she was really asking, 'Can't you stay with me?'

"No. It has to be done before my 17th birthday. Only then will they allow me to enroll in an academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses. I didn't say this, but my sperm donor is also influential. If he got wind that my Aura was unlocked and adopted, he could use his resources and force me back under his feet," said Jaune.

"And only if you're a Huntsman in training or an adult will you fully be safe from him," mused Leonidas.

"There's no way your father can fight us for the right of custody," said Gorga tearfully.

"I'm afraid he can. That's why I have to say no, for those reasons," said Jaune as he hung his head.

"But...," started Hephaestus. Leonidas held up his hand, stopping his brother.

"Jaune," stared Leonidas, making Jaune look up, "Are you sure about this decision?" Jaune nodded his head.

"Very well then. But always know you always have a place in the Nikos family," said Leonidas before striding to a table with a paper and pen. He quickly wrote something onto it before sealing it into an envelope and giving it to Jaune, "When you enroll to an academy, merely show them this. This is my personal recommendation letter. With it, your chances of going to any academy will be much higher. I only hope that you will end up at the same academy as my daughter."

"Thank you, sir," said Jaune respectfully as he took the letter and put it in his bag. Seeing that the adoption wasn't going to happen, Gorga, Pyrrha, and Hephaestus hugged him one last time, where he also returned the hug. As Jaune was about to walk out the door to continue his journey, Pyrrha called out to him.

"Before you go, there's something I want to do. Something for you to remember me by," said Pyrrha. She grabbed Jaune on the cheeks and kissed him on the lips. Jaune froze up at that but then started to kiss back. After a few seconds of kissing, they broke apart.

"Remember me, always," said Pyrrha, blushing at what she had done. Even though she knew that they weren't really married, she felt like it was fitting.

"I always will, my goddess," responded Jaune, putting his forehead on hers, enjoying the moment. Soon, they separated, and Jaune left the city, but not before exchanging Scroll numbers with Hephaestus. He promised to try to message him and Pyrrha if he could, but since he would be in the wilderness most of the time, he couldn't do it often. They both understood that they couldn't be the one to initiate the call, otherwise, they might put him in danger. Jaune put his sword back into his sheath while putting his shield on his back, right above the bag. Luckily, it didn't clash at all. He kept the sheath because he could say it was a keepsake from his mother. Also, it could serve as another blunt weapon if he needed it.

* * *

Jaune left Mistral, going North. His next location was to be the continent Solitas at the city of Atlas, where he would stock up on some winter clothing before heading towards the said cave. For this trip, he was to ride an airship to Atlas, as Atlas did not have piers. They were said to be the most technologically advanced city and only had airship docks. Lung-Wang wasn't happy that Jaune couldn't train while on the ship, so they stuck him with meditation for the ride. Luckily, it didn't take long, and after 3 hours, he was in Atlas. Feeling cold, he quickly went to buy some warm clothing.

As he finished buying his clothes, he was about to leave the store when he heard a male snobbish voice in the store, "This is the best you have? I've seen better clothes at a pig's store!"

Jaune turned around to see a young boy with white hair with pale blue eyes about the age of 11 complaining while tossing clothes without care.

"Please sir, don't throw them like this. We need to put them in order if you're not buying," pleaded the store manager.

"Excuse me? Do you know who you're talking to?" shouted the boy, "I'm Whitley Schnee, son of the Schnee Dust Company. I am basically royalty, you plebeian."

" _ **Hmph,"**_ scoffed Ryo-Wo, **_"This boy has not had the proper education of being a gentleman, nor does he exhibit an ounce any majestic qualities. Teach him a lesson."_**

" _ **Hehe, and I thought I was the one with the most pride. Still, do shut that brat up,"**_ commented Lung Wang.

Before he could, the door opened once more, and two females entered the room. A young 14-year-old teenager and a mature 19-year-old with the same white hair and eye color as the boy.

"Whitley," said the older one as she put her hand on her forehead, "Please stop causing trouble. It's very disrespectful to others."

Whitley huffed as if to ignore her sister, commenting on how he was only treating commoners as he should be.

"Not to mention, it's a behavior unfitting of a Schnee gentleman in public," added the younger girl.

Whitley huffed, but finally looked down, "Apologies, Elder Sister Winter and Sister Weiss."

Winter took out 2 white Lien cards, giving them to the store owner, "Apologies for his behavior. We'll try to curb it. Just don't say anything."

The store owner bowed in reply before getting his employees to clean up the mess Whitley had caused. As all the Schnee members were leaving, Jaune was looking at Whitley with an annoyed expression. Whitley caught this and turned to him.

"What are you looking at, commoner?" sneered Whitley. Winter and Weiss turned around sighing. Whitley was becoming more like his father but without a filter nor intelligence of knowing when to put on a facade. Thank heavens Winter had inherited her mother's attitude, while Weiss was more of a mix of both. She still had some snobbish tendencies, but they had been curbed thanks to Winter. Whitley, however, never listened to her sisters that much, disliking them very much. It could be that he didn't inherit the Schnee semblance. It didn't help that their mother never had a chance to raise Whitley after her early death.

"Just looking at a piteously ignominious child who has no display of any fine qualities or majestic aura," replied Jaune cooly. Winter and Weiss had to stop themselves from snorting in laughter, although small grins could be seen on their face.

"You! YOU! YOU LITTLE-!" shouted Whitley

"I'm older and taller than you, thank you. Still, if I'm small, you must be tiny upon all areas of being a man," replied Jaune.

Whitley was frothing in his mouth while Winter and Weiss were snickering now. He sputtered out words, but Jaune interrupted him.

"Do not speak unless you intend to improve the silence. Your IQ is lower than the weather's temperature outside."

At this, Winter and Weiss couldn't hold it anymore and was clearly laughing. Winter tried to put a serious face while trying to discipline Weiss but was clearly failing. Sure, she should be protecting her little brother from all those insults, but the said brother always acted so snobbishly that she got irritated by him easily. Whitley needed this smack down. Before it went any further, though, a voice rang out.

"What's going on here? Whitley, Winter, Weiss?"

They turned around to see a man with white hair and white mustache walking towards them. From an obvious glance, this man was their father. At least he looked and walked with a slight regal aura. Even so, Jaune could tell this man was just as selfish as his son. He just hid it better.

"Father!" shouted Whitley, "This peasant has insulted me. He must be taught a lesson about respecting his betters."

"And it's very clear that you are not my superior," replied Jaune frostily.

"Enough. Whitley, your attitude is unbecoming of a Schnee," said the father before whispering in his ear, "You must keep a public facade, to allow everyone to respect you. This attitude in public will draw bad publicity."

"Yes, father," replied Whitley. He never bothered apologizing to Jaune or the shopkeeper, though.

The man turned to Jaune, sizing him up. He liked what he saw. Here was a strong young man who although seemed to be from the common class, exuded a somewhat regal aura around him. He saw his attitude, and body language and his language to be a gentleman. Clearly, Whitley could learn from this teenager.

"I am Jacques Schnee, President of the SDC, father of these three. I apologize for my son's behavior. He is still learning. And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"

" _ **Jaune,"**_ cautioned Ryo-Wo, **_"It would be best if you just follow what I say for now. This man seems to adore those of proper public behavior. It would be bad to have him as our enemy for now."_**

"Greetings, patriarch of the Schnee family. I am Jaune Ryu-Long, a mere traveler. I also apologize for causing this public disturbance." Jaune bowed in respect before standing back up straight. Jacques kept an eye out for his body language and found it quite perfect as a gentleman.

'Hmm. Perfect form. Perfect behavior. And a sly one, too. He's only apologizing for the public disturbance, not his comments about insulting my son,' thought Jacques.

"Well met, Mr. Ryu-Long. Well, I have to take my children home for now. Perhaps we can meet another day. My daughter, Weiss, will be performing on stage tomorrow. Would you like to come as a guest?" asked Jacques. The Schnee children could barely hide their shock at this. Their father never invited someone so easily!

"It would be a pleasure, President Schnee. I look forward to seeing what talents you have cultivated in your daughter," replied Jaune.

"Very well. Merely mention my name at 6:00 PM sharp tomorrow at the Atlas Theater Plaza. The staff will send word to me, and I'll know that's it's you." said Jacques. He gathered his children and walked them to his limo, driving off.

"Well," said Jaune out loud, "Looks like I'm going. Hopefully, this won't be long."

* * *

In the limousine, Whitley was stewing mad.

"Father! Why didn't you punish that unrefined traveler?! And why invite him as a guest? He should be shoved into the mines!" shouted Whitley.

"Whitley," warned Jacques sternly. Whitley immediately became quiet. "You still have much to learn. We, Schnee, are indeed above most. However, we can not have such an attitude out in public. It is most unbecoming of a gentleman. If I went out with that attitude, most of our stockholders would sell their stocks, plummeting the SDC into ruin. You must learn to have proper behavior."

Winter and Weiss rolled their eyes in secret. Jacques wasn't really a Schnee. He merely married into the family.

"Yes, father," grumbled Whitley.

"The reason why I invited Jaune Ryu-Long is because I would hope you could learn from him," said Jacques, "He displayed a behavior like a gentleman, and managed to insult you while still maintaining the perfect facade. When he apologized, he merely stated he was sorry about disrupting the public, but he had no intention of recalling his words to you. Yet, with your behavior, the public sided with him. Not only that, I can tell that he is not a normal man. A strong figure while maintaining excellent behavior. Perhaps a suitor for Weiss. He looks the same age as her."

"Father!" blushed Weiss.

"Not your type? Then perhaps a suitor for Winter. He seems very mature for his age, and I doubt his age is far apart from yours, Winter."

"Father!" blushed Winter this time, "I am not interested in someone below my age. I would be seen as a pedophile if I had a suitor of his age."

"That can easily be remedied. We can just wait for 3 to 5 more years before declaring him as a suitor for you," replied Jacques.

"Enough!" shouted both daughters, unable to handle the embarrassment. The family butler, Klein Sieben, chuckled as he drove the family back home.

Jaune managed to find a nice room to stay at for the night. As usual, he got up early to do his daily training. With his Aura active now, Lung Wang pushed Jaune even harder, knowing that his Aura could know heal him without much consequence. Andusk and Othim helped him meditate, increasing his already large Aura reserves. Ryo-Wo was guiding him through what to do when he went to the performance. Alaerth and Aryz would be helping him with his clothes and how to look proper. Fafnir was guiding him on how to feel the earth, and to let it guide him. Fafnir told Jaune this would help him fight those with illusions. After all, nobody can lie to the ground, as they needed to walk on it.

* * *

Soon enough, Jaune left for the Atlas Theater Plaza after making sure he had the right direction. He had his formal wear on, thought he mad sure his bag was inside the suit while also wearing his Mithril shirt. The shield had been stuffed inside as well. He left the sword and sheath on his waist, fashioning it in a stylish way while also being able to fight with it effectively. He left the room at 5:00 PM and arrived there at 5:50 PM. He saw a crowd starting to gather. Still, he went up to a guard at exactly 6:00 PM and telling the guard that he had been personally invited by Jacques Schnee to attend a performance by Weiss Schnee. The guard seemed dubious but sent a messenger up anyways, since he did receive a notice that someone would be coming at that time. A few seconds later, and Jaune was escorted to a VIP room.

"Mr. Ryu-Long, welcome!" greeted Jacques as he put his hand out. His eyes flickered to what Jaune was wearing, and gave it an okay grade. The suit was not high-class, but it did suit Jaune quite well. Plus, there was no point of buying an expensive suit at his age since he would just grow out of it.

"It is a pleasure to be here," replied Jaune cordially, shaking his hand.

"Please, come sit," said Jacques, guiding him to the balcony with four chairs. Whitley sat at the far left, near the stage. Jacques sat next to him, who was followed by Winter.

Jaune sat next to her before introducing himself to her. Winter smiled and greeted back, putting her hand out. Jaune immediately caught on, slightly grasping it before kissing her hand. Whitley rolled his eyes in disgust, but Jacques seemed to approve of Jaune's proper behavior. Soon, the theater darkened while the stage brightened.

"Now introducing, Weiss Schnee!"

A polite applaud rang out the theater while Weiss stepped out. Jaune could see that Whitley was doing it sarcastically.

Soon, Weiss began to sing a beautiful song. Jaune was intrigued by her voice. It was clear she enjoyed singing, but it felt like there was also sadness within the range of emotions she was singing. Soon, the song was over. Everyone was applauding while Weiss bowed down in return. There were other performances that followed after her song, and soon, Jaune found himself at a banquet.

"So Jaune, how did you like my daughter's performance?" asked Jacques, pointing to Weiss and putting them in the spotlight.

"It was excellent. Truly, a talented singer you have raised your daughter," complimented Jaune, "I can only imagine your other children being talented in their respective fields."

Weiss slightly blushed at this but kept up her posture as a proper lady. Winter still had the perfect posture, but they could see Whitley beginning to tire. He was, only 11, after all. There was only so much a child could take.

"So, Jaune," began Winter, "I see you're carrying a sword. Do you fight with it? Perhaps we can spar sometime."  
"That would be lovely," said Jaune, "Alas, I'm afraid I might have to decline. It is obvious from your posture that you have been trained in fighting, along with Weiss. Not to mention I noticed you carry a badge, stating that you are currently attending Atlas Academy. I would say you are about to enter your third year. I would only lose terribly against someone of your caliber. I also cannot remain in this city for long. There are a few places I must set off soon."

"Hmph. Kiss-up," muttered Whitley. He didn't think Jaune heard it, but Jaune did and turned to him, "It is a mere compliment and truth to your sister. However, you may interpret it in any way as you like, even if it's below ordinary levels. I would have a battle of wits against you, but I see you are unarmed."

Whitley could feel his face starting to twitch, but a hand from Jacques stopped him from exploding. Thankfully the banquet ended. As the Schnee family stepped out towards their limousine, they said their good-byes to Jaune. However, movement caught Jaune's eye, and a Faunus with a Grimm mask was charging towards Jacques with a dagger.

"Die Schnee!" roared the Faunus as he tried to stab him. Winter reacted fast, kicking the dagger out of the man's grip. With another movement, her other leg slammed into the man's face. Since she was wearing high heels, Jaune imagined it must hurt a lot. As the man held his bleeding face, the authority quickly went to arrest him. However, since everyone's attention was towards the man, they missed another assailant heading right towards Weiss.

"Die, spawn of Schnee!" shouted the second assailant. Winter didn't have time to react, but Jaune did by grabbing Weiss out of the way while slapping his sheath up. It flew from his belt right into the mask, cracking it open to reveal the Faunus' face. The rebound sent the sword and sheath up into the air. Without even hesitating, Jaune dashed towards the man, grabbing his flailing arms. In the next moment, Jaune did an overhead throw and threw the Faunus into the ground hard. Without missing a beat, Jaune flipped the man over on his front while forcing his hands back, making him unarmed and immobile.

"Let go of me! I have to kill those Schnee bastards," roared the Faunus. However, he fell unconscious when the sheath and sword that Jaune had used as a projectile landed right on his head. Many thought it was just coincidence. Whitley scoffed, saying Jaune was lucky it didn't land on his head. However, Winter and Weiss saw the truth. Jaune had managed to calculate when the projectile would fall and managed to maneuver his enemy right into it. Seeing as the second assailant was no threat, Jaune let go of him, letting the authorities arrest the Faunus.

"White Fang," growled Jacques before turning to Jaune, "Thank you for saving my daughter. Please, allow me to repay you for your kindness somehow. Perhaps a nice place to sleep for the night at the Schnee mansion?"

"Thank you," replied Jaune, "But I'm afraid I have to decline. I must be leaving soon. I have already tarried long enough."

Whitley silently cheered at this. Jacques slightly frowned but decided to let it go. Nobody but him noticed, but when Jaune judo-flipped the Faunus, he noticed something glimmer in Jaune's shirt. Realizing that it was a Mithril shirt, he immediately wanted Jaune in his family. The fact he had such a shirt, and at a very high-level craftsmanship at that, told him he was well-connected.

"Very well. Then, at least let me give you this," said Jacques as he presented Jaune with a special card with the SDC logo on it, as well as Jacques personal signature. "This will give you 20% off all Dust purchases from any SDC store. Be sure to keep it well. As long as you present this in the store, they'll knock off the price for you. It's the least I can do for saving my daughter."

Jaune accepted it, bowing down in respect before he turned around to leave. He took a few steps when a voice called out to him.

"Wait!"

Jaune turned around to see Weiss walking up to him with her family standing a few feet away, "I still need to thank you somehow. If it wasn't for those filthy Faunus..."

Jaune silenced her with his finger on her lips, "Shh. Such words are unbecoming of a lady." Weiss blushed, but Jaune continued with a whisper, "Not all Faunus are bad. Some of them have aided me in my time of need before. The White Fang are just extremists, and can not be labeled upon all Faunus. However, the question becomes why they would try to attack the Schnee family? Has the SDC done something to them? Those are questions you must ask yourself first before making such hasty judgments."

Weiss actually pondered about this before shaking her head, "I'll consider your words since you saved me. However, I still need to reward my knight." At this, she leaned forward and kissed Jaune on the cheek. At that, she walked away back to her family, although she put a bit of emphasis on her waist. Jaune slightly gazed it before shaking his head and walking the other direction. It was time to head towards the nesting grounds on Solitas.

* * *

 **And Cut! Hope you've enjoyed this chapter and my idea for his new shield! I've kept the sword the same, as it will factor into the future. Keep in mind Crocea Mors is a legendary sword already, and I do have plans for it. As for his old shield, I felt like it could use some improvements. The new shield, Dragonscales, is a similar shape as Captain America's shield, but thicker so it can contain all those ranged weapons. I had considered a bow for Jaune, but threw that idea away.**

 **The original design I had for the shield would have had a fourth muzzle, and it would have been a flame thrower. I threw that idea out quickly. The place to load the magazines for his shield would be in the back, so Jaune has easy access to are slots in it that eject empty magazines and load fresh ones before sealing it in, allowing the shield to keep its smooth surface on both sides.**

 **And no, they did not french kiss. Just a simple kiss on the lips.**

 **Keep in mind that all the polite gentleman talk was Ryo-Wo coaching Jaune what to say. As for the age differences between the Schnee family, Winter's and Whitley's age isn't really stated. Just looking from canon, I estimated the age difference. Winter was already in the military when Weiss went to Beacon, so therefore she must be at least 4 years older. Whitley didn't look that young, so a three year difference is a guess. I do not plan on pairing Winter with Qrow. I made some calculations and estimate that there is a 17 year age difference between them. If you want to know more about why, just pm me.**

 **Also, might need to shift this rating to M. Anyone know if death of very minor characters is enough to shift this from T to M?**

 **Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5 Now arriving at Vacuo

**Welcome to a new chapter! This chapter has been beta-read/proof by Jauneforever, my newest beta reader.**

 **So in the end, this will still remain rated T. I will not be doing lemons in this story because of its rating. I might hint, but that's about it. If, and IF, I do lemons, I'd prob make a sidestory for it, but it's highly unlikely. That or have somebody else write it.**

 **Enjoy, and read and review if you can!**

* * *

After two weeks of traveling, Jaune found the nesting grounds in Solitas. During his travels, he met Grimm Beoyeti that had adapted to the cold. Thankfully, they weren't hard to deal with. However, when an alpha Beoyeti, it took Jaune a bit more to deal with. He took several hits from the alpha even after dealing several blows to it. Luckily, his Aura that was unlocked thanks to Pyrrha, so he was able to take a few hits without serious injury. After finally killing the alpha, he slowly made his way to the nesting grounds.

There, he trained and meditated for a year. The dragons were eager to put him through even harsher training now that his Aura was unlocked. So many times, Jaune would have had died if it wasn't for his Aura healing him. Inside the cave, Jaune found a few more precious jewels and tons of gold ore and coins, packing them into his bag. He was sure that he was the richest traveler, carrying all these gems. Whenever he had spare time, though, he would use his Scroll to chat with Hephaestus. Hephaestus was busy bragging about how her niece was now the three-time champion, stating that she had never a loss. Even though she tied with Jaune, it still wasn't a loss. He was even trying to improve her weapon, _Milo_. The Mithril Jaune had given him had been put to good use, but he wouldn't say where Pyrrha was wearing it. He wanted it to be a surprise.

Since Pyrrha was too busy with Sanctum, there were very few times he actually spoke with her. Still, she seemed very happy to see his face, even if it through a screen.

"Hey, Jaune?" asked Hephaestus, "You're planning on heading to Vacuo, right? I got a friend there who specializes in armor. Perhaps you can have him craft what you had in mind."

"I trust you enough to do it for me," replied Jaune.

Hephaestus chuckled, "Thanks, kid. But I'm serious. I can make good weapons and shield, and decent armor, but my friend specializes in that area. But I will admit, Adamantine would not be the best armor for you. I've seen your style. You need light armor that's flexible and durable to perform all those moves. Adamantine is too stiff and rigid. Perfect for shield and heavy armor, but not for you. He can make them. Since you're so good at finding high purity ore, I suggest Fleytium. Very durable, and yet very light and flexible. I'll send you a picture of what a high-grade ore of it looks like, as well as the address for his shop."

"Thanks. Then go ahead and use the rest of the Adamantine for Pyrrha's weapon," said Jaune.

"I'll be sure to let your 'wife' know you're okay and that you're adding more to the dowry," chuckled Hephaestus, causing Jaune to blush. He was never going to let that go.

The call disconnected, and Jaune stretched his limbs. It had been about a year since he had been here now. The gold ore had all been carefully melted and remolded, thanks to Fafnir, into shoes. Jaune asked why he would need such flashy shoes but soon found out that it was for training and improve his dashing speed. The weights he had bought at Mistral were used to their fullest. His reflexes went up the roof while he was meditating, as he was forced to dodge three dragons attacking him at the same time. All his external senses had been increased further than most humans. It was comparable, if not better, then most of the Faunus and their enhanced hearing, smell, or vision.

* * *

4 months later, Lung Wang announced that the energy in the cave had been properly drained into Jaune, and that they had stayed a few extra months just to get some more training done due to getting used to Aura. Jaune stepped out into the Autumn sun, stretching his limbs. The cold had ceased to bother him, as he could wrap himself in his Aura to keep him warm. Again, most of his clothes became too small for him to use, and that he had to use several of his most damaged shirts as materials to patch up his other shirts or extend them. The formal wear, he left alone, planning on selling it instead. Amazingly, the Mithril shirt seemed to just grow longer as he did.

"Time to head to Sanus," said Jaune, noticing the end of Autumn was nearing, "Next up. Vacuo."

Jaune concentrated his aura for a bit, linking up with Aryz. Suddenly, great feathery green wings sprouted from his back.

"Hmm. Gonna have to make sure my armor design allows my wings to come out easily," muttered Jaune before he started to flap his wings. With a flew flaps, Jaune flew up into the air and towards Vacuo. Jaune had finally learned how to grow wings, all derived from the dragons who had wings. Alaerth was the fastest one in the air. However, when he tapped into Ryu-Wo's power, he grew gills and slight fins on his forearms. He swam extremely fast with them, though, almost as fast as Alaerth in the air. For Fafnir, he was more attuned with the earth as well as growing scales on his body, increasing his own defense.

Lung Wang, Andusk, Othim, and Aryz had their specialties in the air, too. Lung Wang's wings were the toughest and strongest, ideal for fighting long battles. Andusk worked best during the day while Othim at night. Both of them could almost go invisible at their respective times, making it hard to detect them. Aryz was the most maneuverable in the air, able to do tricks very easily. She would be the fastest if it wasn't a straight line. Alaerth took that title. Still, Jaune wanted to enjoy himself flying in the air, whooping and doing tricks. He felt alive when flying in the air, enjoying the sun. It wasn't perfect, as the wings were just the basics of his links. Other abilities would take longer concentration.

He landed at a coast of Sanus, planning to walk and train the rest of the way to Vacuo. He was still wearing his weighted gear as well as golden shoes as he ran. The shoes had been wrapped with cloth to prevent any ideas about stealing it. He encountered quite a bit of Grimm, but easily took care of them. Most of the other Grimm that had lived longer stayed clear of him, as they could sense the dragons within him. He once even passed by a Grimm Goliath, who ignored him and traveled away.

"Hmm. I should be getting close to Vacuo," muttered Jaune as he looked at his Scroll, opening a map. Then, he felt footsteps in the distance from the ground thanks to Fafnir's training. They were heading towards him when the group split up, intending to surround him. Still, Jaune merely shrugged while continuing forwards. If they wanted a fight, they would get one. He could use the training, as it had been a long time since he fought against someone.

"Halt! You're surrounded brat! Give up all your stuff, and you may live!"

Jaune looked up to see he was indeed surrounded. From the looks of it, they were bandits, and 20 of them.

"Eh, no thanks. Anyone wanna tell me how close I am to Vacuo?" asked Jaune. The bandits looked at him as if he was stupid.

"Oh yea, I'll tell you how close you are, boy. How close to dying that is!" sneered what seemed to be the head of this bandit crew.

"Still pretty far, it seems," replied Jaune. Suddenly, his Scroll started to spark before dying in front of him. He looked up to see one of the bandits carrying what seemed to be a mobile EMP generator. No doubt to destroy Scrolls to prevent their victims from sending an SOS signal.

"Hehe, pretty ballsy kid," said one of the bandits, "Now DIE!"

The female bandit leaped into the air, diving down towards Jaune. Jaune merely kicked off his golden shoes right at her face. Right after that, he tossed his now useless Scroll right at the bandit's face for some extra damage. The bandit flinched, and Jaune immediately rushed at her, landing a gut punch. Not stopping there, his left hand grabbed her head and slammed her into the ground, where she laid unconscious.

"That was my only Scroll," growled Jaune, "I hope you're ready to die."

"GET HIM!" shouted the leader. They all jumped towards him. Jaune merely drew out his sword, leaving his shield on his back.

* * *

 _Flashback begins_

" _ **Jaune,"**_ said Lung Wang to a 11 year old Jaune, _**"It is time for one of your most important lessons of life. It is the act of taking a life."**_

"But, I don't want to kill!" said Jaune.

" _ **I don't mean that you should kill for fun. However, there are times when you are defending yourself that must kill if there is no other option. I can not have you frozen after your first kill, otherwise, you will die."**_ lectured Lung Wang. _**"Now, bring that rabbit that I had you take care of for a week."**_

Jaune quickly obeyed. Jaune had found this rabbit and grew to adore the male rabbit.

" _ **Now. Kill him,"**_ said Lung Wang, _**"Do not disobey or complain. There is a good reason for this."**_

Jaune slowly grabbed his make-shift stone dagger, raising it up in the air while his other hand prevented the rabbit from moving. His eyes were flooded with tears while his hand was shaking. He really didn't want to do it.

" _ **Will you prove your father that he was right to banish you?"**_ said Lung Wang.

With a roar, Jaune brought the dagger down into the rabbit's brain, killing him instantly. Seeing the blood spurt out, the warmth of the rabbit slowly draining away, forced Jaune to throw up. He had killed deer for meat before, but killing someone he had taken care of was heart-breaking. In an instant, Aryz was there to comfort Jaune along with Alaerth. After a few minutes, Jaune finally managed to calm down a little.

" _ **Do you understand why I had you do this?"**_ asked Lung Wang. Jaune shook his head.

" _ **It is so you understand how life is precious,"**_ said Ryo-Wo, coming into the conversation, _**"How life can be so easily taken. You must not hesitate to take the life of those who do not understand this lesson. If you hesitate, they can take yours, and proceed to take others.**_

" _ **Will you allow them to do that? To deny someone innocent a future? To snuff out a light without any thought?"**_ said Andusk.

" _ **We are kings of our race,"**_ said Fafnir, _**"It is our duty to protect those in need. Our duty to eliminate those who threaten the ones we love."**_

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

In a flash, Jaune dashed forward and cut two of the bandits in half. Even with his weights on his body right now, he was still faster of the bandits.

"Careful! This ain't no greenhorn!" warned one of the bandits as he saw how easily Jaune was willing to kill. Before he could do anything, though, he found his head separated from his body.

"Rookies, get back! Everybody else, use your Aura to protect yourself!" shouted the leader.

"Die!"

"How is he so fast!?" *stab*

"Noo! Save m-" *slash*

"Monster!"

The bandits had severely underestimated Jaune. The **Hiten Mitsurugi** was a style that was focused on taking multiple enemies out at once with its high-speed style. Even so, with his massive Aura reserves, he was able to cut right through the enemies Aura defense. Anyone who was able to even block it found their Aura reserves dwindeled down to nothing before taking a death blow. He dodged their attacks with uncanny timing. Although even if they had hit, it wouldn't have made a difference due to his Aura reserves. It was because of Othim's specific training of forcing him to dodge or block properly that he never tried to tank anything unless he was sure he could take it and land a devastating counterattack.

Within several minutes, there were only 3 quivering rookies, one veteran bandit missing his left arm as well as bleeding heavily, the still unconscious female bandit that had fallen first, and the leader missing his right eye. They turned around and fled for their lives. Jaune merely slashed the air, getting rid of all the blood on his sword in one stroke before sheathing it. He didn't feel like chasing after cowards, nor did he feel like killing the one bandit whose head was still in the ground.

"Guess I'll have to fly now," muttered Jaune as he put back his golden training shoes. He had no idea which direction was Vacuo. Quickly looking around and seeing that nobody was in sight in his eye and earth sense, he grew white scale wings and took to the skies. His image started to fade, disguising himself into the sky.

* * *

Raven Branwen was walking back to her 'family' when she noticed something was wrong. She rushed in to see the other members of her crew helping a scouting crew. Or rather, what was left of the crew. A group of 20 bandits reduced to 5, with one of them dying and the other blinded in his right eye. The rookies were scared out of their mind.

"What happened!" demanded Raven.

"A demon! He fought like a demon! I swear, his Aura manifested into something with horns, scales, and a sharp mouth. Its narrow pupils stared at me, and I felt like death was watching me!" babbled one of the rookies.

"He? As in only one man?" asked Raven.

"No," grunted the leader of his group, "A mere teenager wiped us all out. He showed no mercy and didn't even seem to hesitate in killing. He was definitely trained, and isn't a softy like others."

Raven narrowed her eyes. This was interesting. She was obviously furious that many of her people died, but at the same time, she might be able to recruit someone strong into her family. They were always looking for strong people. It was a shame Taiyang Xiao Long refused to join her family. It was the only reason why she even slept and bore a child for him. After seeing that he wouldn't join, she left him and her daughter a few months later.

"Leader. He'll live," said a medic, pointing to her patient. He seemed to be breathing much more easily now, and the blood had stopped flowing from his wounds. Looks like her semblance, good luck, was coming out today, as her name had always been associated with good luck.

"Stay here. I'll take care of this teenager," ordered Raven. After getting a general idea where the fight had taken place, she quickly transformed into a raven form and flew off. She quickly found the massacre and looked around for clues. It was there she was completely stumped. There were no signs of footprints leading away from the fight. It was as if the person had completely disappeared. She tried to use her semblance, but no amount of good luck would get her closer. The only thing she found was that one of her people was still alive. Waking the bandit up, she took her back to camp. They would mourn for the dead and bury them, but they all followed the code. The weak die while the strong live.

She made it back to her group, looking at the injured. They needed some more medical supplies at this point. She made her decision.

"We head to Vacuo."

* * *

Soaring through the sky and going in the general direction he had been heading before, He found Vacuo. He quickly descended towards the ground and withdrew his wings. He didn't feel like freaking anyone out.

"Pyrrha's not going to be happy," muttered Jaune as he thought about his ruined Scroll. There was no way to contact Hephaestus now unless he managed to buy a new Scroll, and his last contact had been about 6 months ago. He walked through the desert and into the city. Before entering the city, he had put all his training equipment back into his bag. He didn't want to stand out too much. There, he found it was quite different than he thought. A lot of houses built to withstand the desert conditions, but they all seemed quite withered. He had read through the history of Vacuo, finding out that the government there barely existed, that the true source of law and order was Shade Academy. However, he did see banners and flags, as if a festival was coming.

"Umm, what's with all these things?" Jaune asked the nearest shopkeep, who was tending to his stall _The Simple Wok_. The owner was an elderly, balding, gray-haired man with wrinkles under his eyes and over his brow. He looked at Jaune in shock for a bit before deciding to answer him. It would be rude to not say anything, after all.

"It's the Vytal Festival! The 39th anniversary of it!" said the shopkeeper.

"Ah. Sorry, lost track of time ever since my Scroll was destroyed in the wilderness," said Jaune.

"Mm, that explains it. Some of the more outer colonies don't get news too often," said the shopkeeper, "Did you want to eat something here?"

"Sure," replied Jaune, looking through the menu as he sat at the edge of the stand on the right. That way, his sword, which was on his left side, would be free to swing around for a bit. After ordering a simple chicken broth noodle bowl medium size, the shopkeeper came out with a huge serving of it. Jaune was quite surprised at the size, making sure he ordered the right one.

"Don't worry about kid," said the shopkeeper, "You look like you could use the extra serving. I'll still charge it at medium bowl price."

Thanking the shopkeeper, Jaune started slurping his noodle. It really tasted good for something so simple.

" _ **Hmm. Perhaps this one could become your personal cook,"**_ said Andusk. All the dragons could share Jaune's senses to taste food, and surprisingly they also liked what he was eating. The broth wasn't too salty, and the noodles had been seasoned and cooked to perfection.

As Jaune was eating, four more girls came in to order. They sat in a row, the girl in green with blonde hair and violet eyes sitting right next to Jaune.

"Four orders of veggie noodle bowls medium size please!" said the girl in green. She moved her arm and hit Jaune's hand as he was about to grab his glass of water.

"Sorry!" apologized the girl before she noticed Jaune and started staring at him. In her mind, she was looking at the hottest guy she had seen so far in her life. Shiny blonde hair and blue eyes, with a face that looked handsome. A bonus was when she looked down, she could easily see lean muscles, as Jaune's shirt was bit too tight along with his pants. Jaune made a note to go shopping soon.

"No problem. Nothing broke," said Jaune as he took a sip of water. He noticed the girl was still staring at him, along with the other three girls who just noticed him. "Hello?" he asked the girl in green, who seemed to still be in a trance. He snapped his fingers in front of her to break her out of it.

"Eep!" she squealed, blushing up a storm, "I'm sorry!"

"No worries. The name's Jaune Ryu-Long," said Jaune as he introduced himself.

"My name is Dew Gayl," replied the girl in green, "And these are my best friends, Nebula Violette, Gwen Darcy, and Octavia Ember."

The other girls waved in reply.

"Nice to meet you all," said Jaune, "I think your meals are ready, though."

The four girls looked down and seemed surprised to see four veggie noodles bowls sitting in front of them. They quickly dug into their meals, not wanting it to get cold.

"So, are you here to watch the Vytal Festival Tournament?" asked Dew, "I don't think I've seen you in Shadow Academy."

"That's because I'm a traveler," responded Jaune, "I just drifted into town just in time for this festival. I didn't even know it was time"

"Oh?" said Nebula, "You were out in the wilderness for a long time?"

Jaune nodded, "Yea. My Scroll broke, so I completely lost track of time. I need to get a new one soon."

"That's a shame," said Gwen, "The Scrolls are completely sold out here due to the Festival. You'll have to wait for quite awhile to get a new one."

"I can't wait to see the fights!" said Octavia, "It's our dream to became the best female Hunter group there is. We're planning on going to Shade Academy to become Huntresses!"

They all finished their noodles, paying for it and then walked out. Jaune was about to wander into town, trying to find the shop Hephaestus had mentioned when he felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around to see Dew holding onto it, blushing for a bit.

"Do you want to see the tournament with us?" Dew asked, pointing to her group, "We have VIP seats thanks to Nebula's father. He said we could squeeze in one more."

Jaune pondered about it. The dragons told him that it would be best to go, so he could observe other fighters and learn from them. Tutoring alone could only get you so far.

"Sure," replied Jaune, "But I really need to buy some new clothes. All of mine are too small."

"We can help you," said Dew hastily before blushing, "I mean, if you want us to."

Before Jaune could reply, Nebula and Octavia grabbed his arms.

"Time for a shopping trip!" shouted Nebula, dragging him off to a popular brand store with Octavia. Gwen sighed as she began to follow them, along with Dew. Jaune slightly paled as he remembered the shopping trips he had to endure with his seven sisters and mother. It was the only time his father would sympathize with him.

* * *

"Soo, making a move on a stranger you just met. How daring," whispered Nebula to Dew, who was blushing like crazy. All four girls were in a huddle while Jaune was in the changing room, changing to a shirt that the girls had forced him to try, along with twenty other shirts and pants.

"Shut up! It's not my fault he looked so cute," whispered Dew, looking back at the changing room, hoping he didn't hear any of this.

"I'd say you made a good choice," whispered Octavia, "I felt his arms. They're almost like steel. He's buff for someone who seems thin."

"Really?" asked Gwen, surprised.

"Yea," replied Nebula, "When I grabbed him, all I felt was pure muscle. Barely any fat on him."

"Does this look ok?"

The girls turned around to see Jaune wearing a much more fitting hoodie.

"What's with you and hoodies?" exasperated Gwen.

"I like them," replied Jaune before taking it off, "Fine, better?"

The four girls stared at Jaune. Now that he was showing his naked arms, they could see the perfect amount of muscle on him. Not too bulky to be a bodybuilder, but extremely lean, showing very minimal traces of fat.

"Hubahuba," whistled Octavia. Nebula and Gwen nodded their heads in agreement. Dew was too busy drooling and dreaming what it would feel like to be in his arms.

"I'm guessing good?" said Jaune. The four girls nodded their head furiously. Jaune went back into the changing room to try out a few more clothes.

"Dam girl!" exclaimed Nebula, "You hit the jackpot!"

"Definitely," agreed Gwen.

"Think we can share him?" asked Octavia. Dew slapped her head for that.

After modeling 30 different clothes, Jaune bought only 7 shirts, 2 hoodies, 4 loose jeans, gymwear, and a few socks and shoes. He reasoned that because he would be traveling still, buying a whole wardrobe would be pointless. He exchanged his old formal suit to get a discount on purchases. Still, the total came out to be 443 Lien. Jaune was thankful he still had some Lien cards on him. He considered opening a bank account so he could just carry a credit card instead of all this Lien on him. After packing it all inside a few bags they provided him, he found himself in a conundrum.

"I don't have anywhere to put this," Jaune confessed. He didn't want to shove them in his magic bag, as it would raise questions. "Guess I'll need to go check out a room first."

"That's not gonna happen" said Gwen, "Because of the Vytal Festival, all inns and hotels are basically booked."

Jaune hung his head, "Crap. Guess I'll be camping out rough tonight."

"You could come to my house," said Dew shyly, "My folks won't be home for the while. They had to go to Vale for some business, and we have spare rooms."

"Oooh, inviting him into your house and perhaps your bed while your parents aren't home to watch over you?" teased Octavia. Dew blushed even further at that realization.

Inside Jaune's mind, Othim was laughing and telling Jaune to be a man and screw the girl. Aryz and Andusk slapped him on the head for that.

Nebula came in for the save, "Don't worry. We were all planning to sleep over at Dew's place for the next few days. Her house is closest to the shuttle that takes us to Amity Colosseum. We can head over right now and drop off your stuff. The festival starts tomorrow!"

Agreeing to the plan, they all went to Dew's house.

As they were walking, up on the roof stood Raven Branwen. She was standing with the ex-scouting leader, looking over the city.

"There!" growled the one eye bandit. Raven quickly looked to where he pointed and saw Jaune with four girls.

"Hmm. A player, huh? Still, he does seem strong," commented Raven.

"Are we going to get him now?" asked the one-eyed bandit.

"No. Not yet. There are too many Huntsmen and Huntresses here for the festival. We'll get him soon, though, when they're all least expecting it." replied Raven, turning around before slicing a portal open. It looks like good fortune was shining upon her.

As good luck was looking upon her, bad luck was also looking at her. Qrow Branwen was lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, had seen her looking at Jaune.

"What do you want with the kid?" muttered Qrow. He was at Vacuo due to a mission from Ozpin to help provide an extra hand in defending the Amity Colosseum, as well as looking out for a certain enemy. This was the fraternal twin of Raven. His semblance, as it was related with his name and transformation as a crow, was bad luck. He took a sip of his whiskey, looking at Jaune before smirking.

"So, he's got four girls hanging on to him. Lucky him. Just as long as he doesn't sink his claws on Yang or Ruby, I could care less," laughed Qrow. Still, he planned to keep an eye out on him just in case.

* * *

Jaune and the girls all arrived at Dew's house, where Dew showed them their rooms. Thankfully, Jaune would be taking the guest room for himself while the Dew's room, along with a spare room, would be occupied by the four girls amongst themselves. They spent the rest of the day talking and getting to know each other. The next day, Jaune woke up at his usual time to begin training.

"Whats that noise?" said Nebula sleepily as she heard some sort of swishing noise. Dew woke up when Nebula spoke out loud. Yawning, Dew looked out the window towards her backyard where the noise was coming from and froze.

"Dew? Hello? Remnant to Dew?" asked Nebula, seeing her friend freeze up like that.

"What's going on?" asked Octavia and Gwen as they entered in Dew's room in their sleep attire, rubbing their eyes. They had also heard the noise.

"Dunno. Dew froze up as soon as she looked out the window," replied Nebula, standing up. The three girls went to take a look out the window and saw it was Jaune practicing with his sword. However, he was only dressed in shorts, letting them all see his body in full glory. As if chiseled from the gods above, Jaune showed them he had rock hard body. Pure muscles with minimal fat on his body, showing 6 pack abs. His legs were also lean, and Jaune was showing how skilled and flexible he was while practicing. Sweat was dripping from his body as he practiced with his sword.

"Oum above," whistled Octavia, "I'm really considering asking if we can share him."

"I'm more interested in his skills. Look at how he's swinging that blade," stated Gwen.

"He must be training to be a Huntsmen with those skills," nodded Nebula before shaking Dew from her trance, "Hello? Remnant to Dew? WAKE UP!"

Dew finally shook out of it, blinking before blushing. She shook her head out of it. She wanted to be a Huntress! She couldn't stay daydreaming about another teenager. A strong, handsome, sweaty.. oh Oum she was doing it again! She quickly went to take a shower first, leaving the rest to admire Jaune's skill.

" _ **Hey, Jaune? Did you notice the girls are staring at you?"**_ said Othim, _**"You realize that Dew girl was staring at you like hunk of grade A meat. Play your cards right, and you'll become a man at the end of this festival!"**_

Jaune ignored Othim as he kept cackling in laughter. Soon enough, he was done with his training. He walked in the guest shower, cleaning up and taking a quick shower before wearing his new clothes.

The girls had gone through a few rules about the Vytal Festival and what to expect at the Colosseum. Jaune disliked that he wasn't allowed to carry anything into Arena. The reason was because the Amity Colosseum was such a valuable piece of work that was the culmination of all four kingdoms, they didn't want to risk the chance of anyone stealing it, so only competitors were allowed to carry weapons, and even then they were restricted to carrying them only when it was time for them to fight. Finally, he relented and left it at Dew's house after hiding it his special bag away. They all got some breakfast and quickly hurried towards the shuttle to the Colosseum. The first fight was starting at 11:00 AM, and they were not missing out on the fight!

* * *

 **A/N Shadow Academy is like Signal Academy. A combat school. I made it up since I figured each Kingdom probably had their own combat prep school.**

 **Thanks for reading! If you're interested in any other RWBY fics, check my Favorites! Most of them that I favor have a pretty decent storyline with its ups and downs, with few to no grammar mistakes. Also, don't expect me to release so fast, although next chapter might come out sooner than planned.**

 **Also, going holy crap on the latest RWBY episode. For those who haven't seen it, I'll just be quiet.**

 **Let's see, review corner!:**

 **Cy: keeping that canon. He can't be everywhere at once. I did consider Amber to be one of the mates, but I threw that idea out.**

 **morlan66: Nope. Be very weird in my opinion.**

 **Ultor: There was a poll about the pairings. I already have the dragons and which mate mark is going to which.**

 **Everybody else! Thanks for reviewing! I read all the reviews, and it really motivates me to keep writing!**


	6. Chapter 6 Rumble at Vacuo

**All right new chapter! Thank my betareader for proofreading it! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Awesome! Hit past 400 fav and 500 Follows! Thanks for the support!**

 **Remember to review when you finish! Help me improve my story!**

 **Edited on 03/01/2017. Made a few adjustement on Vytal Festival Tournament. Counted and found out its 32 teams, not 16. Dam you misinformation! Also extended tournament to six days to sound more reasonable.**

* * *

"You weren't kidding about VIP room," commented Jaune as they sat in a comfortable room with snacks and drinks. They were situated at a perfect height, where they could see all the fights, and yet not be too far away from seeing the details. The room even had television sets so they could watch individual fights if they wanted to. The front row seats were for competitors only.

"I know, right!" said Octavia cheerfully, "Thank Nebula and her dad for these seats."

Jaune chuckled as he took a looked into a holo-display in front of him. He saw team names displayed out on who was participating along with what academy they were from, and when he clicked on the said team, it expanded to show who the members were. Apparently, as long as you were in the academy, there was no age limit. Only skill would be the deciding factor here. The teams that went into the tournament must have two professors to recommend them, by popularity from votes of students, or personally recommended by the headmaster/mistress of the academy. After that, they competed amongst themselves until there was only the eight strongest team from an academy. There were eight teams from each academy, fighting for the glory of their academy. Jaune raised an eyebrow as he quickly typed in Winter's name and found her as team captain of team WNTR. Jaune smirked at that.

The dragons were impressed at the stage and how it could simulate different environments. They agreed that humans had indeed come far.

"I'm rooting for team SFRN!" said Nebula, grabbing a fan flag.

"It's going to be team WNTR who'll win," said Gwen, "That team, especially with Winter Schnee as captain, dominated the last tournament."

"Team SLVR has some pretty hot guys," commented Octavia.

"Do you have a team in mind?" asked Dew towards Jaune. He merely shrugged.

Jaune and the dragons were pretty interested to see how the other Huntsmen and Huntresses in training fought. After a few matches, Jaune was inserting random tactical mistakes some teams made while praising some ideas. Nebula was exchanging plans on who should have done what. Gwen and Octavia were merely cheering them all on. Dew was trying to see what techniques she could steal or learn from watching. When Winter's team came forth, Jaune cheered her on. The girls were slightly shocked to learn that Jaune personally knew her, and soon, they begged him to take them to her for an autograph. Soon, a match that Jaune never imagined came forth.

" _Now introducing Team SFRN of Haven versus Team ARLN of Shade!"_

Jaune stood up as he saw her long-lost sister Saffron Arc standing with her team. Of course, she would be in this tournament! She was four years older than him, which meant she would be in her third year at the academy. He quickly pulled up the display and saw it was her sister in team SFRN, being the leader. He smiled warmly, remembering all the kindness his sisters had shown him. In a rare moment, a teardrop appeared in his eye.

"Jaune?" asked Dew, noticing the teardrop. Jaune quickly waved it off, saying it was nothing before pulling up her sister's opponent. He had noticed that her sister was giving her opponent, a young boy, a death glare. The boy seemed oddly familiar. When he pulled up the name, he froze. For the leader of team ARLN was...

Aurelian Arc.

Jaune's mind froze at that. How was that possible? He knew he only had seven sisters and no brother. What was worse, was the boy seemed to be the age of 18, a second year. After racing through the possibilities, it became clear. His sperm donor, Vlad Arc, apparently had a mistress or mistresses on the side and had them bear him children. No wonder his dam sperm donor never tried to find another way to teach him. He had plenty of other choices! The boy looked like a bleeding clone of his sperm donor!Jaune gripped his hands so hard that it was bleeding. His vision was slowly turning red. Then, he felt someone's hand touch his, clearing the blood lust.

"Jaune? Are you okay? What's wrong?" asked Dew. Nebula, Octavia, and Gwen turned and saw Jaune was bleeding in his hands.

"It's nothing," said Jaune, "Just some bad memories. Cmon, let's watch this fight."

Conceding but planning to bring it up later, for now, the girls turned their attention back to the fight. They could, however, feel Jaune's anger permeating in the room.

* * *

 _At the arena_

"Chill out, sister. You'll get wrinkles," winked Aurelian.

"I am not your sister. I only have one little brother, and it's certainly not you," growled Saffron.

"You mean that failure Jaune? Psh, I show more talent in my pinky than his entire existence," taunted Aurelian.

"Saffron, calm down. We need you to have a clear head to win this," whispered Fizza, Saffron's partner.

Saffron took a deep breath, calming herself down. Her partner was right, they would need a clear head for this fight. The seven sisters had learned of Vlad's mistresses and were not pleased. Yu divorced him immediately but was not allowed to gain custody of her children due to Vlad's influence. Instead, when each girl came of age at 21, they immediately threw away their last name. They were technically of age at 17, but they needed to have the Arc last name to join any school of their choice. Saffron would be the second to last one to join her sisters. The youngest one, Orabelle Arc, was attending a civilian school, hoping to become a doctor.

"For you, Jaune," whispered Saffron.

The bell rung, signaling the fight had started. Saffron immediately activated her Semblance, Enhancement. This semblance allowed her to choose what trait to enhance. She chose an all around enhancement, increasing everything by 30% only. She would need more training to increase it, but if she chose to not increase speed, then she could put more onto power. Still, she chose this one as it would allow them to prepare for any surprises team ARLN had.

Aurelian charged towards Fizza, using the Arc sword style. His great sword also had the ability to transform into an RPG if needed. Fizza tried to block it with her weapon, but with too many swings, Fizza was blasted off the stage.

Saffron didn't sit still, though. She drew out her bastard sword and swung, using the same style, on her opponent. A few seconds later, he was blasted out of the stage when she pulled a trigger on her hand guard, causing her sword to explode on impact.

The fight was long, and soon, it was a 2v3 with SFRN losing. As Aurelian fought Saffron, he taunted her once more.

"How's it feel, to be weaker than me? Don't worry, I'll lead the Arc clan to greatness. Perhaps my first order will be to send a false hope to Jaune and bring him back just to crush him under my feet."

"Shut UP, BASTARD!" shouted Saffron as she swung her blade. She then noticed her Aura was draining faster than normal.

"Finally noticed?" said Aurelian, "My Semblance is Aura Steal. I can drain my opponent's Aura and put them into my own reserve. It has its flaws, but in the end, all shall bow to me."

With a final swing, Aurelian swung and broke Saffron's collar bone as well as forcing her Aura into nothing.

" _And Saffron is out by Aura Level!"_

The last one of team SFRN was also knocked out by low Aura Level. As they left for the lockers, Aurelian taunted her one last time, causing her to just grit her teeth and leave.

"Well, that's the last of the fights for today," said Nebula, "Let's hurry to Atlas Academy's locker rooms! I wanna meet Winter Schnee!"

The girls dragged Jaune towards those lockers. Luckily, the teams of Haven academy were located right next to Atlas while Beacon and Shade were at the other side of the arena. Jaune had no desire to see his apparent half-brother. He put on the hoodie, just in case. Truth be told, he would have rather just gone back, but the girls were too stubborn to let him go.

* * *

Winter Schnee took a breath as she changed her clothes, leaving her weapon in her rocket locker. By rule, they weren't allowed to have their weapon while exploring the city. And she obeyed the rules. She wasn't going to like telling her father that she was planning to join the military after finishing the academy instead of following his business, but that was for later. Plus, Weiss always wanted to be the heiress, and she had inherited the best of mother's trait as well as some of her father's trait, though a few were undesirable. She saw Saffron with a bandage and stepped to meet her.

"You did decent out there," complimented Winter.

"Not as good as I wanted to," mumbled Saffron.

"Hey, it's okay. We all learn from our failures," said Winter, "Not to brag, but your the fact you were able to have Aurelian reveal his semblance helps my team if we face them next round."

Saffron smiled, "As long as you kick their ass, I have no complaints."

They heard a scuffle outside the locker room and went to see what the commotion was about.

"You're not allowed here," said a security staff.

"Cmon! Let us through," pleaded Octavia.

"He knows Winter Schnee personally!" said Dew.

"Pfft, yea, and I'm the head honcho of the SDC," retorted the guard, "Get lost. We don't need fans trying to get in there."

"Just let Winter see this card, and she'll know who I am," said the male in a hoodie. Winter and Saffron couldn't make out who was in the hoodie.

"Joke's over, brat!" said the guard, slapping the card up. It landed right in front of Winter, whose eyes opened wide as she did recognize the card. She picked up the card and strode forward.

"Hold it!" said Winter. The guards turned around quickly.

"Ma'am! Just getting rid of these pests. They won't bother you for long."

"That's enough," said Winter, "It just so happens I am a personal friend with that man, as he is also a good friend of all the Schnee family, including my father."

The guards paled and gulped in fear. They had just disrespected someone who was friends with someone with a lot of power. They turned back to the hooded male and begged him for mercy.

"Relax. You were just doing your job. Just don't be so overzealous next time," said the teenager, waving them off. They thanked him and allowed Saffron and Winter to pass through.

"Come. I'll take you all out for dinner at Royal Buffet. My treat," said Winter as she gave the card back to the hooded teenager. The girls cheered, as they would be spending time with their favorite team leaders. Saffron looked at the hooded teenager. He seemed so familiar.

Soon enough, they were at a private room with food being brought to them. All they had to do was order something off the menu, and it would come to them. The girls were in dreamland while Jaune was having a good time getting some delicious food in.

"So, are you girls going to introduce yourselves?" asked Winter, "I already know him."

The girls blushed and introduced themselves quickly.

"I can't believe Jaune actually knows you!" crowed Gwen.

Saffron perked up at this. Could it be her little brother Jaune? Was he alive?

"Yes, Jaune Ryu-Long is a good friend, even if it for a day only. My father took a liking to him and personally invited him to a concert. It was right after that, he saved my little sister's life from a White Fang assassin," explained Winter.

Saffron's face fell back down. There was no way Jaune could have made it to Atlas from Mistral. Without any Aura or funds, Jaune was most likely dead or scavenging for food. Vacuo wouldn't be kind to him, as the villagers accepted only those who could live in the desert. No pity was given.

"Speaking of which, Jaune, take off that dam hoodie," said Winter, "It's annoying, distracting, and disrespectful."

"Are we in a safe room?" asked Jaune. Saffron twitched but didn't change her expression. It sounded like him, but with a tone that was much deeper.

"Yes, of course. This is a private room," said Winter.

Jaune took off his hood and stared at Saffron, whose eyes were growing bigger by the second.

"Hello, sister."

"SISTER!" shouted all the girls. Saffron didn't say anything as she threw herself on her not so little brother.

"Jaune! JAUNE!" sobbed Saffron as she continued to hug him.

"I'd prefer that none of this information leaves this room at all," said Jaune sternly to the rest of the occupants. They slowly nodded.

Saffron soon stopped sobbing and drew her head up whispering in a quiet voice, "I can't believe you're alive and well. That sick man s-."

Jaune immediately put his finger on her lips,"Let's not talk about the past. I don't want to talk about it if it's possible. I noticed I apparently have a half-brother."

"Two of them," said Saffron, "That sick man decided to have two of them with his mistress. Mom immediately divorced him after she found out. Unfortunately, the Arc name is influential, and she wasn't able to gain custody of us. However, all of us decided to follow mom and throw away our last name when we hit 21. I'm the second to last one. Jaune, you should come with me! Come back home to mom and the rest of the family! Mom got a nice settlement from the divorce, and the rest of the family is doing well that we got a rather large house."

"I can't," answered Jaune, "If that man knows I'm still alive, he can easily use that influence to force me back to him. There, he could easily 'hide' my body. I can't afford to be found until I hit 17 and get into the academy. If I could, I probably would have accepted the adoption that my friend and her family offered me."

Saffron hung her head down in resignation, knowing that it was true. Their conversation was held in whispers, so none of the other occupants heard what the conversation was about.

"Allow me to explain," said Jaune, turning to Winter and the girls, "I said sister, but I only call her that because she used to take care of me when I was younger. Some events happened, and we were separated. She thought I died."

Jaune and Saffron winced inside. They didn't like hiding the truth, but it was needed.

"Let's stop with history talk," said Jaune, "and talk about something else."

Everyone agreed and continued to eat their dinner, talking about the competitors. Nebula, Dew, Gwen, and Octavia got their autographs from Winter, who was amused by them. Saffron talked with Jaune for a bit more about her life. Jaune, however, remained silent for the rest of the night. For Saffron, it was easy to see why he didn't want to talk to anybody. He was still reeling from the fact that Vlad had gone and sired another son, one that would take over the Arc family someday. The others huffed in irritation but left him alone with Saffron. Soon, they were all walking towards Dew's home. Dew offered Winter and Saffron to stay for the night. They shook their head and said they needed to head back to Shade academy to sleep with their team. Winter needed to plan out with her team. They offered to at least walk them safely back home.

* * *

They were walking when Jaune noticed the street was unusually silent. Looking around, he noticed the nearby shops completely closed.

"Umm guys? I think something's wrong,"

Winter and Saffron noticed it, too, and quickly pulled out their Scrolls to call their weapon. However, before they managed to do so, their Scrolls suddenly sparked with electricity before breaking down. The same were with the rest of the girls.

"Hey what gives?" asked Nebula, shaking her Scroll.

"So. You're the one who my people tried to attack. How fortunate that I meet you here."

They turned around to see a female with a Grimm mask covering her face. She was dressed in red and black, with long black hair and what seemed to be a giant sheath for a simple long blade.

"Get behind me," said Winter quickly stepping forward. Saffron also stepped forward to shield Jaune and the girls. Both of them recognized the woman as leader of a notorious bandit clan.

"What do you want with him?" asked Saffron.

"Merely to talk to him. I do not need any obstacles or distractions, so leave," replied the woman.

"Not happening, Raven Branwen!" shouted Winter.

"So, you know who I am," said Raven as she removed her mask, "Looks like Ironwood has trained his little dog well. Not well enough." With a snap of her finger, 10 more people showed up to surround them.

"Just leave the boy with us, and you'll go free without harm," said Raven.

"Not happening," retorted Saffron.

Very well, then." said Raven as she lifted her hand up.

"Wait!" shouted Jaune, stepping forward, "You wanted me? Then talk. Why are you coming for me?"

Raven smirked, "Why, don't you remember? Perhaps seeing this person might job your memory."

From behind her, the one-eyed bandit came out. Jaune's eye widened in surprise.

"Ah, I see you do remember. The group of people you mercilessly killed" stated Raven.

The female of Jaune's group turned to Jaune in horror.

"They tried to kill me. I only acted in self-defense," said Jaune coldly. "Are you for revenge?"

"I know. That's why I'm impressed. You are strong, so you live. They were weak, so they died. That's the way the world works. That's how our clan works. I'm here to offer you a choice. Come with us," announced Raven.

"No," replied Jaune immediately, "I have no desire to become someone who preys on the innocent, who robs people of their light."

"A pity," said Raven, "Perhaps you'll come with us when we separate you from your weak friends."

With a slight tilt of her head, the bandits charged. Before they could blink, Jaune had thrown his hoodie at one, blinding him and forcing him to not notice Jaune was already on him, punching the bandit right into the ground, fracturing the cement ground. Another bandit drew out his staff, transforming it into a battle axe, and tried to slice him horizontally. Jaune had his hands already formed as dragon claws, sinking his fingers into the bit of the axe, letting the edge barely touching his palm.

"What!?" shouted the bandit, trying to push his axe in with all his might. Jaune smirked as he poured a bit more aura and strength into his fingers.

"The dragon's claw rips those who defy those who try to control him with power!"

The axe suddenly shattered into pieces. The bandit couldn't even yelp as Jaune punched the bandit in the face before doing a front flip and landing an axe kick on the man's head, leaving him unconscious.

"So, you're strong even without a weapon. That only makes me want you in my clan even more," said Raven. "What fortune to stumble upon a diamond in the rough."

"Jaune?" said Saffron in amazement. The Jaune she knew wasn't this skilled.

Jaune merely shifted back to a fighting position again. He might be unarmed but he was far from helpless. Especially since he had taken off all his weights for the day.

Before Raven could step forward, Winter attacked Raven. Even without her weapon, Winter had training with unarmed combat. It was a requirement upon entering the Atlas military.

"Useless," scoffed Raven as she dodged Winter's attacks. Saffron was busy dealing with 2 other bandits

Nebula, Dew, Gwen, and Octavia were also busy dealing with their own opponents. Jaune was fighting against Raven's top two bandits.

Winter was pushing Raven into a corner. She kept using her Semblance and summoning light Beowolves and small Nevermores to distract Raven. Raven found them annoying as she sliced them in half, only to dodge a kick from Winter as she also entered into close quarters as soon as her summons dissipated. It seemed as though Winter was winning, but in reality, she was draining too much Aura from all her attacks while Raven was barely using any. When Raven finally found herself with her back to the wall. Winter jumped into the air, her right leg raised high into the air, ready to bring it down on Raven's head. It seemed as though it would land on Raven's head when Saffron was blasted into Winter by her opponent.

"Lucky me," said Raven as she drew out her blade. Unable to react, she sliced both her enemies. Their Aura took the majority of the hit, but they were unable to prevent a deep gash from the chest to the waist. Their bodies shimmered for a sec before it broke down, like static going throughout their body.

"Urg," they both dropped down in pain. Raven lifted her sword into the sky.

"Die." Raven slashed down towards Saffron's head. Suddenly Jaune appeared between them both. He had managed to push the bandits away from him to give him time to dash between Raven and her victims.

"Jaune! Get out of the way!" shouted Saffron and Winter.

"Jaune! NO!" screamed Dew. She tried using her semblance, but it wasn't perfected yet. She had to concentrate to form a whirlwind, and the opponent she was fighting wasn't allowing her to do so. Aryz noticed, though, and was intrigued.

* * *

Raven was puzzled. Why and how would this man try to block her attack with just his bare hands?

Jaune smirked as he put a new technique he had learned to the test. He put his right fist up, palm upwards, letting it come near the blade that was aiming for him. He touched the side of the blade with his jutting bent thumb before twisting his whole fist and arm, resulting in a corkscrew punch. He launched it right towards Raven's face who looked shocked to see her blade sliding harmlessly along Jaune's arm while his fist was incoming towards her face. Too late to move back, Jaune landed a punch right into Raven's face, who flew back a few feet before landing on her feet again.

Everyone stopped fighting for a second. The bandits were in shock that their seemingly invincible and untouchable boss actually got hit from the teenager, while Winter and Saffron were amazed. Dew was screaming with joy inside.

Raven spat out some blood while using her free hand to feel that bruise that was forming on her face. Her Aura would take care of that, but it hurt her pride that she got hit by someone who hadn't even gone to combat school. She signaled her top two men to stand down, as she would take care of this. They nodded and went after Winter and Saffron, who had managed to get back up, to prevent them from interfering with Raven's fight. Winter and Saffron had to deal with two opponents each, now.

"I really am fortunate. You're even stronger than I thought," Raven grinned before she charged in slashing again.

This time, Jaune was forced to defend as he couldn't attack her at all. She was too fast, too experienced for Jaune. He tried to use the same attack as before, but she was able to read it and dodge the attack with ease before kicking him in the stomach. Jaune blocked it, but it forced him to take a more defensive stance now. Even with his dodge training, Raven was able to predict where he would go with ease. She could slip her sword into his defense and stab him at several non-vitals. Luckily his Aura took the hits, but Raven was draining it fast. Not to mention that when she slashed, she always seemed to get lucky and force Jaune into an even worse position. Raven managed to even slash through his Aura and right onto his chest. His shirt ripped open, revealing his Mithril shirt for all to see. Jaune was lucky he had worn his shirt, otherwise, he would've been bleeding from that attack. Raven raised an eyebrow at this. So this teenager was well-connected in his sources too.

" _ **Jaune. Link up with me,"**_ said Othim, no joking tone in his voice, _**"You can't win like this. She's too strong for you right now. We'll have to reveal your secret to these people, but at least with my power, we won't attract too much attention since it's night and our opponent has been kind enough to remove other people from this area."**_

Jaune gritted his teeth. He didn't want to reveal his dragon contract and nature yet. If Vlad Arc ever found out before Jaune turned 17, he would force Jaune into a political marriage, have him make a few kids, before killing him before claiming the Dragon Clan as part of the Arc family. That, and it still took awhile to link up with his dragons. It wasn't perfected yet as he didn't get all of their powers when linked, and he had to visit the last cave to train. There was also no guarantee he would win. He may have the edge in speed and power from the contract, but Raven was still far ahead of him in technical skill and experience.

" _ **I know it that it's risky, but right now, that woman is a serious threat,"**_ said Lung Wang.

" _ **Show them what it means to truly fight a dragon,"**_ stated Fafnir.

Jaune managed to force Raven back after taking another hit to his forearm, leaving a gash before jumping attack had managed to cut through his Aura. He channeled all his remaining Aura, and his Aura flared up for everyone to see. The Aura formed into a dragon's head, and Raven felt like she was being stared at an ancient creature far older than even the Grimm.

She unconsciously took a step back when one of the lamp poles suddenly collapsed from all the fighting and fell right towards her. Raven instantly sliced the pole away.

"Nice one, boss. That was bad luck that pole just fell down like that," commented a bandit.

'Bad luck?' mused Raven before realizing something important. She turned around, blade up just in time to block another blade aiming right at her body.

"Hello, little brother," said Raven.

"Hey, sis," replied Qrow before flipping over to where Jaune was. Jaune instantly ceased channeling his Aura, interested at what was happening.

"QROW!" shouted Winter.

"Hey there, Ice Queen," answered Qrow as he shouldered his blade, "I'll talk with you later."

Qrow looked at Raven, "The Hunters and Shade Academy have noticed something wrong here already and are on their way. I suggest you back off from this kid for now."

Raven gritted her teeth. It looked like her luck had run out for now. Scoffing she turned around before slicing a portal open. Her bandits quickly walked in, but not before giving a death glare to Qrow and Jaune. As Raven was about to walk in, she turned around one last time towards Jaune.

"Remember my offer, Jaune. You are strong and have power. My clan will always be willing to accept you as one of us if you join us. You may even become my successor. After all, not many can say they have laid a hand on me," said Raven seductively.

"Cougar," coughed Qrow. Raven glared at him before disappearing into the portal.

* * *

"What did she mean by that?" asked Qrow as he uncorked his flask to take a chug of his whiskey.

"I punched her in the face," deadpanned Jaune. Qrow lifted his eyebrow at that. He was impressed. Even if done by accident, it was really rare for anyone to be able to hit his sister at all. All that dam good luck helped her a bit too easily.

"Jaune, are you all right?" asked Winter, still clutching her wound.

"Ice queen, you should be more worried about yourself," chuckled Qrow, "With those injuries, you're in no shape to fight in the Vytal Tournament Festival."

Winter grinded her teeth at that. She had first met Qrow during earlier in her second year. At first, she admired the legendary hunter. Until he started to reveal his nature as a blunt drunkard. Winter lost any respect for him then and there. It was true, though, that the recovery would take at least a week, which meant it would be too late for her to recover in time. The tournament lasted only six days, each event fight lasting two days. Two for team, two for duo, and two for solo.

"Sorry about that," apologized Jaune as he scratched his head, "Didn't think she would be after me."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Jaune," replied Winter, "It was just a stroke of bad luck." Qrow slightly winced at this before telling himself that this time, it wasn't his fault.

"Is that a Mithril shirt, Jaune?" asked Gwen. Everyone stared at Jaune and noticed the shimmering shirt. "How did you get that?" she continued her question.

"Friend made it for me," replied Jaune before finding the hoodie he had dropped and quickly put it on, his tone telling them he wasn't going to explain.

"Well, then. Let's get out of here. I'll accompany you to your homes before I go find the Headmistress of Shade. Tell her she needs to buff up here security," announced Qrow.

Jaune, Nebula, Dew, Gwen, and Octavia were quickly taken to Dew's house, and after promising to come back, Qrow dropped Winter and Saffron back at Shade.

"So, are you planning to become a Huntsmen?" asked Dew to Jaune, trying to break the tension that hard formed in her house.

"Yea. It would be interesting to participate in the Vytal Tournament Festival. Lot's of people to fight in a controlled environment," said Jaune.

"Ooh! You should go to Shade Academy with us!" said Octavia, "You'd easily get in. We can even vouch for you!"

"No," said Jaune calmly, "I will not go to that one. There's a certain person in there I do not want to meet."

You mean Aurelian? Sure, he beat your sister, but he can't be that bad, right?" asked Nebula. Jaune merely shook his head, unwilling to explain it further. He just told them that there was a bad history between his family and him.

Dew felt her heart slightly break. Here was a boy she was attracted to, and he just told them flat out he wouldn't be going to Shade Academy. She wanted to either convince him to join or convince her friends to attend whatever school he was going to go, but knew that would be too selfish of her.

A series of knocks rang out from the door, and they knew it was Qrow. After quickly letting him in, they all went back to sleep, with Qrow keeping an eye out for them.

* * *

The next few days went past in a blur. They watched as Aurelian was named champion of the 39th Vytal Festival Tournament, much to Jaune's dislike. After that, Jaune decided it was time to visit the shop Hephaestus had mentioned. Before Qrow left, he called Jaune over.

"Here kid. Heard you wanted to be a Huntsmen. It's very rare that I give this out, but you definitely deserve this recommendation from yours truly. Show it to any academy, and it'll raise your chances to get in, even if you're not from a combat prep school."

Soon enough, most of the tourists left for their homes. Jaune was still staying at Dew's house for the moment while Nebula and the rest returned home.

One day, while the girls were all at Shadow Academy, Jaune went to the shop _Armor Amour._ As soon as he entered, he heard a gruff voice, "Aren't you a bit young to not be at school?"

Jaune turned around to see a gray-haired man with slightly long hair and a long beard. From his build, it was obvious he was the blacksmith Hephaestus had told him about. He was smoking a cigar pipe.

"I'm here to have some armor crafted. I was-"

"Not interested," replied the man. "I, Wayland the Smith, will not craft armor because some privileged snot nose brat wants me to. I already dealt with another blondie named Aurelian, who demanded I should feel honored he even chose me."

Jaune bit back his laughter, but Wayland caught it, "So you don't like him either."

Jaune nodded his head.

"Just because you agree with me, doesn't mean I'll help you still. You're just a bit higher than that brat for now," said Wayland.

Jaune shrugged before pulling out a chunk of Fleytium, about half the size of the Adamantine ore back in the cave, he had actually found in his travels and not in the caves. It was by complete accident while he was still walking towards Vacuo. He was hunting for food when the deer jumped towards the cliff, causing boulders to fall and cause a landslide. Jaune wanted to use wings to avoid the landslide, but Lung Wang told him to man up and run for his life. It was an excellent training session, in Lung Wang's opinion, but Jaune had been terrified. In the end, he couldn't outrun it, so he hopped on rocks that were falling, hoping to not fall. At the end, when the landslide finally stopped, he cheered out loud, declaring his victory. Then, another rock fell from the sky right into his face, almost knocking him out. Jaune suffered having a black eye for a few days as a reminder to always be on guard, even when certain victory seemed imminent. In turn, though, he found the ore he needed in the landslide.

"I have the materials. I just need you to craft. Hephaestus recommended you for my crafting my armor," stated Jaune.

Wayland was not a person who could be surprised easily. He looked at the ore, then at Jaune, then back to the ore. He checked his pipe to make sure it was tobacco. He then puffed it again. He walked towards a window and opened it, taking a deep breath of air. He looked back at the ore again to see it was still there. He walked around it to inspect it. He touched it to make sure it was real. He stood back up to take a puff of his pipe. He sat down on his chair, grabbing his Scroll and putting it on the big screen he had on his wall. A dialing tone could be seen going out. Soon, the screen had Hephaestus on the screen.

"Is this the kid who you told me about?" asked Wayland as he pointed to Jaune.

Hephaestus looked at the direction and saw Jaune with a big lump of ore right next to him.

"Jaune!" shouted Hephaestus, "You haven't called us in ages. Pyrrha's been quite upset and took her anger out on some poor schmucks who tried to hit on her. You're lucky I'm at Pyrrha's house right now, lemme call your 'wife'."

Hephaestus looked away from the screen, calling for Pyrrha. A voice yelled back, and when Hephaestus said the magic word, a red and bronze blur came rushing through the stairs. Hephaestus didn't even have time to move as a javelin shot out and moved him out of the way, pinning him to a wall.

"Jaune! Are you all right!? Why haven't you called earlier? I was so worried!" shouted Pyrrha.

"Yea, so was I, but that's no longer my primary concern," shouted Hephaestus, "I'm more concerned with explaining to your parents why I'm stuck on the wall with the weapon I made you."

Pyrrha blushed before using her Semblance to unpin him from the wall, "I'm sorry!"

Hephaestus grunted as he walked over to Pyrrha, taking the Scroll from her and putting it into a port on a bigger screen so they could both see Jaune without crowding around the Scroll.

"Told you your wife was worried," said Hephaestus. Pyrrha blushed and punched her uncle on his arm.

"Wife?" asked Wayland with an eye raise, "Aren't they a bit young? And what about her parents. I recall they're pretty strict."

"Oh right, I didn't get to tell you," said Hephaestus, "Pyrrha unlocked Jaune's aura in front of us."

Wayland grinned at that, "I see. And those two didn't know the significance of that, did they?"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha blushed at that. Hephaestus chuckled before getting back on track, "So I'm guessing this call is also for something else?"

"Yea. I'm just going to say this once. And you know my character that it's rare I do this," said Wayland. He walked to Jaune, looking him straight in the eye. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIND THIS MUCH FLEYTIUM, AND AT HIGH PURITY?!"

Hephaestus laughed at the sight of Wayland shaking Jaune back and forth, "I told you the kid would surprise you. Feel like making his armor now?"

"Very. I haven't had someone bring me such good materials for a long time. Most of them expect me to find it," said Wayland, "Do you have a design in mind?"

Jaune nodded as he gave him a notebook, containing all his armor details.

"I would give you the blueprints on a Scroll, but I was attacked while on my travels. The bandit used some sort of mobile EMP device and blew up my Scroll."

Pyrrha gasped, "Are you all right? No wonder you haven't been able to contact my uncle. Do you need me to come over and give you a new one? I'm sure mom and dad will be able to get one for you."

"That's all right, Pyrrha. I'll grab one myself later. I only have one and a half years left before I apply to an academy. I can last without one for the while," answered Jaune.

"But I won't be able to contact you," pouted Pyrrha. "Have you decided on an academy?"

"I'm not telling," teased Jaune. Pyrrha frowned before forming another question, "Is there one you don't want to go?"

"Shade Academy," replied Jaune automatically.

Wayland chuckled, "You really don't like that Aurelian kid, don't you."

"The one who was crowned champion recently?" clarified Pyrrha. They both nodded. Pyrrha secretly grinned. That was one school she knew Jaune wouldn't go, raising her chances of going to the same academy as Jaune. She didn't care if they had just won, all she cared was to be with Jaune.

Wayland took the scroll off the screen and handed it to Jaune, telling him that he would let him talk with Pyrrha as long as he wanted while he started to work on the armor. They talked through the whole day, telling each other of what had happened in their lives. Golga and Leonidas joined in and saw Jaune. The whole Nikos family was talking with Jaune, as if he was their family, too. When Jaune told them about Dew and how she was letting her stay at her house for a bit, Pyrrha frowned. She was jealous another teenager like her was with Jaune, and what was worse was apparently her parent's weren't home either.

'I'm not letting some other girl get my Jaune. I'll fight her if I have to," thought Pyrrha. She knew Jaune was a perfect gentleman and would not take advantage of Dew, but was worried that Dew might try to seduce him.

* * *

Jaune returned back to Dew's house. The days passed by and Wayland was done with his armor. Of course, Jaune went back to Wayland's house to talk with Pyrrha, who wanted to see him at every day until it was time for him to leave Vacuo. Back at Dew's house, he would talk and hang out with Dew, getting closer together.

"Not bad, kid. I like how it looks," commented Wayland. Dew had decided to come with him for once, and also liked what she saw. Pyrrha was unable to talk with Jaune for the day as she had to fight and a photo shoot scheduled.

Jaune had gone for a simple light armor design, allowing him to wear his hoodie. He had shoulder pauldrons on each side that extended all the way to his elbow. On each shoulder was, the pauldron was designed to look like a dragon's head. He had wristbands on both wrists that with a flick of a wrist, became forearm guards should he ever need to use CQC against someone with a weapon. It extended from the back of his hand, right before the knuckle, all the way down to almost the elbow. The construction of it was that there was a plate in each section, slightly stacked after each plate end, similar to a dragon's scale. He also had leg armor that protected his shins and knees. They were loose enough that he could still wear his jeans in them. The overall color of the armor was silver.

"I like it, Wayland. Hephaestus was right to recommend you," said Jaune as he put his shield on his back and sheath with his sword back at his waist. It was time for him to go. Fafnir had pinpointed the next and last nesting ground they would visit. It was in between Vacuo and Vale. As Jaune prepared to leave, Dew asked where his clothes were. He stuttered before lying, saying he had some of them shipped off to the next major city he was to visit. Dew questioned him further, but Jaune wouldn't explain.

"Sorry, Dew. It's best if nobody knows where I'm going next. Thanks for letting me stay with you," thanked Jaune, grabbing 3 white Lien cards and pressing it onto her hands. Dew gasped at the amount Jaune was giving her and tried to have him take it back, but Jaune shrugged it off.

"Fine," pouted Dew, "But one more thing."

Dew leaned in and kissed Jaune on the cheek. She wanted to kiss him on lips, but unfortunately, Jaune had turned when Wayland called for him. Still, at least she tried, and she was too nervous to do it again.

"Remember me in your travels. I'm sure we'll meet again as opposing teams in the next Vytal Festival Tournament." Dew gave him her number, making him swear to call her once he finally got a Scroll.

Jaune nodded, giving her a hug before leaving Vacuo. As soon as he hit the outskirts, he linked up with Alaerth, sprouting yellow scaly wings. He and the dragons wanted to reach the last site as soon as possible and continue his training. With a great flap of his wings, Jaune shot off into the sky and in a straight line towards the nesting grounds.

* * *

Raven was standing outside of Vacuo, waiting at the main road that leads from Vacuo. She was confident that Jaune would pass by this road. If not, she had others watching the other known roads. This time, she would get Jaune. Before she could think about how to seduce him, with her body or with one of her clan members, she heard a crack of what seemed to be lightning. She didn't have time to look up when a sonic boom washed right over her, forcing her to land on her back.

"What was that?" said Raven out loud. She didn't notice that Jaune had just flown right past her. Still, she decided to wait on the road for a week. She never saw Jaune and decided to give up for the time being. She'd find him sooner or later.

* * *

 **So, what'd you guys think! I tried to have Raven seem flirty, just like Yang. Except the difference is she's a mature beautiful lady while Yang's a hot teenager.**

 **Hoped you guys liked it! I'm trying to portray Jaune with a reasonable growth, not super op at the beginning. Granted, he has dragons as trainers and trains almost all the time. He'll be a gentleman, but he will have his flaws, such as Arc issues. More on that later in the story!**

 **If it wasn't obvious, Dew is part of the harem. I couldn't put her name onto my pairing list, as it doesn't have her name as a choice. Closest is Team NDGO, and I'm not pairing all of them with Jaune, merely one.**

 **As for the OCs, I did follow the color name rule.**

 **Read and Review!**

 **Review Corner:**

 **Shashenka: We're getting close to it! I can feel it!**

 **Cy: Points to pairing list. It does say team RWBY.**

 **Dp11: Eh, I'm more of conveying his generosity. Out of all the money he got, he gave the majority of it away.**


	7. Chapter 7 Heading to Vale

**All right! New Chapter! Hope you enjoy this! Also, my beta also had a hand in writing this! More about it at the end of this chapter.**

 **Also, I feel like many people got this confused. Raven is NOT part of the harem. I only portrayed her as somewhat seductive/flirty as to kinda match up with Yang's personality. Not to mention, she does follow the idea that the strong live, weak die. And she see's Jaune as strong.**

 **Nor am I putting all the NDGO girls as part of his mate, just Dew. Yes, there are mistresses in harems, but I do not plan on putting that. The girls in Jaune's list are just team RWBY, Pyrrha, and Dew. Nobody else! Sorry if you're disappointed that this won't be every single women in the series is with Jaune, but I only have those in mind. Nor will it change. Some might be wondering, that's only 6 girls, there are 7 dragons. That will be explained later, in the next chapter.**

 **Enough talk! On with the story!**

 **Read and Review!**

* * *

Jaune was now sixteen, soon to be seventeen, and had been meditating within the nesting grounds of the continent of Sanus. Most of his physical training was almost complete, now he was just maintaining it. Instead, most of his time went into training with his Aura and senses. He was able to link up with any of his dragons instantaneously now and was working on linking up with multiple of them at a time. Lung Wang was still working on muscles Jaune thought he'd never use, while Aryz and Alaerth were continuing his basic education. This time, Andusk and Othim were the ones who took charge of the majority of training. Andusk was guiding Jaune how to sense other people Aura levels. The Scroll might have a system where it can sync and read Aura levels, but the ability to sense it without having to peek back at the Scroll would be much easier to keep track of a fight. Not to mention since Huntsmen and Huntresses in training were in teams, this would allow Jaune to easily keep track of his own allies' aura level and the enemy. Othim taught Jaune how to keep his blend in with nature, or devious tactics that could disguise his intents.

Of course, Jaune was also getting a crash course on how to wield each element. To Jaune, it felt amazing being able to control the elements without the need to use Dust, though it still had its uses. Jaune had bought some to test out some techniques and found out he could combine it with his elemental techniques or empower it if needed, and even recharge empty Dust crystals with his elemental aura. He was able to learn the basics of Dust Manipulation, although it was easier just to link up with a dragon to use a specified element.

Jaune decided it was time to head to Vale when Autumn was about to end. After visiting the city, he would finally decide on which academy he would choose. Application to Academies would start soon, as they began the semester in February. Before he left, he took a bag of seeds that was in the cave. The dragons wouldn't tell him what it was, just that it was very valuable.

Deciding on a leisure flight, Jaune sprouted green feathery wings and flew up into the sky. As he was flying, he noticed a train in the distance. Getting closer, he saw it was carrying Schnee approved Dust cargo as well as civilians and crew members. And the White Fang had invaded it.

Sighing, Jaune took out a piece of cloth from his bag to and wrapped it carefully around his head, allowing only his eyes to be seen. He began his dive towards the train. Sensing distress at the front cart, he ignored all the fighting at the back and shot towards it. He figured it was where all the civilians were and wanted to make sure they were safe first.

* * *

Blake Belladonna was reconsidering her choices about the White Fang. When her father had been the leader, it had been peaceful protests, with a few riots breaking out. She was born into a legacy of trying to improve Faunus right, so when her father retired, she felt like it was her duty to uphold the legacy. She slightly felt like her father was running away from doing what he should be truly doing instead of becoming mayor of Menagerie. Not to mention she had been captivated by Adam Taurus and his passion for Faunus equality. This lead to an argument with her father, which lead to her running away with Adam to fight for equality. Adam trained her, became her friend, her partner, and later boyfriend. However, Blake failed to realize that Adam did not truly want equality. He wanted humans to fear the Faunus, and felt like they were the superior beings.

Still, she turned a blind eye to the superiority complex. Then, Adam was given the position of leader of the Vale branch when Blake was 14 while Adam was 18. Two years had passed, and Adam's viciousness towards all humans grew to the point Blake could no longer ignore it.

She had joined to Faunus to have equality, not to be feared! So, with a heavy heart, she would use the mission to rob the train to leave Adam and the White Fang for good. She would then devote her time to becoming a Huntress. With her combat skills, she was sure she could get in.

They ran down the hillside before jumping onto the back of the train. The train was carrying several tons of Dust, as well as having a few passengers in the front. Adam swore that they were only going for the dust, making Blake agree to it. After they stabilized themselves, they jumped into a cargo hold just to encounter a room full of security robots.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way," said Adam.

"Don't be so dramatic," replied Blake as she got her weapon out.

* * *

As Adam and Blake hijacked the train from the back, causing most of the security droids to run towards them, in the front, White Fang members disguised as civilian members took the chance as soon as security was gone to hijack the engine room and civilian cart. The civilians and crew members had no choice but to obey and were herded all in the cart right behind the engine.

"Hehe, You humans are going to get what you deserve," sneered a White Fang member with fox ears.

"I can't wait to see the look at the SDC's face when they find out they're responsible for the death of 'innocent' lives while also having their cargo taken," said another member with a ferret tail.

"They'll get what they deserve, just like the rest of humanity," snarled a member with whiskers like a rat.

"Please, spare my children at least!" begged a mother of two.

"Spare me your drivel," spat the fox member, "Your children are guilty already! In fact, they'll be the first to go!"

The rat member giggled as he dragged the two children away from the mother. Others tried to intervene, but they were beaten up. Even civilian Faunus that protested against this were branded as 'traitors'. The rat Faunus point his gun at the two children, a boy and a girl. The boy, who was older, hugged his younger sister as if to protect her. The man's finger twitched, ready to fire when...

* * *

 ***CRASH***

* * *

The ceiling of the cart caved in. Before the White Fang members knew what was happening, a shield came flying towards the rat member. It bounced off his face and into two others, knocking them unconscious before it came back to what seemed to be a man with green feathery wings with a cloth mask. The children gaped in awe at the man who had intervened and protected them.

"A Faunus?" gaped a female member, "But there hasn't been a report of any flying Faunus!"

"Doesn't matter," growled Jaune as he punched another White Fang member. Soon enough, the only conscious ones were in front of Jaune. This allowed Jaune to take off his worry about protecting the innocent. All he had to do was worry about what was in front of him.

"Who are you, traitor! Why do you not help your brothers-in-race!?' snarled the fox member.

"Who I am matters not," said Jaune, "You were about kill innocent people, especially children who have not even had a chance to shine. Your lack of respect for life disgusts me. I give you this warning once. Lay down your weapons and surrender yourselves to the proper authorities. If you do not comply... then your souls will most likely be taken to the afterlife."

"Ha, like I'm afraid," sneered a weasel member. "There's only one of you, ten of us, you can't fly, and you have to defend those sinners."

His words encouraged other members to cheer and take arms. However, two of them wisely put their weapon down and had their hands on their heads. They charged forward, but it was their last act. Jaune pointed his shield on his left arm and with a swift tap, a double-barreled shotgun appeared. The ones in the front widened their eyes in fear just as Jaune pulled the trigger. What was worse was the shotgun was an automatic shotgun, so 4 buckshot flew out at once. Jaune had loaded his shotgun with piercing bullets. With Jaune reinforcing himself with Aura to block out the recoil, they flew straight at the White Fang. Some of the White Fang had Aura to protect them, but the majority of them were now sporting injuries that would be fatal if not treated. Two of them were dead.

One of them rasped into a comm link, "Leader... We need help.. Several brothers and sisters dying."

Jaune smashed his foot into that one, knocking him unconscious. He turned around to the hostages, folding his wings into his back.

"Are you all alright? Do any of you need medical attention?" asked Jaune as he checked on the children who were almost killed. The mother of the children quickly ran to them, hugging hostages shook their head. Their wounds were superficial and would heal in time. However, they felt a bit queasy that the man was willing to kill. Still, it's not like the White Fang would have shown them mercy anyways. One of the crew members quickly grabbed some rope and tied up all the White Fang members. One of them was tempted to just throw them off the train, but the captain decided that they needed to report them to the proper authorities.

"Hmph. Lucky little bastards" cussed the rat member as he woke up. The mother immediately kicked the rat into the wall as revenge.

"Are you an angel, mister?" asked the young female child who was hugging her mother.

"He is, isn't he?" replied the older male child. The other adults were still in shock at being rescued.

Jaune smiled as he ruffled the two children's hair, "No, just a protector of life, a guardian against those who wish to unjustly extinguish other lights."

At that, he turned around to head towards the back of the train.

"Where are you going, mister angel?" Asked the younger child. The other adults asked the same thing.

"There are still two more White Fang members. Much stronger than the ones here. From what I can tell, they are heading here. I'm going to stop them from getting here," said Jaune as he ran through the door and flew out.

* * *

Blake and Adam were rushing towards the front of the train. They had just defeated a mecha spider, and Blake was about to enact her plan when they got an SOS. When Adam received the SOS message, he was furious and ran. Blake was also mad that some of her White Fang brothers and sisters were in danger, though she wondered why they were at the front of the train. The plan was only to hijack the Schnee's cargo, or at least that was what she had been told. That, and also when Adam told her he was planning to blow up the train without any care of the crew members, which was a surprise for her.

Suddenly, they saw a man with green feathery wings floating in front of them.

"Going somewhere?" asked the winged figure as he floated down to the floor, withdrawing his wings into his back.

Jaune observed the two who had been running towards the front. The red haired bull Faunus with the Grimm mask was definitely strong, and so was the pale girl with black hair. At this, Jaune was slightly confused. The girl didn't seem to be a Faunus, and yet she was running with the White Fang? That she seemed very familiar. Almost like someone he saw in Menagerie. Then, Jaune remembered Kali Belladonna. Grabbing the photo from his bag, he took a look and glanced at the female. Looked very similar. And the bow on the girl's hair was something Kali told him about too.

"Faunus brother. Why do you fight against us? I am Adam Taurus, leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang. This is my partner Blake Belladonna," said Adam.

'Well, that answers my question if that was Blake,' thought Jaune mentally.

"Come with us. With your flying ability, we could show those humans what equality is," continued Adam, trying to work a silver tongue. Jaune saw right through it.

"Several problems with that," said Jaune, "I can tell you're not about equality. You're all about revenge and wanting to show who the superior race is. You're willing to kill other Faunus who don't follow your ways. You're willing to extinguish the lives of innocent civilians. Your members tried to shoot children in front of a mother."

Blake widened her eyes at that. She looked at Adam and was further shocked that Adam didn't even seem to care.

"And your point?" asked Adam, "Those filthy humans deserve what's coming to them. Them and their spawns. I was planning to plant some bombs anyways."

"Adam! You promised nobody would get hurt!" said Blake.

"Shut up! It's only a few people for the glory of all the Faunus race!" snarled Adam.

Jaune was convinced. Blake merely wanted equality but still had some morals. Adam just wanted to kill anyone in his way.

"I've heard enough," said Jaune as he drew out his blade and shield from his back.

"Hmph. Fine then, traitor," said Adam. The three of them stared off at each other for a bit. Suddenly, behind Adam and Blake, a mecha spider came out, guns blazing.

"I thought you destroyed it!" shouted Blake as she dodged the blasts.

"I did! This must be another one! I'll take care of this robot, go for the traitor!" shouted Adam as he charged towards the mech.

Blake charged towards Jaune, who had his weapon ready. He quickly flicked his shield to hand cannon mode and shot Blake's knee. It seemed to hit, but suddenly, Blake left a shadow in its place and dodged it, swinging her blade at Jaune. Jaune swung his blade at the sword, forcing her back up. She dashed forward, and the two clashed blades. Blake tried to use her agility, but was easily negated. Getting desperate, she jumped above Jaune. Jaune responded bydoing a vertical thrust kick with his left leg. Again, she used a shadow to take it and got behind Jaune when she landed.

" _ **Interesting,"**_ said Othim, _**"This girl's semblance is Shadows. She makes solid shadow clones to aid her in taking hits, distracting, or propelling herself forward."**_

As Othim was saying it, Blake made another one and used it as a foothold to dash towards Jaune's open back. Jaune was still in his vertical thrust kick position, so he merely hopped with his right foot before performing a spin kick with his right leg right towards Blake's head. Blake gasped and blocked it with her sword. The impact forced her down to her knees.

"Blake!" shouted Adam as he dodged another shot from the mecha-droid. He needed time to channel some Aura into his blade and absorb some attacks if he wanted to use his Semblance Moonslice.

Blake gritted her teeth and pushed Jaune off before jumping back, collapsing her weapon into another mode and throwing her weapon Gambol Shroud at Jaune. He ducked under it before noticing there was a ribbon tied to it.

With a pull, the gunblade let out a firing noise and came flying back towards Jaune's head. Jaune quickly did a back flip to dodge it. Blake, figuring she had the advantage at range, started to swing it like a kusarigama. However, Jaune easily blocked or dodged them all before pointing his shield at Blake and fired his hand cannon. Blake paused her attack to dodge it, but it gave enough time for Jaune to close in bash her with his shield. Stunned, Blake couldn't' move in time before Jaune's sword slashed down. The attack drained her Aura to almost nothing. Before she could try to run, Jaune had sheathed his blade already, using the free hand to pin her down to the floor.

"Let me go!" shouted Blake, struggling as hard as she could.

"I'm here on behalf of your mother and father, Kali and Ghira Belladonna," whispered Jaune.

Blake instantly froze up at that. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" she whispered.

"I have a letter, a locket, and a picture of you in my bag that they gave me to give to you. But let's do that later. From what I can tell, you don't want to be in the White Fang anymore, right?" whispered Jaune. Blake nodded in reply.

"Just trust me," whispered Jaune.

Suddenly, he let go of Blake. Blake looked up to see Adam had run towards Jaune and tried to cut him in half. Jaune looked at Adam before saying, "Watch out behind you."

Adam looked back to see the mecha-droid kick him towards Jaune. Stumbling, Adam got back up to see Blake about to be stomped. Suddenly, Jaune dashed forward and repelled the offending leg with his sword before picking Blake up. He jumped back, growing his wings and flew towards the end of the cart they were on, setting her down at the next one.

"New intruder detected. Acquiring target," stated the robot before firing at Jaune.

"Oh CMON!" shouted Jaune as he blocked the attack with his shield. Fearing that Blake would get hurt, Jaune jumped forward besides Adam.

"Truce for now?" asked Jaune.

Adam gritted his teeth. He really wanted to hurt the masked man, but he wasn't strong enough to destroy a second spider droid by himself. "Fine," he spat out. "Buy me some time." Adam got into his Iaido stance.

Jaune ran forward, dodging the blasts the mech was firing before stopping right under it's face. With his left hand holding the shield was placed under the blade with Aura channeled into the sword, he leaped up, smashing his blade into where the computer's jaw would be. The mech stumbled back from the attack, and Jaune aimed his shield, switching it to a shotgun before firing all available bullets. The mech transformed to use it's big gun, sweeping it into Jaune to force him away. Jaune was already flying back thanks to his shotgun recoil, so it missed. As he landed, the mech was charging up it's attack.

"MOVE!" shouted Adam. Jaune acknowledged and jumped back behind Adam. The mech fired it's shot, in which Adam unsheathed some of his blade to absorb it. After the blast was done, he re sheathed it, his body starting to glow. Anything red on him glowed with power.

However, this spider mech had seen what Adam had done to the other mecha spider, and learned. Instead of jumping and charging at Adam, it charged up another shot.

'Shit!' thought Adam. He wasn't able to absorb another shot as his Aura levels were low, and he didn't have enough time to dash towards the robot to attack it. Suddenly Jaune appeared in front of him, shield raised up. Jaune focused as much Aura into his shield while linking up with Fafnir. The blast fired right at Jaune's shield. Jaune gritted his teeth, trying to stop himself from flying. He felt someone lean into his body, and looked over to see Adam trying to help stabilize him too.

"Don't get used to it," muttered Adam.

Soon enough, Jaune was able to repel the shot away. Taking this chance, Jaune grabbed Adam by his coat and threw him at the robot. Understanding what Jaune was trying to do, Adam let himself be thrown. While in midair, with momentum on his side, Adam activated his semblance. He put all his power into his sword and sliced the robot in half, causing it to wilt away into rose petals. Adam quickly pointed his shotgun sheath and fired into the ground to prevent him from crashing into the floor. Adam sheathed his blade before looking back to where Blake was and was surprised to see her standing at another cart. However, in her eyes, he could see what she was going to do. He raised his hand, but Blake had made her choice. She could no longer condone what Adam was doing, and was breaking up with him and the White Fang.

"Goodbye."

She sliced the connection, leaving Jaune and Adam behind. Adam got his goal of tons of Schnee dust, but lost his lover and the chance to kill humans. Growling, he turned to Jaune to take his anger out on him just to find out he had also disappeared. Adam looked up to the shattered moon and roared in anger.

* * *

Blake looked into the distance as the train pulled further away from Adam. She heard wings flapping, and soon Jaune was standing next to her.

"You've made up your mind?" he asked.

Blake nodded. She had been planning to break away from all this anyways.

"Cmon, we can't stay on this train for long," said Jaune. "I'll fly you to a village. You can walk to Vale from there."

As he spread his feathery wings again, a door opened, and a boy popped out from the door.

"Are you going now, mister faceless angel?" asked the boy. Jaune nodded, and the child bowed his head, "Thank you for saving us. I was terrified, but I wanted to protect my younger sister. And yet, I couldn't do anything."

Blake looked away in shame. She had never thought the White Fang would go so far to killing innocent children.

"Don't say that," said Jaune kneeling down to the boy, ""It took a lot of courage to try to protect your sister from threats. Cherish that feeling. Maybe you'll grow up to become a Huntsman someday."

The boy's eyes widened in amazement and awe, looking up to the man as an idol.

"Here," said Jaune, pulling from his bag a red Lien card. "Use this money to buy your sister a new toy. She'll have nightmares after this, but I'm sure with the right tools, you can help make it go away."

The child widened his eyes and thanked Jaune again before running into the cabin, "Mommy Mommy. The angel gave us money to help us!"

"Let's go," said Jaune. He picked Blake up bridal style and jumped off the train, flying away.

Moments later, the mother opened the door, wanting to give back the money as she felt like she couldn't take such a generosity from him, just to find herself looking at a platform with nobody on it. A feather floated down from the sky in front of them. The mother decided to keep it as a treasured memory of how she was saved from a horrible fate.

"Mom, will we see him again? And who was that?" asked the two children. The mother smiled as she hugged her children, "Who knows. But I have a feeling that was our guardian angel for the day."

* * *

Blake felt a little embarrassed. She had just broken up with Adam, and already she was in another man's arms. Granted, he felt warmer and kinder than Adam. While flying, she was suddenly reminded of a vivid scene from her... adult erotic fiction book. She cuddled closer to keep herself warm. Soon enough, Jaune was descending down towards land, just a mile from a village. Blake hopped off before turning around to Jaune, who was leaning on a tree.

"Who are you? And why does a winged Faunus like yourself exist? I don't think there are any Faunus that can fly like you," said Blake.

Jaune chuckled, "Jaune Ryu-Long. A traveler. And who said I'm a Faunus?"

Blake's eyes widened as Jaune took off the mask, revealing his face. "But, wings! Animal Part! Flying! Human can't fly!" stuttered Blake.

"Part of my Semblance," said Jaune. He just failed to mention he had other powers with it. He grabbed the letter, locket, and picture before tossing it to Blake. She looked down, opening the locket to see a picture of her family, all happy. She let a tear drop down at that.

"I should've listened," cried Blake, "They knew Adam was bad news, but I was too blinded by my crush, my adoration for him."

"Hey, it's okay. From what I could tell, they miss you just as much as you miss them, and are willing to forgive you," said Jaune.

Blake nodded before opening the letter. She read it through 4 times before putting it down. She was just not prepared for this day. She blinked a few times before reading it again.

"You donated 15,000 Lien for my home village!?" Blake asked in amazement.

"Yea. Felt it was the right thing to do. Your mom and dad helped me a lot," answered Jaune. Before he knew it, Blake had done what her mother done before and leaped onto him, purring. The ribbon on her head fell off from the impact, revealing her cat ears.

'Well, she definitely is her mother's daughter,' thought Jaune when he saw the cat ears before noticing a slight smell. He looked down to see Blake was a bit aroused, her eyes gone into slits. It was like she was looking at a tasty fish she wanted, and Jaune was the fish.

"Umm, Blake? Can you stop that?" asked Jaune fearfully.

" _ **Buhahaha! She likes you. Take her as a mate, I'll use my power. Her Semblance matches mine perfectly!"**_ shouted Othim. Jaune couldn't really disagree, as he did think Blake was quite beautiful, and it was a perfect match for Othim's powers. However, his pride and morals wouldn't let him take the girl, as he would end up being at the bottom, and this really wasn't the place to even do it. Not that Jaune wanted to do it anyways.

"Mmmm why should I?" purred Blake,rubbing her cheeks on his, "My mother and father have given their blessings for me to date you. You know how hard it is to impress them, especially my father? The fact you did it makes you so much more desirable. I can smell you're very strong while also being kind and generous. We can recreate one of the scenes from my book right here."

Sighing, Jaune linked up with Ryo-Wo before manipulating some water out of the tree with a wave of his hand, causing it to dry up. Blake didn't notice it at first, but when Jaune let the water fall down onto her, she jumped back in surprise. Blinking a few times while still wearing a wet t-shirt, she suddenly had arm covering her breasts while the other covering her mouth, blushing heavily.

Blake was usually stoic, but she certainly was breaking her record of being embarrassed. She couldn't believed she had just pounced him, basically demanding his seed. She had just broken up with Adam! Was she that affected by finding a rebound man? She shook her head at that. She knew she had already been falling out of love with Adam, and that act back there merely concluded it, although she couldn't deny that some part of it was to blame, as well as the emotion of finding her family was still accepting of her and all that Lien Jaune had just selflessly donated for the village. She looked down to see her shirt was wet and clinging onto her skin, showing her assets more prominently. Before she could do anything, she felt something land on her. She looked to see it was a hoodie.

"Sorry about that. Wear my extra hoodie for now," said Jaune.

Blake nodded and quickly wore it. It felt warm, and she could smell his natural scent on it. It was like he was hugging her, whispering into her ears. Blake quickly shook those thoughts out. She had been reading _Ninjas of Love_ too much. She quickly found a ribbon and tied it into a bow to hide her cat ears.

They quickly arrived to town, where Jaune found an inn where they could stay. Grabbing two rooms, much to Blake's complaint, they retired for the night.

Blake found herself awake much later than usual. Yawning and stretching like a cat, she walked out the room, intending on apologizing to Jaune for her actions. Knocking on his door, she waited for a few minutes before going into the room just to find it empty. Quickly dashing towards the innkeeper, she asked where Jaune went. The owner said Jaune had left at the break of dawn, but had paid for breakfast for her. Blake felt saddened that she may had just scared away a potential suitor when the owner gave her a letter, saying it was from Jaune. She opened it to see four 100 Lien white cards fall out and a letter. Quickly grabbing it all, she sat on the table to read it. She sighed in relief when it was Jaune merely saying that he had business, and that he couldn't afford to stay. He promised that they would meet sometime in the future, and to use the money to buy some clothes. As breakfast came, she looked out the window.

"We'll definitely meet again, Jaune Ryu-Long. It's a promise."

* * *

This time, Jaune was running, linking himself to Fafnir. By manipulating the earth to his will, he was able to cover great distances, although not as fast as flying. Still, Fafnir wanted to have some fun once just running on the ground. Suddenly, Andusk spoke up.

" _ **Stop. I sense something. Something with great potential and containing some of my power."**_

"Your power?" asked Jaune.

" _ **Yes. During the time when the Dragon Clan was still alive, there were a select few people with my blessings. They were able to strike fear into the Grimm, similar to how the Grimm do not try to provoke a dragon. They were the people with silver eyes. If used to it's fullest potential, then it can strike down Grimm with a mere glance. This power was a way to combat Grimms. Although the stronger and older the Grimm, the harder it is to kill it."**_

" _ **Making a mark?"**_ smirked Othim, _**"And you call me shameless."**_

" _ **Still, we should check it out,"**_ said Lung Wang, _**"We should still have time before it's time to apply to becoming a Huntsmen. Have you decided on which school?"**_

"Almost. I'm not going to Shade for obvious reasons. I read up on Atlas, and didn't like how the military plays a hand into its academy. Most likely they would forcibly enlist me if they found about you guys. The only two are Haven Academy and Beacon Academy, at Mistral and Vale. I think Beacon might be the best. It's said be a beacon of light for all to gather. That, and I'm still a little angry about the rich district incident," explained Jaune.

" _ **Then we should head to Beacon after this side trip. Give your recommendation letters to the headmaster of the place, and see if he'll allow you in with a test,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

" _ **You should have nothing to worry about**_ , _ **"**_ soothed Aryz, _**"You were able to impress two combat school teachers into giving you those recommendations."**_

" _ **Not only that, but your skills have improved vastly,"**_ said Alaerth.

Jaune smiled as his dragons complimented him on his growth. Lung Wang reluctantly complimented him, but also told him he could still improve himself.

Soon, they saw an island in the distance north of him. Jaune was prepared to fly, but Ryo-Wo told Jaune to link up with him and swim to the island. This was a perfect chance to get used to his power and swimming. Jaune complained about how it would be cold, as winter was setting it, but Lung Wang told Jaune to just man up and do it. Sighing in defeat, he put his weapons into the his bag before making sure it was tied up. The dragonskin bag would prevent water from coming, in, but only if the top was tied.

Jaune swam all the way to the island, actually enjoying himself. Due to Ryo-Wo, he didn't feel cold in the water at all. After an hour of swimming, he finally arrived at the island. Getting on shore, he quickly switched to Ryo-Wo and used some fire to warm himself up and evaporate the water on his skin and clothes. It was snowing on the island, but Jaune didn't feel cold thanks to his dragons

"Gotta love being able to do that," said Jaune as he whistled a song, walking to what seemed to be the what seemed to be the source of the Aura of the person with silver eyes.

* * *

Ruby Rose was a young teenager with black hair with a tint of red in it wearing a red cloak with a gothic dress with red frills. She had just turned 15 and was looking over a grave. More specifically, her mother's grave. She always made sure she had time to visit the grave. Ruby Rose sighed as she tried to picture her mother. She had been too young to remember and understand that Summer Rose was dead. Sure, she had her half-sister Yang Xiao Long tell her all about how awesome she was, but it still ached in her heart.

Ruby turned around to go home. Her father and sister would be worried if she stayed out too long. Even if she could take care of herself. She was a growing girl! After all, she drank milk!

As she cleared through the forest and into the open plains, she saw Beowolves gathering. Smirking, she prepared herself. As three Beowolves charged at her, she jumped into the air. Spinning gracefully, she took out her weapon in it's collapsed form, making it extend a bit at the pole, and shot a Beowolf in the head. When she landed on the ground two more charged at her.

Leaping over one she put a bullet in the back of its skull and used the recoil to increase the distance of her jump. The next shot tore most of a Beowolf's chest from its body. Once she was back on the ground she fired point-blank into the next Beowolf to attack her and rolled back with the recoil and activated her weapon's shift into scythe mode.

One Beowolf was braver, or was dumber, then the rest and charged head on. Ruby pinned it to the ground with a downward strike. It leaned forward to bite at her only for her to fire once more and cleave the creature in two. With that the rest of the pack charged as Ruby planted the scythe's blade in the ground. The Grimm were soon meet with a volley of gunfire that mowed down their numbers.

The fastest Beowolf reached Ruby and swung at her only for her to jump over its claws and shoot it point-blank in the face, actually helping it in the looks department. As she was shot back from the recoil Ruby pushed the blade into the ground again and slowed herself to a stop, landing in a crouch on the handle of her weapon.

More Beowolves came running from the woods, Ruby ducked under the first assault, spinning on her side and pressing her feet against the underside of the hook on the back of her scythe. With a pull of the trigger another Grimm bit the dust and she was sent flying back in a spiral, hitting the Beowolf that had just failed in attacking her moments earlier. Swinging her blade around she cut into the chest of one Beowolf before spinning it around her head in a deadly circle that cut both the Beowolf in front of her and the one that she had previously knocked down into pieces.

Using the momentum of her attack Ruby caught another Beowolf on the neck before pulling the trigger to shoot another bullet with the recoil decapitating the Grimm caught in the scythe's deadly bite. Dancing around another assault Ruby dug her scythe into her next opponent and fired, bisecting the first Grimm and shooting the one coming from behind her victim.

Using an incredible display of acrobatics Ruby dodged her next two attackers before rushing at the first once more and dismembering it. The force of the last attack being used to propel her into the air and onto the back of the next casualty. Another shot saw one more Beowolf a head shorter and Ruby flying into the air. Beowolves leapt after her only to be caught in a game of leapfrog with Ruby bouncing off their corpses after she killed them to reach her next target. A swing from one Beowolf came at her and she blocked with her scythe but was sent sliding back in the snow.

Taking note of how more reinforcements had arrived Ruby replaced her bullets for those with more power and shot herself forth activating her semblance. Rose petals flew through the air as she began a dance of death. Each twirl claiming at least one victim, body parts soon joined the bullet casings and petals flying through the air.

* * *

Ruby smiled as she finished off the last of the Beowolves, with the sky raining empty sniper clips into the ground. She quickly collapsed her scythe before walking towards home again. Suddenly, one of the Beowolves that had been hiding burst out to take a bite out of Ruby. Ruby was prepared to dodge when she heard a sniper rifle go off, killing the Beowolf. She turned to see a teenager walking forward towards her, with the only visible weapons being the sword in his waist and the shield on his back.

'Where did the sniper come from?' thought Ruby, 'Is his sword able to transform into a sniper rifle? I WANNA SEE IT!'

Jaune got closer to Ruby to see that the girl did indeed have silver eyes.

" _ **This girl does posses the blessings,"**_ mused Andusk, _ **"However, it seems as thought she has not awakened it. Cause could be that there is nobody that can teach her and that she doesn't know about the legend herself."**_

"Hi. I'm Jaune Ryu-Long, a traveler. I saw you take out the group of Beowolves, and was impressed. I knew you could probably take out that last one, but I decided to help anyways. Didn't want to risk anything," said Jaune as he introduced himself.

"Ruby Rose," replied Ruby, "Can I see your weapon? I heard a sniper, but I don't see anything like one on you. Is it the sword? Or the shield? Oooh, ooh, maybe you combine them both!"

Jaune chuckled. He was going to like Ruby a lot. Her personality was something he could appreciate. "That'll be a surprise. I'm only here because I felt like it. Where am I anyways?"

"You're at Patch, west of Vale, where Signal Academy is. I go there with my sister, Yang. I just finished my second year while she's just graduated. Do you wanna meet them? My uncle might be visiting!" said Ruby. Excited about the last part she had just said, Ruby dashed towards her home, using her Semblance. Jaune looked impressed at the speed she was running, with rose petals flying about.

"She's fast," commented Jaune. Even with the speed techniques taught by the dragons, he didn't have the same speed or maneuverability as her with just his feet, though Jaune guessed it had to deal with her Semblance. Ruby suddenly stopped at shouted back, "Are you coming?"

Jaune shrugged, figuring he had nothing better to do for now and ran towards Ruby.

* * *

Taiyang and Yang were preparing a giant chocolate chip cookie birthday cake for Ruby, with strawberry frosting on it. Her birthday had been on a school day, so they didn't have time to celebrate. However, now that the weekend was here, they were planning on surprising her. It was unfortunate that Qrow was unable to come due to his work. He had been on the road tracking down the enemies who had been responsible for a few things, like a certain maiden. Just as they finished, Ruby burst through the door. She squealed as soon as she saw the cake, turning into her chibi mode jumped towards it. She was stopped in the air by Taiyang grabbing her cloak. Still, Ruby cutely struggled with flailing limbs, trying to grab the cookie.

"Not yet, Ruby. We eat dinner before desert," lectured Taiyang sternly.

Ruby pouted but obeyed when Taiyang place her on a chair.

"Oh yea! I invited someone over!" said Ruby, "Come on in Jaune!"

Jaune entered the wooden cabin and looked around. He saw Taiyang first and greeted him politely.

"Well, well, what's this? Did my baby sister find herself a boyfriend? Mmm he looks good," said another voice.

Jaune looked to the source and was shocked to see almost a clone of Raven Branwen. He jumped back, hand on his sword, ready to fight. Yang raised an eyebrow, put instantly put her fists up. Taiyang, who was very protective of her daughters, immediately stepped in front of both of them to face Jaune.

" _ **Jaune,"**_ said Aryz, _**"It's not her. She looks very similar to Raven Branwen, but use your senses. She has bright-gold hair and lilac eye color. Raven had black with a red tint like Ruby with red eyes. This girl might be her daughter."**_

Jaune frowned, looking at Yang closely. He sighed as he relaxed, pulling his hand away from his sword.

"Apologies. her looks shocked me for a bit. She looked like the woman I met before in my travels. Some woman named Raven Branwen."

"You met my birth-mom?"

"You met my ex-wife?"

Jaune looked at Yang and Taiyang, his eyebrows raised in confusion. Based on their reaction, Raven had left this family a long time ago, possibly a few months after Yang was born.

"Raven Branwen is part of your family?" asked Jaune.

Taiyang looked uncomfortable discussing this topic in front of his children, so he grabbed Jaune's shoulder.

"Let's talk about this somewhere private. Yang, make sure Ruby isn't trying to eat her cake first."

Ruby stopped, looking guilty as she had been slowly walking towards the cake. Yang quickly puller her back as Taiyang brought Jaune to his private studies. Yang frowned at this. She wanted to know more about her mother! Taiyang and Qrow refused to talk more about her, and she let that go. Now, the perfect opportunity to learn more about her mom was here, and she wasn't going to let it escape. Gagging Ruby so she wouldn't make a sound, she brought her with her to eavesdrop on them. She was technically following orders, making sure Ruby wouldn't eat the cake. Slowly, she put a glass cup to the door.

* * *

"So, you met my ex-wife?" asked Taiyang as he poured a cup of water for himself and Jaune.

"Yea, and not in the most pleasant way," replied Jaune.

"How so?" asked Tiayang.

Jaune was about to reply when he stopped. Slowly he walked to the door silently before opening, forcing Yang to stumble in with his tied up sister.

"Ummmm hi?" said Yang, blushing that she had been caught so easily. Ruby came tumbling down next to her, all tied up.

"Yang!" scolded Taiyang.

"What? I did what you told me to. Plus, I wanna hear about my birth mom. You always avoided this topic, and now you're going to talk about her with him?" Yang asked, pointing a finger at Jaune.

"You're not ready to know everything about her yet," replied Taiyang.

"When will I be!?" shouted Yang, "When will you finally tell me about her! I've already graduated from Signal, and will be going to Beacon soon enough! I want to know why she left us!" At this, her eyes turned red, and her hair started to light up like flames.

Taiyang remained silent for a bit. Finally, he made a decision.

"We'll talk more after dinner. After Ruby is asleep."

"But I wanna hear this too!" shouted Ruby. Or what would've been what she shouted. Unfortunately, she was still gagged, so all they heard was a bunch of muffled noises.

Soon, dinner was under way, and they ate the cookie desert. Ruby had most of it, and fell asleep as soon as she was done, forgetting about the conversation Yang, Taiyang, and Jaune were about to have at the kitchen.

"So, about Raven. How did you meet her, and why wasn't it good?" asked Taiyang once more as once again poured water into cups for all of them.

"Yea, She tried to force me into her clan of bandits," replied Jaune. Taiyang almost dropped the glass at that point.

"Bandits?" asked Yang in shock, "Mom's a bandit? And she's the leader of them?"

"Yea," answered Taiyang, "She and Qrow grew up in a bandit clan when they were young. When they joined the Academy, they were part of team STRQ. I fell in love with her wild ways, and I thought she loved me in turn. When we graduated, she was already pregnant with you. However, when you were born, she tried to convince me to join her clan. After I refused, she left us. Qrow was furious, as the reason why he became a Huntsman was to not follow the path of the bandits. Raven felt she would be betraying her real 'family' and went back to lead them. She never looked back at me or you, Yang. I didn't want to tell you this, as I was heartbroken when I learned that she merely wanted my strength. I look to Summer more as my wife than your mom."

Yang sniffed her nose, "I look to Summer as my mom, too. I just wanted to know why my birth-mom left us."

"That's why I didn't want to tell you. I thought you would be ashamed that Raven was leader of a well-known bandit clan," explained Taiyang as he leaned back onto the counter-top.

"I almost led Ruby to her death for some sort of false hope," whispered Yang, reeling from the news, "Even if the location I went to had Raven, she wouldn't had cared for us at all." She felt extremely guilty about the time she took Ruby just to find her birth-mom. They had almost been killed by Beowolves if it wasn't for Qrow.

"Hey, it's okay. Remember, we all forgave you," said Taiyang as he hugged her.

Jaune remained silent as he continued to sip on his water.

"So, how'd you escape?" asked Taiyang, remembering about Jaune.

"She tried to corner me in Vacuo with some of my friends. Luckily, Qrow intervened and told her to leave, as other people were coming," replied Jaune, "She likes me because apparently I 'laid' my hands on her where few men has. A weird way to say I'm one of the few who punched her."

Taiyang, who had been drinking some water, did a spit take on that.

"You managed to punch her? She was known as one of the strongest Huntresses to graduate Beacon. The untouchable Huntress. The only people who could actually fight her and land a hit, I can count with my two hands and have leftovers."

"She really was that strong?" asked Yang.

"I caught her by surprise," replied Jaune, "After that, she started kicking my butt until Qrow came."

"Mmm, I haven't seen Qrow for a while now," said Taiyang, rubbing his chin, "He's busy with his missions usually now. He only takes some time to teach Ruby how to use her weapon every now and then."

"Wait, that means you've also met uncle Qrow?" asked Yang. Jaune nodded.

"Well, big boy, you're definitely on my approved list," said Yang seductively as she approached her, slightly bending down to let him catch a glimpse of her... sizable assets. Jaune quickly looked the other way.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or in this case, Yang got your tongue?" laughed Yang.

"Yang, that's enough. Stop embarrassing him," said Taiyang. Yang pouted and retreated.

"I think it's time we all went to bed. Jaune, I have a guest room you can use for the night," announced Taiyang. Jaune agreed, and soon, the wooden cabin was full of sleeping people.

* * *

 **All right! Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Beacon is coming next!**

 **There's a reason I put February as start of the school year. In my opinion, I think they were trying to follow the Japanese school system, where they start at March. I just chose February so they have a longer training time. I think in the RWBY cannon in theory, it goes late Feb-mid June 1st semester, 2 week break, early July-early December 2nd semester. Vytal Festival takes place around early November. It's shown in canon that its clearly Autumn in volume 3 when the Festival starts. As for the two week break, in vol 2 ep 1, Ruby does mention a two week break that they had.**

 **Thank to Jauneforever, my beta reader, for doing an amazing job writing out the Ruby fight scene. Originally, all I had was insert Ruby trailer. It starts right after the milk sentence and ends at the line break.**


	8. Chapter 8 Off to Beacon!

**New chapter! Granted it's not as long as the others, but I felt like it was necessary. Well, that's why it's being released so fast.**

 **Read and Review!**

* * *

Jaune stayed with Ruby and Yang for a week, getting to know them better. Yang kept having fun flirting with him while throwing puns, while Ruby was embarrassed but enjoyed talking with Jaune. Both girls would listen to some of the adventures he had. Yang was a bit envious as she wanted to go explore the world too. When Jaune told them he was planning to apply to be a Huntsmen, Ruby squealed, saying she wanted to go to Beacon so badly right now. They all laughed and told her that it would be her time soon.

One day, while they were all watching the television with the corgi named Zwei on Ruby's lap, they saw the news about the White Fang invading the train. Jaune almost spat out his drink when they interviewed the victims, saying that an angel saved them. Aryz felt conflicted as she was a dragon, and they she demands to be recognized at one, but also grateful that they were thanking Jaune. They were later distracted by fooling around with the corgi.

Both Ruby and Yang found themselves growing attracted to Jaune. They had seen him workout, and Yang really liked what she saw. Not to mention that when she tried to embarrass Jaune, he could easily deflect it back at her. Ruby thought it was icky, but found herself staring at Jaune more than she wanted to. Yang tried to pass it off as just a fleeting feeling, but she couldn't. She hoped that once Jaune was gone, it would go away. She had noticed her sister was no longer seeing boys as someone icky. She didn't want to fight her own sister for a guy.

Ruby had noticed that Yang was starting to have a crush on Jaune, too, and thought about it. She certainly didn't want to make her sister sad, but she also didn't want to let Jaune go. Soon, an amazing idea started to form in her little mind. She would think more about it in time.

Shortly, Jaune decided it was time to head to Beacon to visit the headmaster. He couldn't apply the normal way, through online or by combat school. Saying his goodbyes, Jaune was on an airship to Beacon. He couldn't risk flying or swimming, or it would rouse suspicion about him.

* * *

Soon enough, he was looking at a pathway that leads to Beacon Academy. He had finally decided to see if he liked Beacon first. If his interview didn't go well, he would just fly straight to Haven Academy. As he was walking on the campus, many students were watching him with interest. They hadn't seen him before and based on his clothes, he wasn't a student.

"Hey, who do you think that is?"

"Is he lost?"

"He looks pretty cute, don't you think?"

Eventually, he found himself looking up the tallest tower at Beacon, Beacon tower. He had no idea how to get in.

"Maybe I should've asked Taiyang for directions before I came here," groused Jaune. He entered the building at the base floor to see nobody except for an elevator. He tried to use it, but found it locked, as it needed an identification code to enter. Blowing a puff of air in annoyance, he walked back out and into a team.

* * *

Team CFVY containing Coco Adel, Fox Alistair, Velvet Scarlatina, and Yatsuhashi Daichi, had just finished a brutal training session with Glynda Goodwitch. The second semester had just ended, but team CFVY decided to stay for at Beacon for a bit more training, as did many of the students. Team CFVY would return back home later and then come back to Beacon as second years. However, they didn't pay attention, and Yatsuhashi accidentally bumped into Jaune.

"My apologies," apologized Yastsuhashi, "I did not look where I was walking."

"No worries," responded Jaune, "You guys are students here, right?"

"What's it to you?" inquired Coco as she looked down and up at Jaune. She did not seem to approve of Jaune's clothes, although it was getting small for Jaune. He needed to buy some later.

"Do you know who or where the headmaster is of Beacon? I'm trying to apply here," replied Jaune.

"You didn't go to combat school?" asked Coco with an eyebrow raised.

"No. I'm a traveler. Been one since I was ten. I want to apply to become a Huntsmen." answered Jaune.

Velvet gasped, "You mean, you've been outside the walls of Vale?"

"Yea.. how else would I get anywhere?" replied Jaune.

"Isn't that dangerous?" squeaked Velvet, "You seem so young."

"Meh, it was okay," replied Jaune. "So, about that headmaster?"

"Professor Ozpin is the headmaster of Beacon. But, I don't know where he is. Professor Goodwitch might, though. She's at the Combat Arena cleaning up. She's the teacher wearing a purple cape," said Coco as she pointed him where to go. Jaune thanked them before running towards the arena.

"Hmm. Another one hoping to join," pondered Coco, "Hopefully he won't be crushed it's not easy to get in."

"I would not count him out," said Yatsuhashi slowly, "When I bumped into him, I could feel he has a strong spirit and a strong body. He does not wield the sword and shield just for show. His armor, however light it may be, is designed for his fast and strong attacks." Fox seemed to nod in agreement.

"Whatever you say," said Coco, "Let's head towards the city. I got a wardrobe that needs updating."

The rest of the team sighed in defeat as they accompanied Coco to the airships.

* * *

Glynda was busy cleaning up the arena again. She really needed to hire somebody else to do it, but she was the best at fixing whatever the students destroyed. It was one of the reasons why she was the Combat Instructor. Her Semblance, Telekinesis, was the perfect one for the job. As she just finished fixing the arena, she heard the door behind her open.

"The Arena is closed for the day. If you want to use the Arena, try tomorrow," said Glynda without looking.

"Umm, actually I was looking for a Professor Goodwitch?" replied the voice.

Glynda turned around to see a young boy looking quite nervous. She had never seen this teenager before.

"Can I help you," she asked.

"I'm looking for Headmaster Ozpin. I was hoping to apply to Beacon, and didn't know how to, since I don't have a Scroll nor did I attend a combat school" replied the teenager.

Glynda sighed. They had dealt with eager people trying to become Huntsmen and Huntresses before. Many of them they had to reject as they knew the applicants weren't ready at all.

"I'm sorry. But without going to combat school, you'll have to take a specialized test on your skills to see if you meet the requirements to enter the school. And the deadline for that was a week ago," said Glynda, remembering the last person they had tested. A young girl with black hair using a gun-sword with a ribbon. She was skillful enough that the professors agreed to let her in.

"Dammit," cursed the youth, "Is there any way to try? I didn't know about that."

"A pity," said Glynda, "Maybe you weren't meant to be one. You should have known if you lived in a city. We do post reminders."

"I'm a traveler," deadpanned the teenager, "I don't exactly get up-to-date times. My only Scroll blew up on me thanks to some damn jerks and their EMP device years ago."

Glynda raised her eyebrow at this. It would make sense that the boy didn't know if he didn't have a Scroll and had been traveling. However, she wasn't inclined to believe him. It was dangerous to go traveling alone these days.

"The only way you could get in now is if the Headmaster allowed you in. And you would have to somehow impress him Mr...," said Glynda, pausing there.

"Jaune Ryu-Long," answered Jaune, "I have two recommendation letters. Would those work?"

"Excuse me?" asked Glynda in surprise. Jaune responded by pulling out two letters and handing them to Glynda. She eyeballed it for a bit, not opening it. She looked at the first one and was surprised to see Leonidas Nikos' handwriting on the front of the envelope. The man rarely gave his to anyone. The second one surprised her even more. Qrow Branwen, the drunk, the man who though all students were crappy, actually recommended Jaune too. This would need careful observation.

"Come with me, then," said Glynda as she briskly walked out. Jaune hurried to follow her back to Beacon tower, where they rode the elevator to the top floor. The elevator doors opened up for Jaune to see a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair with shaded glasses looking at some paperwork.

"This is Headmaster Ozpin," introduced Glynda to Jaune, "He will be the one to decide."

Ozpin looked up to see Glynda walking in with a young boy, who quickly introduced himself as Jaune Ryu-Long.

"Mr. Ryu-Long claims to have two recommendation letters from two of the unlikeliest people who would give one," explained Glynda, "Either he's really impressed them, or they're fake."

Ozpin raised his eyebrow, taking a sip of his coffee before accepting the letters. He opened the first one from Leonidas and read through it. It was the standard recommendation letter with Leonidas's signature at the bottom. It certainly looked real. He took the other one from Qrow. In the envelop were just 13 words with his signature.

" _This kid is good. He managed to punch my sister in a fight."_

Ozpin sighed. He knew this was definitely Qrow's style.

"Well, I must say this certainly looks impressive," said Ozpin, "However, I will need to confirm that Leonidas's recommendation letter is real."

"You're not going to verify Qrows?" asked Glynda. Ozpin's reply was merely handing the letter to her to look. She sighed as she passed it back, saying that it certainly was him.

Soon, a line was being connected to Sanctum Academy, where it was directed to Leonidas's personal phone. Soon, the desk displayed a screen for Ozpin to look at, doing a video call.

"Hello. This is Leonidas Nikos speaking."

"Leonidas, how have you been," greeted Ozpin.

"Ozpin? How have you been? And what's with this call?" asked Leonidas.

"I have here a student who is wishing to apply to Beacon academy. He claims to have a recommendation letter from you, which is very hard to believe, considering you almost never do so," replied Ozpin.

"Let me see his face," said Leonidas.

Ozpin motioned Jaune to his side, allowing Leonidas to take a good look at him.

"Jaune, is that you?" gasped Leonidas, "My goodness you've changed a bit. You're looking stronger than ever. Are you applying to Beacon?"

"Yes," replied Jaune.

"Hahaha! That's good news! Ozpin, you better take him in. He's one of the best fighters I've seen. He fought my daughter and tied with her. Pyrrha will be so happy you're going to Beacon. She spent months trying to predict which one you would go, and placed her bets on Beacon," said Leonidas, "I should go tell Pyrrha."

"Not yet," smiled Jaune, "Let's make it a surprise."

"Mmm good point. Be prepared for a big hug, though," smiled Leonidas, "Well Ozpin, you have your answer. If you don't accept him, my daughter won't be happy, and neither will I."

At that, Ozpin thanked him before waving goodbye.

"Well, that proves the legitimacy of this recommendation letter," said Glynda.

"Indeed, it does. Now Glynda, would you mind stepping out? I want to have a private chat with Jaune Ryu-Long here," said Ozpin. Glynda nodded before taking the elevator out, leaving the two of them alone.

* * *

Both men stared at each other for a bit before Ozpin took another sip of his coffee and started the conversation.

"So.. Jaune Ryu-Long. Or should I say, formerly known as Jaune Arc?"

Jaune jumped back in surprise before putting his hand on his blade.

"Calm down, Jaune. I have no wish to harm you," said Ozpin, not even moving an inch.

Jaune warily sat back down.

" _ **Careful with this one. He seems to know more than meets the eye,"**_ advised Lung Wang.

"How did-," began Jaune.

"How did I know you're Jaune Arc, son of Vlad and Yu?" asked Ozpin, "Your sister once begged me that if she found you or if you somehow wandered in here, I would take you in at Beacon for safety. Seven years later, and you finally show yourself to me, trying to be a Huntsmen. You must have had a busy time. Changing your last name, too, I see."

"Err, yeah," stuttered Jaune.

"None the less, I have heard of some of your achievements, even if it was by a passing thought. Leonidas was once raving to me about a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes who could fight evenly with his daughter. Ironwood told me how his brightest student, Winter, told him about a special boy, and that if he applied to Atlas Academy to take him in without question. Even Qrow was laughing while trying to tell me how his sister tried to flirt with you when you managed to land a hit on her, which I must say is quite impressive," explained Ozpin calmly, "It pays to pay attention to what is happening around the world. "

Jaune was silent for awhile, trying to wrap his head around this. He had been trying to lay low, and yet someone had already figured out who he was and his travels. He could only hope Vlad Arc didn't know.

"Your father doesn't know anything," stated Ozpin, as if reading Jaune's mind, "The last time I checked, he was busy with his new wife and two sons. One of them is your age, the other is two years older than you. You are a slippery man, though. Every time there was news of you, your sisters tried to rush there, only to find you were gone. It was quite a surprise for your sisters and mother to hear that you were all right and last seen with Saffron at Vacuo."

Well, that answered that question.

"Mr. Ryu-Long. Do you truly wish to become a Huntsmen?" asked Ozpin seriously. Jaune nodded in reply. "You want to come to my school?" Ozpin continued. Jaune nodded again.

"Well, okay. Welcome to Beacon," said Ozpin.

'What?' thought Jaune.

" _ **What?"**_ said all seven dragons.

"From what I know, you probably don't have a place to sleep. I will allow you to stay in the dorms until the new semester starts. You are allowed to use the facilities here, provided you don't make a mess. I will provide a Scroll for you soon so you may access whatever you need here," said Ozpin, "Although if you could explain to me how you managed to unlock your Aura? I was told from your sister that your... sperm donor sealed it."

Jaune felt like he had nothing to hide from that, and told him how Leonidas' daughter had been the one to unlock his Aura. Ozpin lifted his eyebrow in interest before smirking.

"Will I be needing to set up marriage quarters for the two of you?"

Jaune flushed in embarrassment as Ozpin stood up, putting his hand forward towards Jaune. "I'm just kidding. Welcome to Beacon, still."

Jaune was still in shock before shaking Ozpin's hand.

"We'll keep your entrance a secret for now," whispered Ozpin.

* * *

Later that night, Jaune was laying on his bed, wondering how the heck this worked out. He decided to meditate before dragging himself into his mindscape with his dragons.

" _ **That Ozpin character is interesting. He managed to find out who you were just by keeping his ears open,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

" _ **A very open-minded person,"**_ commented Alaerth.

" _ **Not only that, we now have access to some facilities to further your training,"**_ said Lung Wang.

" _ **Best be prepared,"**_ said Andusk, **_"I can feel something brewing in the distance. Apparently, Ozpin does too. I could tell he's worried about something."_**

" _ **We'll face it head on!"**_ exclaimed Fafnir, **_"Jaune's gotten even better with our powers now."_**

" _ **Since Jaune is now 17, I think it's time we started to talk about potential mates,"**_ said Aryz, causing Jaune to stand up blushing in his mind.

" _ **All right! Time to discuss who Jaune's gonna be plowing! We got several girls the I know you're interested, and they're interested in you, too,"**_ shouted Othim in laughter.

"Do we have to?" asked Jaune.

" _ **The sooner the better,"**_ insisted Aryz, **_"You must also tell them about the Mate Mark and how you'll need one for each of your dragons, so seven mates. They need to know what they are getting into. If you're worried about your performance, don't worry, you'll get better in time. Not to mention the amount of stamina you have from your natural Aura reserves and contracts, you'll probably tire them out, making it necessary to have multiple mates."_**

" _ **Actually, he might only need six,"**_ commented Alaerth, **_"When Pyrrha unlocked his Aura, she took in some of his Aura into his body as a side effect. We know her Semblance is polarity, but none of us matches her powers well. It would be a shame to discard her as a potential mate, though. So Fafnir and I should be able to combine our powers to create a special mate mark for Pyrrha to increase her powers of polarity."_**

" _ **Will her body be able to handle the stress?"**_ asked Fafnir.

" _ **It should be. Like I said, she took in some of Jaune's Aura while unlocking his. There's a reason why some cultures view unlocking someone's' Aura of similar age as marriage. Pyrrha basically inserted some of Aura into Jaune's body to act as a catalyst for Jaune's Aura to awaken. However, this is a two-way street. The result was when she did so, she opened her body for Jaune to also channel Aura into her,"**_ explained Alaerth, **_"The fact that she likes you is also a bonus."_**

" _ **Hehe, so 6 mates then. Monday-Saturday once per girl. Sunday could be a rest day or an orgy day!"**_ shouted Othim. Everyone ignored him for now.

" _ **So Jaune will mark Pyrrha Nikos with my power and Alaerth,"**_ said Fafnir.

" _ **I think Dew Gayle is the best one to use my power. I noticed her Semblance was the ability to create whirlwinds. And yes, Jaune, she does have a crush on you. She would have kissed in the mouth if it wasn't for bad timing,"**_ said Aryz.

" _ **I got the pussy cat Blake Belladonna!"**_ shouted Othim, **_"She wants Jaune, and her parents even approve! Gonna get Jaune some sweet -"_** Jaune didn't let him finished and moved on.

" _ **Ruby Rose would be the best one to mate with my power,"**_ said Andusk, **_"The potential to raise the silver-eyed warriors again is great."_**

" _ **So that leaves me and Lung Wang for Jaune to find suitable mates for our power,"**_ murmured Ryo-Wo, **_"I think my power might be best suitable for Weiss Schnee. She acts like a lady with proper manners. However, without knowing her fighting style, I cannot be sure that she is the suitable one."_**

" _ **I'm thinking Yang Xiao Long would be the best for my powers,"**_ said Lung Wang, **_"I noticed she takes pride in herself as well as having similar last name to you. Something I can respect. That, and when she's angry, her hair lights up like flames. However, this will be put onto judgment."_**

"So I have four potential girls already," sighed Jaune, "I'm going to need to set up a base. After all that traveling, my expenses is already much shot. I'll have to find another jewelry store and sell them some jewels to get some more Lien. After that, set up a bank account so I don't have to lug Lien with me all the time, even if it is technically safer in my bag."

As the night went on, Jaune went on planning on how he would proceed with his life here.

Ozpin sipped his cup as he pondered about Jaune. He was clearly quite strong just from observation alone. To be able to receive two recommendations from the strictest professors, was an achievement in itself. However, he had a feeling Jaune was something deeper. Something far more ancient than all the legends he knew, such as _The silver-eyed warriors._ _Story of the Seasons,_ and even _the Tale of Two Brother._

"This should prove interesting," he mused as he received a phone call from Glynda, telling him about a robbery and a certain silver-eyed fighter.

* * *

 **Next up! Canon storyline! See how much has changed ever since the beginning! It'll have elements from canon somewhat, but I do intend for changes to happen.**


	9. Chapter 9 First Steps & Emerald Forest

**All right, Now for the canon! I'm summarizing most of the dialogue that I deem would have the same if I typed it out. I left a few key dialogues the same, though. Those dialogue I felt were important to the story. Read and Review! Be honest, should I keep summarizing some of the dialogue, or actually type them out as a conversation, even if they're going to be the same?**

 **Edit 02/26/2017**

 **I've had people complain to me that just mentioning the Nevermore scene in passing wasn't good. So, I went back and typed it all out! Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Jaune woke up excited one day. It was the day that Beacon Academy would finally start! He knew Pyrrha and Yang were coming and was excited to surprise them! Especially Pyrrha, since she didn't know he was looked out the window and saw the airships flying in. He laid back on his bed, wondering what would have had happened if Vlad didn't banish him. Most likely be kept up in his room, trying to never let anyone know he existed. Which in turn, he probably would have run away and faked his transcripts to get into Beacon. He chuckled at this before stretching his muscles and getting ready for the day.

Glynda had been a godsend for him. When she finally learned some of Jaune's backstory, she cried and took Jaune and helped him set up a bank account as well as take him to a well-known jewelry store. There, he sold two more rough jewels with a weight of 20 carats each. The jewelers and Glynda were surprised at this. The buyer almost had a heart attack at the size of the diamond and tried to rip Jaune off. That was easily taken care of Glynda, who threatened to blast him to Mistral **after** she had tossed him into the ceiling a few times. In total, Jaune managed to get 96,000 Lien, which he immediately put into the bank. This would allow him to be set for the next few years. He didn't want anyone to know he actually had cut diamonds from the best jewel makers of the past. That would attract too much attention.

He carried with him a few Lien still just in case, along with his debit card. He didn't bother with the wallet because he would always carry his bag with him everywhere. Purchasing a few more school supplies and a wardrobe full of clothes his size, Jaune was ready to attend Beacon. He had a black hoodie and blue jeans, as it was his favorite style. He bought running shoes and combat boots to switch off, depending on what he would be doing for the day. He donated any usable old clothes away, figuring somebody else could use it.

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos sighed as she was flying on the airship to Beacon. She had won the Mistral annual tournament four times now, and her fame had spread across the seas apparently. People on the ship were constantly admiring her as the "Goddess of Victory" now, instead of "Invincible Girl". Her newest nickname was given to her after her third win in the tournament, where she completely dominated her opponents. It felt worse now, as her fame was even higher than she thought possible.

She had to admit her new versions _Milo_ and _Akouo_ certainly helped accelerate her reputation. Hephaestus went overboard and managed to mix Adamantine into Milo, making the weapon even sturdier and stronger. Underneath her light armor, she had a modified Mithril vest. Hephaestus originally wanted to make it a shirt, but Pyrrha wanted to keep her image. That and the sponsors did too. So he relented and had his friend modify it so it was hidden under her clothes while still offering her protection. It was dust enchanted so if she channeled some of her Aura, the Mithril shirt would extend upwards to her necklace, covering her flesh. This was the only compromise Hephaestus insisted, saying that having some armor just in case was better than none.

Not only did she have better weapons, she felt like her aura reserves had undergone a huge change too. It was bigger, and she was able to use her Semblance much easier than the past. She theorized that when she unlocked Jaune's aura, hers also underwent some change as she had been the closest to him as well as having touched his aura with hers.

"I hope you're here, Jaune," she whispered and prayed.

* * *

Weiss Schnee was huffing with impatience as she rode on an airship to Beacon. She had it all planned out. Find the strongest fighter, preferably female, become friends with her, and become the perfect pair. They would be unstoppable and popular! Then, she would lead the Schnee name to glory after her father had dragged it through the mud. She then thought of Jaune. She slightly blushed at what she had done three years ago. That was just a crush, a feeling that was just temporary!

She heard Winter talking about how Jaune actually punched a famous Huntress in a battle that she herself was unable to even land a hit. Weiss was crestfallen when she heard the Winter had to forfeit her position in the Vytal tournament. Still, she tried her best to talk to Weiss after also forfeiting the position of the heiress to her. Perhaps Jaune would be at Beacon. If not, the Winter was determined to find him and have him enlist at Atlas. She had made General Ironwood promise to accept him if he did come in return for becoming a special operative.

* * *

Blake was reading her book while waiting for the ship to land. She had taken the test and passed with flying colors. She sighed as she flipped to the next page of her book. As she read the adult artistic erotic fiction, she began to daydream. She imagined herself as the priestess who was waiting for her lover while Jaune was the knight swooping from the sky with his wings. He came near her, and they started to re-enact one of her favorite scenes. She stumbled out of her imagination when she heard a squeal.

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" said Yang, hugging her sister.

"Please stop," gasped Ruby.

Yang was giving her sister the 'how proud she was' speech to Ruby.

"Think Jaune will be there?" asked Ruby.

Yang looked away guiltily. She hated to admit, but she really did like Jaune. All those times of him treating her like a lady, and not those jerks trying to get a peek down her assets, she developed a crush on him. Even with him gone, it was still there. Not to mention all those adventures he told her. He treated her flirting as a joke, and would sometimes flirt back for fun.

"Probably," replied Yang.

"I can't wait to see him!" said Ruby. She had also developed a crush on Jaune too and could see that Yang crushing on the same person. More than once, she thought about approaching the subject up, but could never have the guts to do so. On a few occasion, she even thought about sharing Jaune with Yang. That way she could keep her sister while also dating him. The idea about sharing Jaune was becoming more prominent, though.

* * *

They had just landed, and Ruby was spinning in dizziness as Yang had ditched her to talk with some of her friends. She fell on some rich girl's suitcase, and it didn't help that she kept yelling at her while shaking Dust in front of her face. She sneezed and blew a crater in front of the courtyard, which made the rich girl in white even madder. Soon enough, she learned the rich girl's name was Weiss Schnee from a mysterious girl with a bow wearing black and white. Weiss actually blushed in embarrassment when the girl identified her company as also having controversial labor forces and questionable business partners.

"I don't have anything to do with those choices," said Weiss, trying to defend herself.

The girl merely raised her eyebrow. Weiss felt like she didn't need to explain further and left. Before Ruby could thank the girl, she had also left, leaving her alone. She pouted while collapsing to her knees.

"Welcome to Beacon," she said to herself, lying on her back as she closed her eyes for a second. She really did miss her friends back in Signal, as they didn't come with her. She may have had been excited to get to go to Beacon so early, but it had its cons. She wasn't able to go to Beacon with her group of friends and had to find new people over again. It was not easy for Ruby to do that. Then, a shadow seemed to cast over her face.

"Rought start?" said a familiar voice.

Ruby opened her eyes to see Jaune standing over her with his hand outstretched.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby, blushing in embarrassment that Jaune had apparently seen what had happened. She took the offered hand to pick herself back up before dusting herself clean while making sure everything on her was clean. She was even checking her hair.

"Come. Let's head to the auditorium. It's going to start soon," said Jaune with a smile.

Ruby nodded and followed him like a lost puppy while talking.

They walked into the auditorium, where Ruby was looking around at all the new attendees and their weapons. It was very crowded, showing around 100 people, maybe more, trying to attend Beacon.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" shouted Yang, noticing her sister enter first.

"I see my sister there. Want to come with me, Jaune?"

Before Jaune could reply, he heard his name being called from behind him. Turning around, he saw Pyrrha running towards him at full tilt. Before he could do anything, he had the air knocked out of him when she pounced on him. Barely managing to keep standing, he regained his breath as he saw Pyrrha looking at him with a pout while hugging him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were at Beacon?" pouted Pyrrha, not wanting to admit she was worried if she was in the same academy as Jaune.

"It was a surprise. Your father knew two months ago, but I had him keep it as a secret," answered Jaune. "By the way, we're making a scene here."

Pyrrha looked around to see many attendees looking at them and jumped back.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized quickly. Jaune shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, Pyrrha. I'm glad to see you too," said Jaune. Pyrrha responded with the biggest smile that few had ever seen. It made her look more radiant than all those photo shots she had to do for sponsors.

Ruby, along with Yang who had come to see what was happening, was about to ask how they knew each other when a coughing sound was heard on stage. Everyone quickly stopped staring at Jaune and Pyrrha to listen to what the Headmaster had to say.

* * *

Once Ozpin's message ended, they were all escorted to a large hall where they would all be sleeping for the night. Ruby was telling Yang about how she blew up in the courtyard. However, they were both paying attention to Jaune, who was sitting next to Pyrrha talking about his adventures and feeling jealous.

'When did he meet Cereal girl?' grumbled Yang in her mind.

'I was Jaune's first friend in Beacon! Or was he my first friend in Beacon? Doesn't matter! I should be there!' Ruby mentally screamed.

Two other girls were also watching Jaune in a jealous state. They said hi to Jaune while walking to their sleeping quarters, but didn't get the chance to talk more as Pyrrha dragged him away. Jaune, of course, noticed Weiss' scar and asked what happened, but Weiss brushed it off.

'Dammit. Jaune just got harder for me to catch. Well, my mother caught my father. I'll do the same!" thought Blake before an invasive thought kicked in, 'I wonder if she's willing to share. We could have thr- Bad thoughts Blake!'

'Urg, just my luck. My chance to have the strongest girl to come to Beacon was just taken by the most likely candidate to by the strongest guy. It doesn't matter! Partners haven't formed yet! I still have a chance! I'll get Jaune.. I mean Pyrrha!' thought Weiss, slightly blushing at the fact she was thinking about Jaune.

Pyrrha could feel the jealous gaze of the four girls as well as other stares from other girls who was staring at Jaune and his well-built muscles that could be easily seen from his clothes. She couldn't help but smirk. Other guys were also glaring at Jaune for attracting Pyrrha freaking Nikos before they even had a chance to introduce themselves to her, and probably seduce her. There would no chance now, seeing that she was basically hanging off Jaune's arm. Jaune, however, seemed oblivious to all this as he focused his attention on Pyrrha, and she loved it. Maybe a kiss to show everyone Jaune was hers? Before she could contemplate that, it was time to sleep.

Before going to sleep, Lie Ren looked at Jaune, feeling the same energy he had felt years ago. The same energy his parents told him to be on the look out for. Could he be the one they mentioned? Too tired to even think more about, he went to sleep, with Nora cuddling him on his side.

The next morning, everyone had grabbed their weapons and was now standing on what seemed to be silver platforms facing Emerald Forest. Ozpin and Glynda were also there, ready to start the initiation. Nora was still trying to make sloth noises for Ren to know it was her, who humored her. Ruby was still pouting when Yang told her to try to find and meet new people, as it was part of growing up. There was no need for that! She drinks milk already! That, and she wanted only Yang or Jaune. Any other partners would just be too scary for Ruby to even think about it. Others were discussing the rumors about partners when Ozpin coughed to grab all their attention and spoke. Jaune noticed that not all the attendees were at where they were and wondered why, but threw that question away for later.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'," continued Glynda, "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... **today**."

"What? Ohhh...," squeaked Ruby.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well," said Ozpin, causing Ruby to groan. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Jaune could only snicker as he saw Ruby's crestfallen face at this as if her world was shattering, squeaking out a word of disbelief. Yang also smiled as she put on her aviator sunglasses. Ozpin finished his lecture with a stern notice to not hesitate and also their mission parameters, to find the abandoned temple, choose a relic, guard it, and return to the cliff. Nobody asked any questions, so they commenced the exam. Of course, some people, especially 5 certain girls, already had in mind who to try to get as a partner.

'Jaune is mine!' thought Pyrrha.

'Jaune can fly. Maybe I can make it so I crash into him in the air, making him spread his wings!' thought Blake as she wanted to relish being carried in Jaune's arms again.

'Jaune's should be with me! Blondies should stick together! Although I guess being with my little sister wouldn't be bad either,' thought Yang, 'but preferably with me.'

'I don't wanna partner up with someone I don't know! Yang! Jaune! I will find either of them!' Ruby mentally screamed.

'Hmph. I better get someone strong like Pyrrha or Jaune,' thought Weiss as she prepared herself.

They were then all sent flying into the air via springing platforms. Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, relishing its taste while also enjoying sending people flying into the forest.

* * *

'Hmm, should I use my wings? Naa, not yet. I'm not in the school yet, so I can't let my dad find out, otherwise he could still get me. Better to hide it until I'm sure I'm completely out of his grasp,' thought Jaune as was falling through the sky.

He saw Ruby using her gun to lower the impact by for hooking onto a tree but not before running right through a stray bird. Weiss was using a glyph as a jumping pad to break her descent. Pyrrha was crashing through tree branches to slow her descent before landing on one. Yang was having fun using her gauntlets to propel herself forward, using the shotgun recoil. Blake used her Gambit Shroud to hook herself into a tree before using her Shadow up onto a branch. Jaune decided to grab his sword and stab into a tree, rotating around it, leaving a trail of splintered wood in the tree before jumping to another one and doing the same thing until he was close to the ground. He threw his shield out in front of him and landed on it, surfing on it. As it so happened, 3 Beowolves were unfortunately there. Jaune smirked as he launched his shield with his foot, stunning one of them. Within the next second, Jaune dashed forward, cutting two of the Grimm in half. The last one, who still at the edge of the shield indented into its face, found itself with a muzzle being pointed into its mouth. Jaune had slipped his hand into the handles of the shield, activating the hand cannon function. Without hesitation, he fired.

"Well, then. Time to find someone," said Jaune out loud to himself after making sure there were no more Grimm around him, walking towards where he thought the ruins would be. After casually walking while killing a few Grimm here and there, he heard a noise and shots being fired. Quickly running towards it, he saw a male with black hair with a pink dye on the side wearing green clothes shooting at a giant Grimm serpent, the King Taijitu. The black one was about to bite him when he blocked it with his bare hands. Jaune could see his Aura protecting him before breaking the fangs, twisting into a perfect position to use the fangs as daggers and stab it in the Grimm's eye. Before the snake could react, the boy focused his Aura into his palm and blasted it right into the fang, causing the Grimm's head to explode from impact.

" _ **The kid's not bad,"**_ said Andusk with interest, ** _"To be able to channel his Aura like that. Not many are skilled enough have such control over their Aura to do that, and it's not even his Semblance."_**

* * *

Ren was tired. He just wanted to relax now. Still, he had the white head of the King Taijitu to deal with. Quickly dashing towards it, he grabbed the weapons he had dropped before firing. The white snake tried to bite him when suddenly, a bullet went through its eyes, blinding the Grimm. Taking this chance, Ren spun and decapitated the second head. Looking around, he saw a blonde boy with his shield out, the muzzle of a sniper pointing out from it. Ren just grinned before walking towards him.

"Guess we're partners. I'm Jaune Ryu-Long," introduced Jaune, putting his hand out.

"Lie Ren," replied Ren before shaking it, "But just call me Ren. It's easier. I hope Nora won't mind me not being her partner. She even had a sloth noise ready to call me out."

He mimicked what Nora had decided was a sloth call.

"Isn't that a bird call?" asked Jaune, "Sloths don't sound like that. Actually, I don't even know what they sound like."

Ren just shrugged, and the two of them left to find the artifacts.

* * *

Ruby was running through the forest hoping to find Yang or Jaune. Who she found was not someone she wanted, though. She made eye contact with Weiss.

Weiss huffed and stomped away, hoping to find somebody else even if she had made eye contact with Ruby, leaving Ruby pouting. Her eyes lit up as she saw Pyrrha's back. Comparing Pyrrha and Ruby as potential partners, Pyrrha won by a landslide. After all, she had a reputation of being one of the best! Before she could call her out and deny any fact that she had made eye contact with Ruby, a strange sound rang, and an orange haired girl popped out from a tree, looking right at Pyrrha.

"I guess we're partners," said Pyrrha, "My name is Pyrrha Nikos.

"I'm Nora Valkyrie! I know who you are! I've eaten your cereal before! Ren doesn't let me eat it too often, as it's unhealthy," replied Nora before giggling and jumping off the tree. "Let's go! I needa find Ren, and you probably need to find your boyfriend that I saw you hanging with and hugging."

Pyrrha blushed but didn't deny the accusation before walking off with Nora. Weiss huffed with anger before stomping back to Ruby.

"By no means does this make us friends," grumbled Weiss as she dragged Ruby by her cloak.

"You came back!" cheered Ruby even though she was being dragged.

* * *

As Jaune and Ren were walking, Ren was sure that Jaune was the one emitting the energy he had felt and decided to ask.

"Jaune. Are you in possession of some sort of artifact related to dragons, the ancient rulers?"

Jaune slightly stiffened at this and asked, "Why are you asking this?"

"I can feel some sort of Draconian energy around you. I was told by my parents long ago to look for anyone with the power of dragons. Either your body is making it or you have something on you," answered Ren with a serious face.

Jaune hesitated to answer Ren's question. As he tried to find a way to deflect it, Lung Wang spoke up in his mind, _**"I'd say he's trustworthy. I give you permission to reveal your contract to us to this man."**_

" _ **Are you serious?"**_ asked Fafnir.

" _ **There have been people who have hunted our power before,"**_ warned Alaerth.

" _ **I agree with Lung Wang. This man is not one who is jealous, but rather a follower of a tradition,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

Jaune took a deep breath, "Ren. Whatever you hear in the next few minutes, you can not disclose to anyone. Not even Nora. Ozpin nor does anybody else knows about this. Do I have your word?"

Ren nodded slowly, understanding the gravity of the situation. Jaune linked up with Fafnir and stomped the ground and spun, creating an earth barrier dome around them so nobody could see them.

"I'm in a contract with dragons. Supposedly, my Semblance is that I'm able to enter into contracts and borrow their powers. Not too sure how it works."

Ren was silent for a bit, trying to see if Jaune was lying from his facial and body movements. There were none. Slowly, he kneeled down in front of Jaune, his left knee touching the ground. His left hand was above his right fist as he greeted him.

"The Ren family, Lie Ren, greets his esteemed holder of dragons." said Ren before bowing.

" _ **I thought so,"**_ said Lung Wang.

Jaune was confused, and tried to get Ren up, "There's no point in bowing to me."

"Tradition dictates I must," replied Ren as he got back down, "My family carried the history of dragons even when everybody else forgot about them. We were the ones who remembered and respected the Dragon Clan when it still existed. Without it, the Ren family wouldn't exist today. Although I am the last of my family, I will do my duty as best as I can."

Jaune sighed. He really didn't want his partner to be someone who would always be trying to serve him.

" _ **Then don't,"**_ said Aryz, **_"Give your first command. Tell him to be your friend, not a servant."_**

'Good idea,' thought Jaune before making his announcement, "Stand up, then, Lie Ren, last of the Ren family."

Ren slowly stood back up as Jaune continued, "My first order. Forget about that stuff. It's in the past. I want you to be my friend. Someone who has my back and will tell me if I'm wrong."

Ren tilted his head in confusion for a second before smiling, "I can do that. I'll make sure Nora doesn't bother you too much either. If it's not too much to ask, who are you in a contract with?"

Jaune pondered if he should tell him all of it, but the dragons convinced him to say one only. Lung Wang told him to say his name. When Ren heard it, he again bowed in respect, for Lung Wang was a dragon his family knew very well, as it was from his tradition. Lung Wang laughed and told Jaune to pass Ren a message, saying he liked him.

They continued to walk to find the artifacts after Jaune lowered the barrier. Ozpin, who had been looking at the cameras, was intrigued for a bit.

'Does that mean Jaune has some sort of earth Semblance?' Ozpin thought to himself while Glynda was telling him all attendees had formed partnerships. She also mentioned how she pitied Pyrrha as she had to team up with one of the most energetic girl she had ever seen. Ozpin barely acknowledged as he switched to a few other cameras, one of them looking at a lost Ruby and Weiss. He slightly smiled as he saw Weiss huffing, having no idea where to go, but frowned when he hear the conversation between the girls. Ozpin made a few mental notes about this conversation while judging who would be a more proper leader.

He had to smile when he saw what happened next to them, involving a certain Nevermore.

* * *

"Nora, I don't think we should go in this cave," said Pyrrha. Nora ignored her and charged in, cackling and saying that there might be sloths inside the cave. Pyrrha sighed as she went in to chase her energetic partner. A few minutes later, they were both running for their life as a giant Death Stalker burst out the cave. Compared to the usual breed, this Death Stalker must have been far older, as none of their guns could penetrate its hide.

"Why didn't you stop me?" asked Nora, laughing as she was running.

"I'm sorry," was the automatic reply.

"Ah don't be. It was fun. Ren's always telling me to stop and judge my surroundings. Oh, look an Ursa! We can hitch a ride!" said Nora.

Before Pyrrha could stop her, Nora was already on the Grimm, whacking it with her giant war hammer. The Ursa had no choice but to run and follow her directions.

"Cmon Pyrrha! This is faster and easier!"

Pyrrha sighed before leaping onto the Ursa. The Ursa indeed did go faster than she thought it could. Then again, with Nora provoking it while it was trying to run from a Death Stalker from stabbing it, it could've just been running for its life and survival.

* * *

Yang was tossing the golden knight chess piece while surveying the area with her partner Blake. The two had become partners after Yang was busy wailing a poor Ursa with anger for cutting a piece of her hair. They noticed that some of the pieces had been taken already, and figured that other people had come and go.

"I hope Ruby is all right," Yang said out loud, "I can't help it since I'm her older sister."

"I'm sure she's fine. She's a prodigy. You said so yourself," replied Blake with an eye roll.

Yang sighed in agreement. Suddenly, Ren and Jaune popped out from the forest.

"Hey, looks like we found it!" said Jaune. Ren nodded in agreement while Jaune went up to look at the pieces, noticing some were missing, "Any preference?"

" _ **Hmph. You should take the King chess piece,"**_ said Lung Wang.

"The castle. Nora likes that," said Ren. Jaune shrugged as he took the rook and going back to his partner.

"Jaune!" said Blake and Yang. Both of them looked at each other, asking each other how they knew Jaune mentally before turning back to him.

"Blake, Yang, nice to see you two are doing well. You two are partners?" asked Jaune, walking up next to them. Ren followed along and introduced himself.

They both nodded. Before they could say anything else, they heard a large shriek of a Nevermore, followed by a voice saying heads up. Looking up, they saw Ruby falling down directly towards them. Jaune sighed as he took three steps forward with his arms forward. Ruby fell right into his arms without any trouble for Jaune.

"Falling from the sky Ruby?" asked Jaune. Ruby had her eyes closed to prepare for impact into the ground and slightly opened her eyes to see Jaune smirking at her while carrying her bridal style.

'Lucky,' thought Blake and Yang while Ruby blushed, but made no movements to get off. Another roar in the forest made her jump off to prepare for an attack just to see an Ursa collapse in front of them.

"I think we lost it!" said Nora as she jumped off the Ursa she was riding.

"Please, let's not try that again," said Pyrrha as she got off. She took a look at where her partner was to see her disappear, only to reappear at the pillars containing the chess pieces. Nora took the rook while singing her castle song. Pyrrha could only ruefully grin while walking up to Jaune to say hi again.

"How could you leave me?" shouted Weiss from above. They all looked up to see her still on the Nevermore, hanging onto its talons.

"I said jump," said Ruby.

"She's gonna fall," reminded Blake.

"She'll be fine," replied Ruby.

"She's falling," deadpanned Ren.

Jaune could only sight as he took a step back with his arms out again for Weiss to land in his arms, the same as Ruby did.

"Just dropping in?" asked Jaune. Weiss looked up and blushed but quickly got off, patting herself and trying to look dignified. Pyrrha, Blake, and Yang looked a bit jealous at Weiss. Suddenly, the trees parted, and a Death Stalker came crawling out, clicking its pincers.

"Whoops," said Nora.

"Nora, what did you do?" sighed Ren, facepalming. Obviously, this giant Death Stalker coming for them was Nora's fault.

"We might have provoked it," apologized Pyrrha, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," replied Jaune, "Stuff happens."

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" said Yang cheerfully.

"Not if I can help it!" replied Ruby, yelling out a battle cry and rushing towards the Death Stalker. Suddenly, she was jerked back by Jaune, who grabbed her hood before she could charge in. She felt some spit come out of her mouth from the sudden halt and glared at Jaune.

"There's no point in fighting right now. Your objective is right in front of you. There are two large Grimm, and you're about to charge into one of them without any clear communication," lectured Jaune.

Ruby blushed as she understood the consequences of her action before grabbing a knight piece and turning to the crowd, "He's right. Live to fight another day. No point in risking more than we should to complete our objective."

Everyone nodded and quickly ran off, hoping to lose the Death Stalker and Nevermore. Still, they were quite persistent on chasing them. The Nevermore got ahead of them and blocked their paths as they arrived at some ruins before the cliffs. Jaune took a look back and noticed the Death Stalker still chasing them.

"Everyone, run forward. Ren, with me."

"Nora, distract the Nevermore," said Ren before following Jaune.

As everyone ran forward, the Nevermore gave a cry before firing sharpened feathers at them. They all dodged it as Nora took out her grenade launcher and fired away. The Nevermore shrieked in pain before flying up to the sky to avoid damage.

Ren and Jaune fire their weapons at the thick hide of the Death Stalker. All it did seem to just anger it. As it got closer, it swung its pincer. Jaune struck back at it with his sword at full force with a two-handed upward swing, causing it to stumble back from the impact. Jaune quickly used the momentum to strike downwards, sending rocks flying towards the Death Stalker. Seeing as it was now quite distracted and stunned, Ren and Jaune took this opportunity to run towards the ruins to catch up. Both of them were shooting wildly behind them at the same time, hoping to get a some more damage in.

The girls managed to get to the bridge when Pyrrha turned around to see Jaune and Ren trying to catch up.

"Go, go!" shouted Pyrrha as she converted _Milo_ into a rifle and started firing at the Death Stalker. Ren and Jaune managed to get on the bridge before they all ran again. The Death Stalker stopped at the edge, not willing to run on a path that it couldn't fit on. The others continued their path when the Nevermore suddenly swerved into the bridge they were all running on. They were split into two groups. On the side closest to the Nevermore was Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake. The other side had the other four girls, who were shooting at the Nevermore.

"I need to get back to my partner," said Nora.

"Go, we'll handle things here. Blake can come to us after," said Ruby.

Nora nodded as she converted her weapon Magnhild into a hammer and shouted out to Blake. Blake who had tried an aerial attack at the Death Stalker was knocked down by its pincer, but Jaune managed to catch her before she hit the ground. She looked at Nora and nodded before running and jumping off the edge. Nora slammed jumped and turned to slam the ground, causing a good chunk of it to capsize. Quickly switching her position so her feet were on the hammer's head, she pressed a button to force a grenade shot out of the hammer's head, causing her to soar over to Jaune and them, smashing her hammer down at the Death Stalker.

Blake tossed her weapon into the capsized rock, allowing her to swing under it for a bit before recalling it and using her Semblance to dash into a pole. Using her innate skills, she climbed up a bit before tossing her weapon to swing her right into the Nevermore. Drawing out her sheath as a secondary weapon, she slashed and dashed across the Nevermore's back before landing with Ruby and her gang.

"It's tougher than it looks!" warned Blake as she felt her blades barely penetrate the Nevermore's skin. "Then let's hit it with everything we got!" said Yang as she prepped up her shotgun gauntlets Ember Celica. Weiss prepared her rapier Myrtenaster, and Ruby positioned her Crescent Rose. They all opened fire. The Nevermore, shrugging off the attacks, crashed into the building they were all on before flying away. The girls managed to dodge the falling rocks while getting back on solid ground

"Cover me, I have a plan!" shouted Ruby to Weiss, who nodded and dashed towards the Nevermore. Ruby went to quickly tell her plans to her other teammates.

* * *

Back with Jaune and his crew, they found themselves at a collapsing bridge with the Death Stalker in front of them.

"We gotta move!" yelled Jaune.

They all nodded and charged. Pyrrha blocked the first pincer on her left with her shield before transforming her weapon into a xyphos and slashed at its eye. Jaune blocked the second pincer and stabbed its claw joint. Ren was running directly at the Death Stalker when it tried to use its stinger to stab him. He dodged it before grabbing onto it and shooting its stinger at point blank range. Nora provided heavy artillery, shooting it at the Death Stalker's eyes. Angry at this, the Death Stalker swept its claws in before swiping it out at the same time at Jaune and Pyrrha hoping to push them off.

"Get behind me!" shouted Jaune.

Pyrrha immediately obeyed, leaving Jaune to deal with the incoming swipe. He linked up with Fafnir and held his ground, halting the attack completely. The Death Stalker was shocked to see its pincers halted completely. It became more frightened when it sense that the man standing there was leaking Aura and energy similar to the beings that once ruled Remnant. Before it could do anything, Jaune pushed. The Death Stalker stumbled backward with Ren still shooting its stinger. Suddenly, Pyrrha dashed in with two xiphos in hands now, having transformed her shield into a weapon. She stabbed and slashed rapidly at the Death Stalkers eyes, causing at least 4 of its eyes to go blind. It flailed in pain, stinger swinging wildly. Ren, however, had already jumped into the air when he saw Pyrrha charging in. Taking a deep breath, Ren spun and cut the stinger off, causing it to land on its head. Ren landed on the Grimm's head with the stinger behind him and quickly turned around, doing an arcing kick loaded with Aura directly on the stinger, causing it to go down a bit deeper, forcing the Death Stalker to flail in pain even more.

"Nora, nail it!" shouted Jaune as he positioned his shield above his head.

"Heads up!" shouted Nora, jumping onto his shield, hammer's flat head facing the shield.

With a quick count, Jaune sent Nora into the sky as Nora triggered an explosion to send her up higher. As she reached the apex of her arc, Jaune swore she could hear her giggling before she fired another shot to send herself spinning.

"Pyrrha!" shouted Jaune.

She immediately knew what Jaune wanted, and jumped back next to him before letting her hand glow black. Nora's weapon glowed a bit, and her rotation increased even more. Ren had already jumped away into safe land after doing his attack.

With a huge bang, Nora slammed the stinger even further into the Death Stalker, so much that the end of the stinger was touching the ground through its head. Acting like a see-saw, the bridge end where Jaune and Pyrrha went up, allowing them to fly over the Death Stalker while it was now doing its death flail. Nora quickly swung her body as she triggered another point blank explosion so she would also land on safe ground, right towards Ren. Ren sighed as he prepared himself and caught Nora impacting on him, slightly being pushed back before stabilizing himself. Jaune and Pyrrha landed next to each other, mirroring each other's landing pose. They looked at each other and grinned before taking a look to see if Ruby and her team needed help.

* * *

Yang was shooting out ranged shots, switching her ammo from buck shots for ranged attacks. She kept punching until one of them finally landed on the Nevermore's head. Irritated, the Nevermore swerved around, flying straight for Yang. Its mouth opened wide, intent on eating her with one merely smirked at this before jumping up right towards the Nevermore. Almost in slow motion, Jaune and his team saw that Yang managed to time it perfectly, her legs at the bottom of the Nevermore's beak while her left hand held the top of it open, preventing her from being eaten while also giving her the chance to land some solid hits.

"I. HOPE. YOUR. HUNGRY!" grunted Yang, punching and launching projectiles into the Nevermore's open and defenseless mouth.

The Nevermore groaned in pain as it began to descend and lose control of its flight. Seeing that they were near a wall, Yang quickly backflipped away into the ground while the Nevermore collided into the cliff, unable to stabilize itself in time. Still, it landed on its claws before cawing out in anger. Yang looked up and grinned as she noticed everybody was already in place. Blake was on top of a pillar, Ruby was at the center, and Weiss was already running towards the Nevermore. Weiss dashed past her as Yang quickly ran to her position, at the other pillar across from Blake.

The Nevermore flapped its wing, trying to ascend into the air again to regain its advantage. Weiss, however, took that away from it by freezing its feathers into the ground. The Nevermore squawked in surprise, trying to free itself from its icy prison. Weiss quickly jumped up, using a glyph as a foothold to quickly run back to her position. Blake quickly threw her weapon towards Yang with the ribbon tied around her wrists several times. Yang grabbed _Gambol Shroud_ and stuck the blade onto the stone pillar before pushing in her body weight for support. Blake pulled on her side, creating a tight tension on the ribbon, perfect for a slingshot. The ribbon was created from special materials, otherwise, this plan wouldn't work. Ruby smile as she used the recoil from her sniper to send herself to the slingshot, quickly maneuvering herself in the air to let the blunt end of _Crescent Rose_ hit the ribbon first. The ribbon started to stretch to its maximum tension, where Rwby was standing on her beloved weapon. Weiss quickly summoned her usual white glyphs before flicking her finger upwards and readjusting the position, so it would intercept and hold Ruby in place. The glyph quickly turned black and held Ruby in place as the slingshot was ready for launch. Ruby quickly switched out her ammo pack for the special gravity Dust bullets. This would allow the recoil to be much stronger, and aid her in what she had planned.

"Of course, you would come up with this idea," scoffed Weiss. Inside, she was impressed by how Ruby was able to make a plan so fast.

"Think you can make the shot?" asked Ruby.

"Hmph. Can I?" smirked Weiss.

Ruby frowned and rose her head in confusion at this, missing her sarcasm. She turned to look at Weiss, "Can yo-?"

"Of course I can!" snapped Weiss. She mentally did a facepalm, noting that sarcasm went over Ruby's head sometimes.

Ruby looked forward, eyes sharpening and grinning as she cocked her beloved _Crescent Rose_ , ready to fire. Weiss lifted her blade _Myrtenaster_ for a second before swinging it, a light blow glow following it. The glyph turned red and let go, shooting Ruby forward. She left a trail of rose petals as she began to fire as fast as she could, increasing her velocity. The Nevermore, still trying to free itself, suddenly found itself being dragged into the wall with a scythe on its neck. Just before Ruby landed on the wall, Weiss quickly summoned glyphs at Ruby's feet, keeping her in place there before summoning as many glyphs that lead up all the way to the top of the cliff. Once she was done with that, she collapsed into the ground, tired. Yang quickly helped her up.

As soon as Ruby landed, she started running up the wall, dragging the heavy Nevermore behind her while leaving a trail of broken rocks from being dragged, ignoring all that weight that she technically wasn't supposed to be able to drag. Weiss' glyphs certainly helped as it also propelled her forward, letting the majority of the weight be lifted off. She was still spamming as many shots as possible, using the recoil to boost her forward. Ruby yelled as she was dragging her victim up, getting louder and louder until she reached the top. At the apex, the Nevermore was stuck in a hard place. As Ruby still had her momentum with her scythe, its head was stuck between the scythe and the jutting of a few rocks. Grimm flesh gave way to the scythe, and Ruby decapitated the Nevermore. The head stuck with Ruby at the top of the cliff while the rest of its body slowly slumped away from the cliff and towards the ground.

"Well, that was a thing," commented Yang as she looked at her sister proudly. The other two nodded in reply.

Yang then though of something she was sure would make her new friends laugh.

"Guess Ruby has a _head_ start on us. Hopefully, it won't go into her _head,"_ grinned Yang. The two just groaned at her puns. She was one of those people.

* * *

Jaune whistled, impressed at their tactics.

" _ **That Yang girl is pretty gutsy to do that. I like her,"**_ said Lung Wang.

" _ **I'll admit, those point-blank shots into the mouth was impressive,"**_ admitted Othim, **_"But so was that finishing move!"_**

" _ **It seems like Ruby was the one who put up the whole plan together,"**_ observed Andsuk. Ruby was indeed a worthy addition, and if she ever got the mate mark, she would become so much stronger.

Soon, they were all back into the auditorium, but with the students of the academy there to welcome there. After asking around, Jaune found out that other attendees were placed into other groups all around the Emerald Forest, meaning everyone had a different starting point. They were all the same distance to the relics to give everyone the same chance. It became obvious that Ozpin also wanted Hunters to be able to navigate through the forests themselves as well as be able to work with others. Overall, out of all the attendees trying to get into Beacon, only 40 students were accepted, as there were only 20 chess pieces available. The ones that failed to reach the goal in time were sent back home with a pat on a back or a suggestion to attend other fields of study. Those that still wanted to try were welcome to come back next year.

As Ozpin called up four people at once to form teams, Jaune spent his time wondering about how he was supposed to tell the girls about his "conditions". Would they accept it, or would they look at him with disgust and leave Jaune shivered at that thought, though Aryz kept whispering to him that it would be all right.

He heard his name called up with Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora and quickly walked up the stage.

"Jaune Ryu-Long. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR.," announced Ozpin. Everybody clapped in welcoming the new team. Nora was hugging Ren in happiness.

"Led by... Jaune Ryu-Long!"

" _ **Haha! Just as I suspected! Well done, boy,"**_ congratulated Lung Wang in pride.

" _ **A fitting position,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

The other dragons offered their congratulations, but Jaune's attention was mostly on Pyrrha, who seemed to give off her real smile again towards him, not the fake smile that she gave off the crowd. He liked it and hoped to see more of it again. Jaune took a look at Ozpin, who was also smirking.

"Congratulations, young man. Show him what he failed to see," whispered Ozpin. Jaune nodded in reply.

After that, they witnessed the birth of team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose. They were all shown to their rooms after it was over. By luck or chance, team RWBY was right across from team JNPR. As Jaune put his head onto his pillow, he found himself exhausted. He wasn't the only one. Everybody who had just been accepted found themselves sleeping very easily after changing into their night clothes. Most didn't even bother unpacking their stuff before conking out.

* * *

 **That's right. I shoved 8 episodes into 1 single chapter! No worries, it won't happen again. I only did this because, let's be honest, ep 4,5,6,7,8 all mix together quite well. Not to mention I'm more summarizing some of the talks.**

 **Hope you've enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Dew Gayle is not at Beacon, she's at Shade Academy. I toyed around with it, thinking of having her join Beacon with her friends, but ultimately decided not to. She will show up though, along with NDGO. I have plans on how to do it already.**

 **In my opinion, not all attendees automatically gain a ticket into the school. They pass the first stage, which is admittance. The auditorium when Ozpin makes his first speech shows more than 40 people, I think. Then, the second stage, which is being thrown into the Emerald Forest, cuts down the members. I put 40 acceptance, as that means 10 teams entering. There were 20 chess pieces acting as relics. I counted. I had to freeze the image when the camera went over the pieces. That, and wiki photo shows 20 small pillars with relics, some missing as somebody had already taken some already.**

 **Of course, I could be just overthinking that, and that Rooster Teeth just chucked a bunch of shadows to make it seem crowded.**

 **As for age, I'm more thinking that to be a Huntsmen/Huntress, it's the recommended minimum age is 17, unless promise is shown, like Ruby. Afterall, the Vytal Festival Tournament stated that age was irrelevant.**

 **Hope my reasoning is sound! Feel free to pm me if you feel like my theory is off.**

 **Review if you can!**


	10. Chapter 10 Badge&Burden Revealing Truth

**So thus, begins Beacon Academy Life! I won't go as fast as I did before, mashing 8 episodes into one. I'll be progressing the timeline in a slower pace than the canon episodes, but yea. They never really give a timeline zone, so I'm more ballparking the time. Volume 1 ended with the first semester ending, while volume 2 started with the two week break ending and second semester starting. Expect a little filler on those extra weeks they never talk about.**

 **Read and Review!**

* * *

Jaune woke up an hour later than his usual time. Lung Wang had allowed him to sleep till 7 am instead of 6, stating that this would be one of the few times he would be lenient. Jaune was glad as he stretched, remembering he was in Beacon. He smiled at that. He was now free from his father's influence! No longer did he have to fear that Vlad would be able to reach him now. Jaune looked around the room to see his roommates still asleep. Nora was drooling and sleep talking about sloths. Ren was completely motionless like a dead body, and Pyrrha was curled up in a circle. He decided to head to the bathroom first to wash up first before unpacking all his stuff, which wasn't much. Jaune decided to grab a few breakfast sandwiches from the cafeteria just in case.

It was around 7:45 did Ren and Pyrrha finally wake up. Jaune had already placed his clothes into his closet and was looking through the schedule. Ren immediately got up and shook Nora up, who refused and tried to punch Ren. Ren, who was used to her habits, merely dodged before pushing her off the bed to force her to wake up. Still, she refused to let go of her blankets until he promised pancakes. Nora shot off to the bathroom right after the magic words.

Pyrrha had to take 5 minutes before she was finally up and yawned rather cutely, in Jaune's opinion. Quickly also going to the bathroom to share the sink for Nora, Ren was left to clean up and unpack his items first. Jaune tossed him a sandwich for him to eat. Around 8:15, Jaune and Ren heard a whistle being blown next door, where team RWBY was. The two males looked at each other before shrugging and continued what they were doing. Nora and Pyrrha got out the bathroom, allowing Ren to use it. Several minutes later, he was back into his prim look.

"Well, then team JNPR, today's a big day. It's the first day of our life at Beacon!" announced Jaune. Nora giggled while Pyrrha and Ren smiled. They were eating the sandwiches Jaune had provided for them and were wearing their uniforms. Next door, though, they could hear hammering and buzzsaws going off. They all pondered what was going on, but just shrugged.

"It's 8:50. We should get going to class, Professor Port's lectures start at 9," reminded Ren.

"Urg. Class," moaned Nora childishly, "Can we skip it?"

"I'm sure Professor Port has some important information to give to us," said Pyrrha, "It's Grimm studies. We can find out what type of Grimm there are and their weakness."

"All right, then. Off to the lecture!" said Jaune. They exited the room and were about to leave when Jaune decided to knock on team RWBY's door. Weiss popped out, frowning at the interruption.

"What?" she demanded with irritation.

"Class starts in 15 minutes," reminded Jaune before walking away.

Weiss stood there for a few seconds before shrieking in panic.

"What's wrong?" asked Ruby. Blake and Yang also stopped what they were doing.

"You dolts! We have class in 15 minutes!" yelled Weiss. Team RWBY quickly dropped what they were doing, grabbing their supplies before running out the door to catch up with team JNPR, unable to complete their bunk-beds.

* * *

" _ **This is what we have to listen to for the next 2 hours?"**_ deadpanned Lung Wang, _**"There could be better stuff to do than listening to someone brag."**_

Jaune couldn't help but agree. What was Grimm Studies from Professor Port ended up to be Port's story time about his adventures with cabbages somehow being mixed into it? Jaune couldn't help but start to nod off. Ren was motionless and had his face slightly covered by his hand while looking down at his notes. He had disguised himself perfectly as a studious student when he was really napping. Nora had just given up and planted her head face down. Pyrrha was struggling to put a perfect student example but was taking notes at random times.

Jaune took a glance at team RWBY to see only Weiss seemed to be paying attention. Blake was reading her book, Yang was looking around the room to see if there was something interesting, and Ruby was... drawing?

" _ **At least pay attention to the pictures behind the teacher,"**_ scolded Aryz, _**"They look important, considering how detailed they are."**_

Jaune nodded and started to copy it down until he realized that the so-called descriptions on the pictures were just Port's note of saying how he faced them in an epic battle without many helpful hints.

" _ **Never mind,"**_ groaned Aryz, **_"Take this time to meditate a little, I suppose."_**

Still, Jaune took some notes just in case. There were at least some useful information Professor Port would spout out every now and then. Jaune was quite deep into his meditation when suddenly, Weiss raised her hand, saying "I do, sir!"

"What did I miss?" Jaune asked Pyrrha as she gently shook Ren up, who shook Nora up.

"Weiss volunteered to show Professor Port her skills," replied Pyrrha as the teacher pulled out a cage containing something in it. It was shaking and growling.

Ten minutes later, Weiss returned, wearing her usual attire along with her weapon by her side.

" _ **Well, let's see if Weiss is as skilled as Winter is,"**_ murmured Ryo-Wo.

"Gooo, Weiss!" shouted Yang as she raised her fist to cheer.

Blake was waving a small flag that had RWBY on it "Fight well!"

"Yeah, represent teeeeam RWBY!" shouted Ruby.

Weiss lowered her rapier, glowering at Ruby before replying, "Ruby! I'm trying to focus!"

Jaune frowned. That was no way to treat a team mate, especially her leader.

Port seemed to ignore all this tension as he pulled out his axe, "Allll right! Let the match.. begin!"

Right as he finished, he swung down and broke the lock in the cage, revealing a Boarbatusk, a boar-like Grimm. The Grimm immediately charged for Weiss, who dodged its charge while whipping her sword at its side. The attack barely seemed to register to the Grimm as it turned around, pawing its hooves and huffing.

Weiss charged in with her rapier, trying to pierce its head only to find out that the bone mask when the Boarbatusk suddenly swung it's head, intercepting the rapier and causing it to get stuck on its tusk. Weiss jumped into the air, swinging around to kill the momentum she had generated so she wouldn't have her body go into those tusks. Weiss struggled to get it free when the Grimm suddenly turned its head and ripped Myrtenmaster out of her grip.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" asked Port.

Weiss looked up to see the Boarbatusk charge at her again and dodged, quickly running toward her weapon. The Grimm had slammed into a desk, causing it to lose balance and giving Weiss some valuable time.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" shouted Ruby as advice, but that merely made Weiss get even angrier.

"Stop telling me what to do!" she shouted in rebuttal, not noticing Ruby looking hurt at her reply.

The Boartabusk jumped up into the air and curled up into a ball, landing, and spinning in place, gaining speed.

" _ **OOH! I would kick that Grimm like a soccer ball!"**_ shouted Othim in excitement. Jaune rolled his eyes at that. He wasn't exactly disagreeing with that plan, but he'd rather have Nora use her hammer and smash it into the Grimm and send it flying like a golf ball. He was sure Nora could do it too.

Weiss activated two blue-white glyphs at once, one in front of her and the other one behind her above her head. The Boartabusk spun forward and slammed into the glyph. The glyph held and forced the Grimm to be knocked back onto its back. Weiss quickly jumped into the air, feet landing on the glyph before it turned black, holding her in place for a bit before it turned back to its normal color. Weiss dived towards the Boartabusk with her rapier, driving it into its unprotected stomach and killing it. Whether she had thought of it herself or followed Ruby's advice remained to be seen.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" applauded Professor Port as Weiss slowly stood up, still slightly panting from her moves, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay _vigilant_! Class dismissed!"

Weiss glared for a bit before turning away, huffing towards the exit right past her teammates. Ruby, still frowning, quickly ran to chase after Weiss.

Jaune frowned at this attitude. It appeared that she did not inherit all of her sister's attitude and had some of her father's instead. Jaune shook his head as he remembered Whitley. That was a brat he'd rather not deal with, even if it had been satisfying to shut him up with words only.

* * *

The day passed on rather quickly. Jaune and his team bonded closely as they went through Doctor Oobleck's class on History of Remnant and Professor Peach's class on Survival 101. Jaune and the dragons were interested in the history class, as the dragons wanted to know what had happened while they were gone. Jaune merely enjoyed the class, even if Oobleck spoke faster than normal people. Luckily, Velvet, who was the T.A. for his class, had advised him to carry a recorder and slow down his voice if Jaune had trouble catching up. Professor Peach taught Survival 101, but it wasn't as interesting as the other classes as he already knew how to survive out in the wilderness. Some of her advice Jaune threw away as he had a better way of doing it. Some of the things that did stick with him were how some of the food he didn't know existed was edible. Combat Class was held every other day with Glynda, along with Survival 101. Combat Class had the longest time zone as it was the reason why they had come to these Academies, of course. Another interesting class taught by Glynda and Peach was Dust use and Research.

The schedule was tentative to changes, as they knew they would be taking trips every now and then. That, and this was their first year and semester. It was in the second semester when they would be taking on missions, albeit the easy ones, that the schedules would change.

The rest of the evening was for the student to decide what to do. Most opted to socialize, head to the gym, or study in the library. Training arenas were open for reservations only. Only two arenas allowed walk-ins, and those were first come, first served, but with an hour limit only as compared to reserving an arena for up to 3 hours.

Jaune took this chance to call Dew after dinner. He excused himself as he went to the library and placed a call to her. After a few rings, she picked up.

"Hello, who is this and how do you ha-" greeted Dew until she saw Jaune waving at her.

"Jaune!" Dew shouted in surprise. This attracted her teammates Nebula, Gwen, and Octavia, who went over to say hi.

"Nice to talk to you guys again," greeted Jaune.

"Hold on, let me put you on the big screen," said Dew, flustered before she finally attached her Scroll to a bigger screen.

"How have you all been? You're all on the same team?" asked Jaune.

"Yep! We're team NDGO, and I'm the leader," said Nebula, puffing her chest proudly.

They talked for awhile, catching up on what had happened during their time apart. Dew took the most time talking with Jaune, but the others of team NDGO didn't mind. They knew Dew still had a crush on Jaune. She certainly didn't like it when she heard Pyrrha Nikos was on his team, but hid it well.

'I don't care if I have to fight the Goddess of Victory for Jaune!' she mentally shouted.

"Speaking of boys, you know Dew has an admirer?" said Octavia.

"Octavia!" shouted Dew, trying to shush her.

"More like a persistent stalker," said Gwen, "He's Aurelian Arc's younger brother, Boyd Arc. Keeps hitting on Dew, saying that she should be honored that he's asking her out. Basically has the same look as his brother, just an uglier face and spiky blonde hair."

Jaune felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance before asking, "He's not forcing you to do anything, right?"

Dew shook his head, "Na, he's not strong enough. It does get annoying, though. No worries, my teammates got my back."

Jaune nodded, "Just tell me if he gives you trouble. Since I no longer have to hide, I can help."

"How would you help your damsel in distress so far away?" teased Octavia.

"I have my ways," replied Jaune as he grinned before saying good-bye.

"Mmm you hear that Dew? Jaune will rescue you, all you need to do is call," teased Octavia. Dew was blushing madly.

"Next time, you should call him with a video call while making it seem like you just got out of the shower with a towel covering your body," teased Nebula.

"Shut up shut up shut up!" replied Dew, her whole body becoming red in embarrassment.

"It would be effective," popped in Gwen.

"Not you too!" cried out Dew.

* * *

Jaune was whistling a song as he started to walk back to his dorm when he saw Weiss sitting at the fountain just looking up into the shattered moon, deep in thought. He was about to walk by when Weiss called him out. He stopped and turned around to see her walking up to him.

"Something wrong?" Jaune asked.

"Jaune. Tell me the truth. Do you believe that Ruby is better suited to be leader than me?" asked Weiss.

Jaune shrugged before answering, "It's only been the first day. That remains to be seen if that's true. However, it was Ruby who planned out taking the Nevermore, right?" Weiss nodded in reply.

"So give her a chance. I saw you pouting since you didn't get the leadership position."

"But-" started Weiss, but Jaune didn't let her finish.

"No buts. If Ruby is the leader, then it's your job to give her the chance to prove herself. If you don't even let her try, then you can't be a good leader yourself, as you wouldn't even let your team help you. And if they can't help you, how can you develop trust between them? "

Weiss pondered about it for awhile. Port had basically told her the same thing, but she felt like she needed one more input before making her decision. It may have been selfish, but it was always better to get another opinion just in case.

"Thank you, Jaune. I'll have to apologize to Ruby for my attitude," said Weiss, thanking Jaune. Jaune just nodded and was about to leave when he felt Weiss hug him from behind.

"Take that as thanks," said Weiss, blushing before running off to her dorm.

" _ **Not bad. You melted the Ice Queen's heart,"**_ complimented Othim.

" _ **She still has some work to do, but in time, she'll be a good mate for you to use me to mark,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

Jaune was a little shocked but headed back to his dorms before his teammates wondered where he was.

* * *

Pyrrha was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair while thinking about Jaune. She was happy to be on his team but wanted more. She could feel the gazes of other girls besides Nora, wanting to claim Jaune as theirs. Especially from team RWBY. She decided she needed to make a move soon when Jaune told her he was calling Dew to see how she was doing.

Suddenly, the door swung open and Jaune entered in. Nora and Ren greeted him, but Pyrrha was left tongue-tied. She mentally screamed at herself to get a grip and confess! She had already kissed him once when he was at Mistral, it shouldn't be hard to do it again! Before she could say anything, Jaune announced a team meeting where they should talk about their abilities, likes/dislikes, hobbies, and/or life only if they wanted to so as to be able to work better as a team. Everyone agreed and went to bed. Pyrrha was left frustrated, but at the same time, Jaune was finally willing to talk about his past, even if it was just a little.

A week went by, and the weekend had finally arrived for them. Jaune had reserved a room for them to eat and talk in Vale. However, instead of just team JNPR, team RWBY was tagging along. Jaune sighed as he contemplated on how that had happened. Nora had been eating her pancakes when she told Ruby about their awesome team meeting that they were going to have. Ruby decided that her team should do the same. Yang jokingly asked if they should just hold it at the same place and time with team JNPR, as they were next door neighbors. Ruby took it as a suggestion and made the order. Weiss took it up to cancel the first room team JNPR had and reserved an even bigger room with catering for them all. Of course, secretly, team RWBY did not want Pyrrha to be alone with Jaune so easily, but that was a minor reason. They all just wanted to get to know Jaune better. That was what they told themselves.

Jaune did not look forward to telling them about his past and how he needed several mates. Not only that, but he had to call Dew to tell her about that too.

" _ **Better to get this over with and let them know sooner than to find out later in the future,"**_ said Aryz encouragingly, _**"That way, they can make their decision sooner, and you won't have to worry about finding another person to mark."**_

" _ **I doubt they'll say no. Weiss might be hesitant, but in time she'll agree,"**_ said Alaerth.

" _ **Mmm and you can got to team RWBY's room and-"**_ started Othim, but was automatically shut up by Andusk, Fafnir, and Lung Wang.

'I don't even want to know what Othim was thinking, but I probably already know,' thought Jaune mentally.

* * *

Team RWBY and team JNPR actually had a fun time going around Vale, purchasing any items they needed. Ren bought more ingredients for pancakes and cookies (requested from Ruby), Nora bought some more explosives, and Yang bought some new clothes. Blake was checking out some new books while Ruby was going over a weapons magazine, and Weiss was checking out some of the latest articles about Dust. Jaune went to buy some Dust along with Pyrrha. Soon, night came upon them, and they were all inside a private room rented out by Weiss. After eating (all fish-related food went to Blake), they gathered around in a circle.

"Let the team introduction of team RWBY and JNPR commence!" announced Ruby. Blake looked very uncomfortable at this.

"Whats wrong?" whispered Jaune to Blake as he sat down next to her.

"My team. They don't know I'm a Faunus, and I'm scared to reveal it as well as my connection to the White Fang," whimpered Blake, "Not to mention I'm teamed up with a Schnee, who hates them."

Jaune winced a little, remembering that Weiss had been a victim at an assassination attempt from the White Fang.

"Don't worry," whispered Jaune, "Ruby and Yang aren't racist, and I'm sure Weiss isn't either. You can tell them about your connection with the White Fang on your own time. Remember, I was there, so I can back you up when you decide to tell them."

Blake nodded before putting her head on his left shoulder as if trying to draw some strength from him. She also enjoyed his scent and warmth as she laid her head there, almost purring in delight. This was the boy that her parents approved of, and it was very hard for his father to approve of anyone. Her mother was a little more easier to convince. It was weird, though. She didn't expect to fall for Jaune so fast. It had only been months since she broke up with Adam and the White Fang, but her relationship with Adam had been declining ever since he took leadership of the Vale branch of the White Fang. She could technically argue that their relationship ended a few months after his leadership and that the train was just to finalize it. Jaune, on the other hand, was kind, strong, generous, and already approved of by her parents. Being able to fly in the air with Jaune was also a nice dream that she would have quite often, although most of the time they ended with both of them doing the tango in a bed. She blamed her books for giving her those ideas, but she couldn't say she hated it.

Suddenly, Jaune felt someone latching on to his right arm. He looked to see Pyrrha with a jealous gaze at Blake. Whether or not she was doing it on purpose, Pyrrha's breast had entrapped his arm, letting him feel just how soft and firm it was. Blake felt the disturbance and glanced over to see Pyrrha. At this point, Ren could see sparks flying in between both girls eyes as they cuddled against Jaune. Nora was too busy grabbing more desert. The rest of the girls found themselves to be jealous of each girl's position.

"I think we should get this started," coughed Weiss, "I'll go first. You all know I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the SDC. Myrtenaster is the name of my weapon, and my Semblance is Glyph." After that, she gave a few other facts about herself while showing her weapon.

After that, Ruby followed her example, followed by Yang and Pyrrha.

Ren sighed as he went next, "Lie Ren. Stormflowers are the name of my weapons. As for my Semblance, it's the ability to hide my presence from Grimm. Anyone touching me will also be hidden, or I can channel it to other people via ground."

"That's a useful ability," said Jaune, "But is that it? Can it also hide from people, too?"

Ren shrugged, "Haven't really tested that out. I know that when I activate it, everything becomes grayed out, like no color exists. I was more busy practicing my Aura control when I was younger, as hiding from Grimm isn't exactly the best way to fight Grimm."

Jaune made a mental note to test out Ren's ability later on. Ren ended his introduction, as he didn't want to go into his past. The pain of losing his whole family and village was too painful, but he swore to tell Jaune about it someday in private.

Nora quickly introduced herself in a happy tone right after Ren, though she also skipped her past. Soon, everyone was staring at Blake to go next. She gulped and almost ran away when Jaune quickly grabbed her hand, rubbing it gently. Blake sighed as she drew courage from it.

"Blake Belladonna. Gambol Shrouds is my weapons name. Semblance is Shadows. And... I'm a Faunus."

At this, she took off the ribbon on her head to reveal her cat ears. Everyone was silent as this news. Then Nora and Ruby crowded around her, wanting to touch her cat ears and playing with it.

"It's so cute!" said Ruby, petting one of her ears.

"Why would you hide it?" asked Nora as she pet the other one. Blake had to resist purring in content before shaking them off and telling them to stop playing with them.

"It's because she was afraid she would be discriminated," said Ren.

"Why? None of us would do that," said Yang. Ren tilted his head at Weiss, and Yang understood immediately why her partner was hesitant.

Weiss was a bit torn. Sure, she didn't like faunus that much, but that was mainly because of the White Fang, and how they made her life a bit miserable. Family and friends, gone because of them. Cargo lost due to their interference, and Jacques taking it out on them indirectly. Still, thanks to Winter and Jaune, she didn't have as much of a grudge as she did before now.

"You were afraid because I'm a Schnee, weren't you," said Weiss. Blake nodded in reply.

Weiss sighed, "I'm not my father. I have no grudges against the Faunus race as a whole, just the White Fang."

She saw Blake twitch, and her suspicions grew. Still, she didn't want to put her in the spotlight just yet. Blake was a huntress now, and obviously, Ozpin wouldn't have had let criminals in. Blake would tell them when she was ready.

Seeing as he was the last one, Jaune introduced himself. He went over his weapon and shield, causing Ruby to drool a bit over it. When he mentioned what the materials were used to craft it, she begged to let her hold it. Unable to resist the puppy look, he let her look over it.

He discretely checked to see if anybody else was eavesdropping before dropping his next bomb.

"I need you guys to all make sure what I'm about to say next never leave this room," said Jaune seriously. Nora was about to ask why when Ren silenced her with a pancake to her mouth and give her the look. Nora knew it was serious and became silent.

"Ren already knows what my Semblance is due to circumstances," started Jaune, "But nobody else knows about it. Not even Ozpin."

"You mean growing wings?" asked Blake.

"Wait, wings?" askedWeiss, "I heard about how some angel came swooping down and saving innocent civilians from the White Fang that invaded a train carrying Dust from the SDC. That was you?"

"You can fly?" shouted Nora, "Show me! I wanna go flying!"

Jaune sighed as he continued, "That's only a part of it. My real Semblance is the ability to form contracts with dragons. And they are all always in contact with me, in my head."

Everyone was silent at this revelation for a bit.

"Haha, good one, Jaune," said Yang weakly, "Dragons? You mean those big fake lizards with wings in fairy tales?"

" _ **Fake Lizards!?"**_ roared Lung Wang, **_"I'll show you fake!"_**

Jaune sighed and stood up, linking up with Lung Wang and spreading his red scaled wings for all of them to see. Yang immediately paled at the sight of this.

"Red scale wings? You had green feathered wings last time," said Blake.

"That's because of my contract with another dragon. I have seven in total," explained Jaune.

"Seven?" asked Ren faintly. Jaune nodded in reply before adding dragon kings

"Ren, what's wrong?" asked Nora in concern as Ren sunk into his chair in shock.

"Nora. I never told you this, but my family is one of the few surviving members that still remember the Dragon Clan. They aided us before, and in return, we gave them our loyalty. The reason I knew Jaune had something to do with dragons is because my family always taught me how to sense them, so that one day we may aid them, just as they aided us in the past," explained Ren. "Jaune, however, is contracted to seven dragon KINGS! I don't know the history of the Dragon Clan that well, but I'm pretty sure there hasn't been anyone with that many contracts to such powerful dragons."

Ruby was busy admiring the Jaune's wing and asking him to give him a ride, followed by Nora and Pyrrha. When Blake slyly mentioned that she wanted to do it again, she got glares from the other girls. Weiss was plotting on how to grab Jaune into the Schnee family. Her father had already approved of him, and all that power could be used to help her lead her family back to a better path. She wasn't ignorant of all the bad reputation around the SDC, and when she privately investigated those claims, she was slightly horrified at the truth. Still, there was nothing she could do until she inherited the company. With Jaune at her side, it would be so much easier! Not to mention he could handle her bratty younger brother Whitley.

* * *

"Jaune, a quick question?" said Ren. "It's about the conditions of the contracts. Permission to ask about it?"

Jaune sighed and nodded. Might as well get it over with.

Everyone was looking at Ren when he dropped the bomb, "Does that mean you'll need several **mates** due to these contracts?"

Everyone looked back at Jaune, who sat down on his chair and sighed, "Yes. Part of the deal was to find a mate for each respective contracts. That means potentially seven wives/mates."

The girls except Nora looked at each other before back to Jaune, then back to each other. Weiss was feeling conflicted. Sure, dating Jaune and getting to know him would be fine, but to have him dating several others? That would put a strain on the Schnee name, and the paparazzi would have a payday if they found out she was one of several girls dating one guy. That, and she wasn't sure she wanted to be part of a harem, even if it was justified.

Yang was unsure. Sure she may like Jaune, but to have him dating others, and her being one of several potential wives? She could do better than Jaune... no she couldn't. Jaune was just too unique, and any other boys just paled in comparison. She had to put her head down to think if she was even willing to do so. Could she find somebody else that would worship her and her body alone just as she would do the same? The answer was surprisingly hard, and the list of potential good boyfriends only had one name on the list, and it was Jaune.

Ruby was confused but happy. Now Jaune had a reason to have her and Yang together! Sure, other would be there, but that just meant more sisters!

Blake was undecided. She was sure that when her parents gave their approval, that they didn't know Jaune had to form a harem. Then, her mind drifted to a scene of one of her more explicit books, recreating a scene where the protagonist was about to make love with his princess when his childhood friend burst in the room to confess that she couldn't stand hiding her feelings anymore. After much argument, they ended up doing a threesome. This time, she was replacing the scene with her, Jaune, and Pyrrha, and was starting to get a bloody nose. She shook her head to clear the image from her mind to focus more on the problem right now. Society would surely frown on such a thing, and not only that, it would be a Faunus with a human. Something that both humans and Faunus frowned upon, even if they could reproduce together.

Nora was just laughing as it the scene seemed to be a portrayal of a love comedy skit.

For Pyrrha, she thought about it for a little. Would she find somebody else better than Jaune and have him to her only? She answered her own question easily. That, and they were technically married already in some cultures. If Jaune needed a harem, then she wouldn't complain, as long as she had Jaune.

Pyrrha decided to act first, jumping onto Jaune's lap and kissing him on the lips. Jaune was surprised at the ferocity of the kiss, as her tongue shot it to make contact with his, but was soon enjoying himself. Blake gave a cough, but they weren't separating. Another cough, this time louder, and a kick to their chair, finally made them separate.

Weiss and Ruby were blushing while Yang was laughing, and yet also jealous. Blake seemed to keep a stoic attitude, although inside, she wanted to try kissing Jaune.

"Easy, there, Pyrrha," said Jaune, clearing up his mind, "I was actually just going to suggest dating for a bit to see if you guys were comfortable with me dating several others."

" _ **Aww, why'd you stop? Just take her to a private room right now!"**_ shouted Othim.

"I'm in," said Pyrrha. Sure, explaining to her parents was going to be awkward, but she was willing to give this a try.

"Me, too! I was going to suggest sharing you with Yang," piped Ruby.

"Ruby! Where did you learn that!" shouted Yang, "And why were you thinking of doing that?" Yang was mortified that Ruby had such thoughts. She had done her hardest to keep Ruby innocent from such subjects.

"Dad had two wives. Why can't Jaune?" asked Ruby, "Plus, I didn't want to fight you to get Jaune. Now we don't have to!"

Yang could only facepalm at this logic. True, their father had two wives, but that was because he had divorced Raven before marrying Summer. She couldn't disagree with Ruby's reasoning, though. She was willing to give up chasing Jaune if Ruby was going after him, but with this revelations, they could apparently both have him. Still, she was going have to explain to Ruby about Taiyang's situation but then decided Taiyang could have the job of doing that. It was his fault anyways.

"I... need to think about it," said Weiss slowly. She didn't want to be part of a harem, but if she really couldn't find a better guy, she might consider joining.

Yang and Blake both also agreed, saying they would need time to think about it. Ruby was about to accept it, but Yang told her not to be so hasty.

"Soo two more girls are needed for you if they do decide to join?" asked Nora. She had zero interest in joining, as she had Ren.

"One, and I already have someone in mind," corrected Jaune, "If I mark Pyrrha, she's able to contain two dragon marks. Not sure why, but they think it's because when she unlocked my Aura a few years, some of it went into her."

"That's why I felt my Aura growing much stronger than usual," murmured Pyrrha while Jaune was explaining what a Mate mark was, and how he wanted to try dating first to see if he and the girls felt comfortable with it. Once given, it could not be taken off. Also, they had 72 hours to consummate after marking, otherwise it would disappear, and the same girl can never be marked ever again, even with a different dragon.

"She unlocked your Aura?" asked Ren after Jaune's explanation, more interested in the fact that Pyrrha had been the one to do so. Jaune nodded, and Ren continued off, "Does that mean you two are technically married?"

"What!?" shouted all the girls. Pyrrha and Jaune blushed in embarrassment before explaining what happened between them.

After the explanation, Pyrrha turned to Jaune, "Are you finally going to tell us more about your past?"

At this, everybody perked up, wanting to know. Out of all of them, only Pyrrha was more knowledgeable about Jaune's past. Of how he had been sealed. Of how he had been abandoned. Still, she wanted to find out just who was it. She already had plans to use her fame to strike at that family. Jaune, however, started to have trouble breathing.

'What if they all choose to reject me?' thought Jaune, 'I can't bear the fact they might look at me in disgust. Pyrrha might look away from me if she finds out I was an Arc.'

The Arcs had quite a bit of political and financial pull in some places. Jaune was terrified that with that, they could give an ultimatum against all her girls, and they would agree that Jaune wasn't worth it.

Ren quickly noticed it and stomped his foot loudly, causing everyone, including Jaune, to leap up.

"I think that's enough for today," said Ren, "Clearly, Jaune isn't ready to reveal his past yet. Nor has any of us even shared much of our own. When the time is right, Jaune will tell us. We just have to be patient."

The girls started to whine, but Ren put a halt to it, "If you didn't notice, Jaune was starting to have trouble breathing. I want him to be comfortable about sharing his past, not panicking. Plus, it's getting late. We should head back to Beacon."

Seeing his point, they all agreed. As they left, Jaune and Ren were the only ones left.

"Thanks, partner," said Jaune.

Ren merely smiled, "Merely doing my duty. However, know this Jaune. I do not care about your past. Merely your present and future. What happened in the past will not stop me from being your retainer of the Dragon clan."

Jaune started to protest, but Ren raised up his hand, "I know, your command was to act as your friend, but I will do both. I wish to act as your retainer and your friend who advises you."

Jaune smiled, happy he had a friend who would most likely become his brother in all but blood.

* * *

As they walked out, in Jaune's mind, Lung Wang started to speak.

" _ **Lie Ren. Clearly a worthy retainer for the Dragon Clan. And since Nora will most likely follow him, she'll also become another retainer."**_

" _ **A shame she's already claimed, even if you already have Pyrrha to us my mark on,"**_ commented Alaerth, **_"Her Semblance, Lightning Rod, would be a perfect match for me. However, this doesn't mean we can't do anything about that."_**

'I'm not stealing her from Ren,' said Jaune mentally.

" _ **She means another mark, not the mate one,"**_ explained Ryo-Wo, **_"While you do need a Mate Mark for each of us, there is another mark that you can provide. I didn't think that there would be anybody who still served the Dragon Clan, but if someone is found worthy to be part of the Dragon Clan but is not part of the family, then they are given a Dragon's Mark. The difference between the two mark is that one is permanent, while the other can be stripped off the person if you feel like the retainer is unworthy of it any longer. Both marks give a good boost to a person's Aura, and sometimes Semblance or Skill. It's a bit random how it affects a person, and everyone is different."_**

'Is there a limit to this?' asked Jaune.

" _ **Yes. Same as the Mate Mark, you can only give one Dragon Mark per Dragon. Although for Dragon's mark, it's a little more flexible as you can give one person all 7 marks. However, it will never match to a Mate Mark in terms of boost, even with all 7,"**_ said Fafnir.

" _ **Plus, it would be better to spread it out,"**_ said Andusk, _**"But just a reminder, the Dragon's Mark is optional. It isn't like the Mate Mark, where it is required."**_

Jaune gave it some thought and decided to bring it up with Ren on a later date. Right now, he had to plan out how he could be potentially dating 5 of the hottest (in his opinion and a majority of students) 1st-year girls in Beacon. For now, Pyrrha was the only one who was his girlfriend.

* * *

 **Andd done! Hope you guys enjoyed. Read and Review to tell me what could be improved on! Or just review to tell me your opinion about this story!**

 **On a side note, I made some small edits on my older chapter. i thought it was 16 teams total in Vytal Festival, but then after a bit more digging, found out it was 32. So just changed some numbers.**

 **Remember, if you're looking for some good RWBY stories to past the time while waiting for a new chapter, just look to my favorite lists.**


	11. Chapter 11 Cardin's Threats

**Welcome to another chapter! Hope you enjoy this chapter! This chapter seems longer than the ones I usually write. Oh well!**

* * *

"Raaahh!" *Whiff*

Cardin was swinging his mace, trying to land a hit on his opponent, who was Jaune, and missing.

It had been two months since that meeting, and team RWBY and JNPR were adjusting well into their new lives at Beacon. Due to the fact that RWBY was all interested in Jaune, the two teams ended up bonding close together. They even managed to create moves where it involved different members of each team. They sparred with each other, trained, and ate together. Soon, most of Beacon were calling them the strongest 1st-year teams, as well as the team with the hottest girls and guys. Ren and Jaune were surprisingly popular, but any potential girls wanting to ask them were chased off by a Nora wielding her hammer. However, the crowd didn't know that all the girls with exception to Nora were all privately dating Jaune. The first to agree to be part of the harem after Pyrrha a month after was Ruby. She had never really been against it from the start. Yang followed suit a week later, saying that she really couldn't think of anyone that was as good as Jaune. Blake followed after a few days later after Yang. Weiss was the last one to join just a few days ago, although she was still very hesitant. Compared to the other girls, she stayed a bit further and more cautious. If the student population knew, jealousy would be rampant, calling Jaune 'that lucky bastard.' So to make sure he wasn't the target of all the student's jealousy, they hid their relationship from everyone.

"Stand still!" shouted Cardin, slamming his mace into the ground where Jaune once stood. Jaune had just taken two steps left, not even attacking.

Cardin was angry and jealous. He had it all planned out. He would be the strongest in Beacon, with the best team, and lead people to victory. Human girls would flock towards him. The Faunus he could care less. After he graduated, he would become the leader of the people, and even ascend to having a spot on the Vale council. However, with the appearance of team JNPR and RWBY, his team was relegated as third at best in all the freshmen teams. His name and his team were barely remembered by other students in Beacon! It was always JNPR or RWBY! This didn't suit him well, and he had to prove he was stronger and a better leader than Jaune or Ruby. Especially Jaune. Ruby was still young, and he didn't really want to hit a girl with a hot sister. So when the chance for an exhibition match came up with him fighting Jaune, he went all out.

However, to his frustration, none of his swings were hitting. Jaune himself was yawning as he merely dodged all his attacks. One of them Jaune jumped over him when he went for a horizontal swing. Cardin was surprised to see Jaune not land on the floor, but rather on his mace. Before he could react, Jaune decided to end this match and kicked him in the face, using the impact to do a backflip onto the ground. Stumbling, he swung his mace wildly to deter any attacks. Jaune took this chance to duck under the wild swing and land a devastating right straight into Cardin's face, on his nose. Feeling the pain, Cardin leaped back, using the impact to try to gain some distance so he could recover. He looked up to see the hilt of Jaune's sword flying right into his face again, right into the nose. Jaune had taken the chance after he landed the right hook to twist his body while his left hand was on his sheath and sent _Crocea Mors_ flying, hilt first.

It rebounded on Cardin's face into the air, where Jaune had already jumped up and caught it with his right hand. Not even wasting a second, his left hand was on the hilt and with a two handed swing, Jaune swung his blade down into Cardin's collarbone. Cardin was too busy trying to soothe his pain to notice Jaune's strike. Even with the armor, Jaune's sword made a dent it.

"That's enough,"

Glynda Goodwitch stepped forward. Jaune jumped back, sheathing his sword while Cardin was busy putting to make sure his face wasn't dented inwards.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Winchester's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Cardin is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match."

She turned around to the two fighters to advise them, "Mr. Winchester, you need to learn patience and discipline. You got angrier every time you missed, making yourself sloppy and leaving yourself open for Mr. Ryu-Long, who exposed it ruthlessly. Mr. Ryu-Long, no real complaints, just don't showboat too much. You could have ended this match much earlier. Your opponent could take advantage of that and surprise you."

Jaune nodded in respect while Cardin just huffed off with his pride damaged.

"Nice fight," said Pyrrha with a smile as Jaune rejoined his team.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" announced Glynda. RWY was shaking with excitement while Blake merely grinned. Nora was jumping on her seat with glee while JPR were also just grinning.

* * *

It was lunch time, and team RWBY and JNPR were enjoying a story that Nora was narrating, with Ren correcting her statements before explaining that it was a dream that she had been having for a month now. They all politely clapped at the end of her story, with Nora bowing in reply while Ren merely smiled and rubbed her head affectionately. They were finally together-together, thanks to Jaune. He had seen Nora give jealous looks, but they weren't direct towards him or the girls. Instead, they were directed on how they were on secret dates, and she would keep gazing at Ren, as if willing for something to happen. Jaune figured it out pretty easily and basically had to order Ren to tell him if he liked Nora. Ren said yes but replied that Nora had always been shy in admitting her feelings, while he had no qualms in admitting it. He didn't want to put Nora on the spot and make her uncomfortable. So the second order to Ren was to take Nora on a private date. Nora was so shocked when Ren asked her on a date that Ren had to boop her in the nose to wake her up. She went running into the Emerald Forest after that and decimating the Grimm population in celebration. Beowolves learned to fear the mighty hammer that day. There were no survivors when Nora saw them. Ren merely waited at the outskirts with her favorite food, pancakes, until she was done getting it out of her system before taking her out on a date. A few dates later, Ren decided being passive would be bad, so he initiated the kiss the first kiss. Nora was again in a daze after that but was happy to give a proper response. When she asked if they were together-together, his reply was, "Weren't we always?" with a smile and a small boop on her nose. Nora almost fainted after that smile.

Suddenly, they heard mocking laughter in the background. They turned to see team CRDL teasing a Faunus with bunny ears. Jaune took a closer look and noticed it was Velvet Scarlatina, the 2nd year student that he had met before attending Beacon. She had been kind to help him and advise him every now and then about Beacon. She looked like she was in pain, and yet wasn't doing anything about the teasing.

Jaune sighed as he remembered when Cardin tried to pick on him. The first time was when he was carrying a rather heavy book from the library. Cardin swatted it out of his hand, but as it was falling to the ground, Jaune slightly hit it with his knee, causing it to fall onto Cardin's foot. Cardin had to crouch down to sooth his toe while Jaune merely picked up his book and walked away.

The second attempt was when Goodwitch was explaining the lockers and their abilities. Cardin tried to push Jaune into one, but Jaune merely leaned back and tripped Cardin, forcing him to land inside the locker. With another swift movement, Jaune stretched his arm as if he was merely stretching before swinging his hand into the locker door, shutting him inside. With a quick whistle, he pressed 6 random digits and sent Cardin flying away. All while Goodwitch had been distracted. The dragons complimented him on his stealth. After that incident, Cardin curbed his tendencies to mere gazes.

Jaune noticed that all his friends were giving Cardin a dark look. They hated racist people like Cardin. They were in a Huntsmen Academy, whose purpose was to defend all those from the Grimm! To protect humanity! And yet here was a Huntsman-in-Training picking on someone. Blake was still wearing her bow, uncomfortable in revealing her heritage to everyone. She promised she would take it off soon.

Soon, a yelp of pain could be heard. Cardin was now pulling on Velvet's bunny ears while he and his team were laughing.

"Ow! That hurts!" cried out Velvet. Cardin responded by pulling even harder. "Please, stop..." she begged.

Cardin merely continued to laugh while turning to his crew, "I told you it was real!"

Russel guffawed, "What a freak!" Dove and Sky continued to keep laughing.

Cardin would have originally let go, but he was still angry from his match earlier, and tightened his grip on Velvet's ear, causing her to start to cry. And yet, Velvet wouldn't do anything to stop him.

" _ **Why doesn't she fight back? She's more than capable of dealing with these punks,"**_ growled Fafnir.

" _ **It's because of how society views Faunus,"**_ explained Aryz, **_"If she responds back in kind, then it puts a bad view on her whole race. Meanwhile, Cardin can continue this and people won't judge the human race as a whole, just him. That, and apparently the Winchester name does carry some influence."_**

" _ **Jaune. Remember the creed, though I don't think I need to prompt you on that,"**_ said Lung Wang with a toothy grin.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him," said Pyrrha darkly.

"He's not the only one..." replied Blake, staring daggers at all of Cardin's friends.

"We should break their legs!" said Nora.

"Nora," said Ren.

"Yes, Ren?" asked Nora.

"No leg breaking, but you can stop them if you want. If they resist... well then some persuasion may be needed," said Ren. Nora grinned and was about to do it when Yang piped up, "Where'd Jaune go?"

They looked to the right of Pyhrra, where he was sitting just moments ago, and were surprised to see him gone.

"Let her go," said a voice darkly.

They turned and saw Jaune now holding Cardin's offending arm.

When Jaune had seen the tears, he had enough. Not to mention he had a slight flashback about the bunny he used to take care of, and Velvet reminded him of his pet. He stood up, walking over to Cardin, debating on how he would diffuse this. Lung Wang was suggesting a full on assault, crushing Cardin's spirit. Jaune disregarded it as he was still a student and couldn't risk expulsion. Alaerth suggested a more non-violent route. Lifting his right hand, shaping it into the dragon's claw, he clamped his hand down onto Cardin's forearm that was covered in armor.

"Let her go," said Jaune darkly.

"What's it matter to you? You care about this freak?" asked Cardin.

"You lack the proper behavior as a Huntsman. We're in a school where we are taught to safeguard mankind's future, and yet you're picking on someone who could easily kick your butt. The only reason she chooses not to is because she's afraid her behavior could reflect badly on her people," replied Jaune.

Velvet looked up in surprise at this, hope slightly in her eyes. She hadn't expected anyone to help her except for her team, and they were at the library.

"Psh. She's not part of mankind. Look at her ears!" said Cardin.

Jaune tightened his grip on Cardin's arm, making it so he couldn't move at all. A look of discomfort could be seen growing on Cardin's face. Everyone in the cafeteria had noticed what was going on and was watching. It was all silent.

"Show some respect. She's still part of mankind and an older student. Just because she has a different trait doesn't mean she deserves to be treated like this," said Jaune.

"You're a freak lover aren't you!?" said Cardin, "Well, I bet one of your parents was a freak! Your mom probably opened her legs for anyone!"

Jaune twitched in anger before and tightening his grip even more at that insult.

"ARRGGHH!" shouted Cardin in pain as he released Velvet.

Jaune had completely crushed through his armor and was now starting to crush his flesh and bone.

"Thing is, Cardin, that while Velvet has to worry about the whole social stigma crap, I don't. And I really hate prejudiced people like you!" roared Jaune as he tightened his grip even more. Cardin was on his knees at this point, his other hand trying to pry Jaune's hand off without any success.

As Cardin was trying free his hands, his partners were all staring at Jaune in fear. Jaune was starting to fracture the bones in Cardin's arm when he heard a voice.

"Please stop."

He turned to see Velvet putting her hand on his shoulder. Jaune sighed and let Cardin go, but not before tossing him into the table.

"Don't ever let me see you doing that again, Cardin. Otherwise, it'll be more than just a bruise," growled Jaune. Carding nodded in fear before walking away with his teammates. That fear would later change to anger and vengeance when he was far away from Jaune.

"Thank you," said Velvet as soon as Cardin was gone.

"Don't mention it. But you could have taken care of him by yourself. Don't let the fear of being judged as a representative of Faunus stop you from taking care of yourself. We're in an academy. We need to show that we're willing to defend what is right," replied Jaune.

Velvet thought about it before bowing in thanks again and walking away.

As Jaune went back to his table, he was met with stares.

"What?" asked Jaune.

"Mmm that was feisty," said Yang with a sultry tone, "You certainly instilled fear into Cardin."

Jaune just shrugged and continued eating. Soon, everyone was back to doing what they were doing, though most people were now wary of Jaune. Some of the girls were starting to notice Jaune a little more, and perhaps were thinking of trying to get a date with him. Pyrrha saw this and frowned. Sometimes she just wanted their relationship to be public, so other girls wouldn't have the idea of trying to steal Jaune away.

They were in Doctor Oobleck's class, where he was lecturing about the Faunus War at his usual hyperspeed, zooming around the classroom and drinking his coffee. Usually, Jaune would have sat with his teammates, but in Oobleck's class, he assigned the seating, separating them all. It just so happened that Cardin was seated right behind him.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively _recent_ events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" lectured Oobleck, zooming around again before sipping his coffee. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

A few students slowly raised their hands in response. Velvet raised hers hesitantly after a few people had done so.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" admonished Oobleck, "Remember, students, it is _precisely_ this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scallions can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss raised her hand, and Oobleck acknowledged it.

"The battle at Fort Castle!" answered Weiss.

"Precisely!," said Oobleck, " _And_ , who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Cardin was getting bored, so he made a paper football and flicked it towards Jaune as petty revenge. Jaune tilted his head before flicking his hand into the paper football, causing it to shoot back and hit Cardin in the face. However, Oobleck misconstrued this action as a volunteer to answer.

"Mr. Ryu-Long! Good to see you volunteering the answer! Excellent! What is the answer?"

Jaune shrugged, asking Oobleck to repeat the question. Oobleck frowned but complied.

"The obvious answer would be the Faunus didn't have an incompetent general," smirked Jaune, causing his class to laugh at his answer. It seemed stupid. Oobleck, however, didn't laugh or admonish Jaune.

"Oh? And care to expand on why?" asked Oobleck, seemingly interested.

"General Lagune forgot about the advantages of some Faunus traits. Such as night vision. It was already well-known that they had this ability, and yet he tried to ambush them at night, where his forces couldn't see anything while the Faunus had the advantage of picking off his 'massive' forces. Not only that, some of his tactics seemed questionable as a general," replied Jaune.

"Correct, Mr. Ryu-Long. Mr Winchester, would you care to share your thoughts on the subject!?" said Oobleck.

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an _animal_ than a soldier," sneered Cardin, rubbing the red mark on his forehead.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" growled Pyrrha as Oobleck shook his head in disappointment. Blake decided to continue Jaune's thoughts.

"As Jaune said, general Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured."

She turned around to Cardin, staring at him with distaste "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as _such_ a failure."

Cardin stood up from his seat, fists clenched in anger. Oobleck, however, reprimanded him before telling him to see him after class for additional readings.

* * *

It was early in the night, and Jaune was sparring with Ren on the roof. Ren had learned CQC from his teachers at combat school as well as being self-taught, but he had never had a master before. Deciding because Ren wanted to be his retainer, Jaune was teaching him the **Dragon Style** fighting style as well as a few other. Ren was excited and learned even quicker than when Jaune had first been taught.

"Hey Jaune?" asked Ren as he deflected a fist and countered with a low kick, "Can I ask you something personal?"

"What is it?" replied Jaune as he lifted his leg to dodge the kick.

"Why weren't your parents the one to unseal your Aura?" asked Ren. "Why did she have to do it?" Ren was using the vaguest words on purpose.

Jaune paused at that, letting Ren get a punch through his defense into his chest. Seeing as he was distracted, Ren stopped the fight. Together, they leaned on the railing, catching their breath.

"My sperm donor," began Jaune, "was a heartless bastard. He saw me as someone unworthy of his last name, and so he sealed my Aura and banished me."  
Ren paled at that, "He sealed it? Then how was she able to unseal it? Only he should be able to do so. And did your ex-father not know about, you know, them?"

Jaune shook his head, "No. They came after my father sealed me. When he did, he woke them up in the process. They're the reason why I'm alive today. However, I was still sealed, and couldn't reach all my abilities until that time."

Ren looked deep in thought, "Is that why you're afraid to tell the rest of the girls? That you were banished and looked as a disgrace?" Jaune nodded.

* * *

Below them, they didn't notice Cardin was eavesdropping with glee. Here was some quality blackmail material! He quickly hurried away to check some records about admissions. Using his family name, he'd be able to pull some strings and take a look at the records. However, in doing so, he missed the last parts of the conversation.

* * *

Ren put his hand onto Jaune's shoulder, "Jaune. I don't think they would care about that at all. Tell me, out of the weeks we've known them, would they judge you by your past?"

"Yea, but-," stammered Jaune.

"No. You know the truth as well. You're completely imagining it. I won't ask what your last name used to be, just know that they lost a very powerful man, and most importantly, I'll be on your side. Team RWBY, Nora, and Pyrrha will also be on your side," said Ren.

They stayed silent for a bit when Ren decided to talk about his own past. Jaune learned from Ren of how he used to live to with his family at Kuroyuri. How he was a bit of a coward until that dreadful day. Ren didn't want to explain it, but he just said it resulted in him being an orphan, along with Nora.

Jaune looked down for a bit before looking back up, a confident gleam in his eyes. He knew this had taken courage from Ren to be a bit more open about his own past, and decided to draw upon that courage.

"You're right. Let's get back down. I think I'll tell them a bit more about my past now. Pyrrha knows the most, but I'm willing to divulge more information about my ex-father and some of his family."

* * *

Back in team RWBY's dorm, team RWBY and Pyrrha were all talking about who the prospective sixth girl was as well as making a set schedule for date nights with Jaune.

"Think it might be Velvet?" asked Blake, interested in another Faunus joining the harem.

"No, I heard that she's interested in someone on her team," said Yang.

"I don't think I'm comfortable with Jaune getting another random girl we don't know," said Ruby.

"I would say my sister might be a prospect, but I would find it weird that my sister and I were dating the same man," said Weiss. She didn't need another pair of sisters in the harem, as Ruby and Yang was enough. That, and she was still uncomfortable about this situation.

Pyrrha then remembered talking to Jaune while he was at Vacuo, and about how he was staying with someone.

"Wait, I think I know who it is. Jaune once told me he was staying at a girl's house whose name was Dew Gayl. She might the last candidate," said Pyrrha.

Before they could wonder who she was, they heard a knock on their door. They opened it to reveal Jaune, Ren, and Nora. They entered into RWBY's room.

Jaune took a look at team RWBY's bunkbeds, his eyebrows raised. He was trying to figure out how it even worked or balanced out.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just buy bunk beds?" asked Jaune, "That seems incredibly unsafe."

"That's what I said," complained Weiss.

"Don't worry about it! It only seems unstable," said Ruby, waiving off the dangers of the bed.

"Ooh, we should just pile all the beds in one room and pile our desks and/items in another!" said Nora.

Ren raised his hand to deny it before actually thinking about it. So did the rest of them.

"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea," admitted Weiss.

"And we get to be closer to Jaune," piped up Yang.

"Maybe we can just order some bunk beds. We could probably fit 4 bunk beds in a room, and leave some space for some stuff," said Jaune.

"Not to mention, we could all study together easily in one room that's not cluttered with beds," added Pyrrha.

"All right, new mission! Move the beds to team JNPR's room while moving the desk to our room!" yelled Ruby.

"Wait," said Jaune, causing Ruby to freeze just as she was about to dash out. "I have something I have to say. Something I want to tell you all."

As he was about to say it, there was a knock on the door. Annoyed, Yang opened to see Cardin waiting there with a grin.

"What?" said Yang irritability.

"Is Jauney boy there?" said Cardin, looking over Yang's shoulder, "Got something I wanna talk to him about. It's personal."

Shrugging, Jaune stood up, telling them he'd be back. As the door closed, they walked down the hall a bit.

"What is it Cardin?" asked Jaune with a bit of a growl. He was not pleased to be pulled away at such an important time. He was prepared for an ambush, but sensed that none of Cardin's team was there with him.

"Now, now, is that any way to talk to your _best friend?_ " teased Cardin.

"You're anything but that," deadpanned Jaune.

"Who knows. You might change your mind once I _reveal_ your secrets," said Cardin with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?" asked Jaune.

"Oh, who knows what those lovely girls your friends with will think of you when they learn that you were banished. A worthless child who has no family. They wouldn't treat you the same, and I'm sure their parents would forbid them from having any close contacts with a loser like you," said Cardin.

Jaune remained silent at this. Cardin, thinking he had the upper hand, continued, "I also dug up some of the admission records. Turns out, you never sent any transcripts, and you didn't show up at any testing sites for those that didn't send their transcripts in. Not bad, Jauney boy, managing to hack into the system to enroll you. How would it feel, to be expelled from Beacon? All your friends would see you as just a failure. Of course, I'm willing to keep your secret safe with me, as long as your willing to be there when I need you as a _friend._ I can see us being friends for a long time."

Having finished, Cardin turned and left, "I'll give you some time to think about it."

In Jaune's mind, he was starting to panic. If this information got out, it could drive any chances of friends away! Admission wasn't a problem, but he couldn't bear to see his friends and potential mates look.

 _ **"Jaune. Calm down,"**_ rumbled Ryo-Wo, _**"Remember, you were already planning to tell them. Think back to Ren's words. They would accept you regardless of your past."**_

 _ **"The more important thing is this punk is trying to control you,"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"We are dragons! WE DO NOT BOW TO OTHERS!"**_

"Hey Cardin, I thought about it," replied Jaune.

Cardin turned around grinning, thinking he had a slave now. One that would obey him. Who knows, maybe he could use him to grab pictures of the hot girls, and maybe more blackmail material on them. Then, they would have no choice but to obey him, and he could have a nice variety to girls to choose from to kiss or lay in bed with. That was until he saw a foot coming right into his smiling face. Jaune smashed his foot right into his face, sending him flying out of the dorms.

"Asshole," muttered Jaune. He wondered how Cardin managed to get into the records, but he shrugged. Ozpin had been the one to put him in, As for the secret, half of them already knew it, and he was going to tell them the rest anyways. Still, he was pissed that Cardin had tried to blackmail him. He stormed back into the dorms where all his friends were waiting.

"What's wrong?" demanded Blake as she looked up from her book. She could sense anger rolling off Jaune.

"Cardin tried to blackmail me," replied Jaune.

"What!?" shouted Ruby.

"I"ll break his legs!" shouted Nora, lifting her weapon.

"Nora," said Ren calmly. Nora looked at him, "Break his arms while you're at it."

"You got it!" stated Nora, about to rush out.

"No need," replied Jaune, "I sent him out the expressway."

"The expressway?" inquired Yang.

"VIA my foot," deadpanned Jaune.

"Jaune, did you want to tell us something before Cardin came here?" asked Pyrrha in concern.

"Sorry, not today. Not after what Cardin tried to do. I'm heading off to bed," grumbled Jaune, heading back to his team's room. They would do the moving another day.

* * *

Cardin was flying through the air and landed in front of the fountain, face first.

"That jerk. I'll show him!" grumbled Cardin, dusting himself of the dirt. He picked up his Scroll, ready to tell his father, who happened to be a booster of the school, to tell him to expel Jaune when he received a message from Jaune himself. He looked at the message displayed.

 _Sorry to burst your bubble, but they already know. And they're still friends with me. As for the entrance, Ozpin himself was the one who accepted me. That means whoever you go to expel me won't work. Stay away from me and my friends, or face my wrath! And trust me, you do not want to do that._

Cardin almost crushed his Scroll at that message. There went his blackmail material. Still, he swore he'd find some way to get vengeance. He started his trek back to the dorms.

Jaune was still pissed off when he went to bed until Pyrrha boldly snuck in to snuggle with him. He couldn't stay mad with her hugging him, and went to sleep with Pyrrha in his arms. Of course, Othim was telling him to go further, but it was swiftly rejected. Needless to say, the other girls were jealous when Pyrrha admitted in sleeping in his bed, and soon enough, with Ozpin's permission, converted Team JNPR's room to be their sleeping quarters while team RWBY's room was their study/relaxing room.

Trying to convince Ozpin to allow them to do so was probably one of the hardest tasks they undertook. When he asked why they couldn't really be forthcoming about their true reasons. After all, they didn't want to just flat out tell their Headmaster that they wanted the chance to snuggle with Jaune at night. In the end, Ozpin allowed them after they promised they wouldn't be nosy, have illegal activities. and pay for their own modifications of beds.

Of course, team RWBY still took their showers at their room. There were also comfortable bean bags and futons just in case. In JNPR's room, there was two bunk beds, a full-size bed, and two Queen sized bed. Nora and Ren would be sleeping with each other, taking one of the Queen sized bed. Pyrrha claimed the solo full-size bed. Then, the girls set a schedule where they would sleep in Jaune's bed once a week, just to cuddle. Of course, if the said girl wasn't feeling comfortable, then they were allowed to skip. Pyrrha told them that she wasn't going to skip. The other girls were skeptical at first. As the days passed, the girls found themselves a little more comfortable in snuggling with Jaune at bed. The first to do it was Blake, followed by Ruby, then Yang. Weiss would sometimes do it, but more often skipped her turn. Pyrrha wasn't complaining, as she sometimes went ahead and took Weiss's turn. Just meant more cuddling time for her.

About two weeks passed since that incident, and Jaune had finally decided it was time for them to find out about his past than from others. He called them all to team RWBY room, as there was more space to just sit. Jaune took a deep breath before beginning his tale.

"What do you guys know about the Arc family?"

Yang and Ruby shrugged at this, not knowing anything about it. Weiss, however, filled them in.

"The Arc family is a family of warriors. It is said that with their will, they helped Vacuo push back Atlas and Mistral from taking their lands before allying with Vale in the Great War. Their techniques and drive were so famous, that a statue is actually built in front of Beacon. The man in front was John Arc, and the woman beside him was thought to be his wife or partner. It was said that they were always willing to help, showing mercy and kindness. Though recent times seemed to have changed them. My father usually says Vlad Arc is a man full of hot air."

Jaune nodded, "Yea. The Arc family used to be that. Now, it's a cruel family. Vlad is just living off the good name. My old family name."

"What!?" they all exclaimed.

"Before I became Jaune Ryu-Long, I was Jaune Arc. Then, my father sealed my aura and banished me from the family, all because I seemed 'weak' and unable to use the Arc sword style. Of course, it didn't help that Vlad apparently had mistresses and had other 'sons' to choose from. Most recent is Aurelian Arc," sighed Jaune.

"Sealed?" asked Ruby, unfamiliar with this. She looked to Yang, who didn't seem to know. Yang looked at Weiss, who looked at Blake for an answer. None of them seemed to know. Pyrrha, however, knew exactly what it was thanks to her father, as well as being the one to unseal Jaune's aura. Her hands were gripping tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

Ren then explained, "Usually, when we unseal someone's Aura, we give them a form of protection as well as allowing them to use their own Aura. Sealing it, however, can be said to be the worst punishment, given to criminals of the highest order. It forcibly cuts off the person's own Aura from their own body, and usually the only way to unseal it is to have the same person who sealed you reverse it."

Ruby's hands went up to her mouth, gasping, "That means!"

"Vlad Arc wanted me dead," finished Jaune, "Luckily, when he sealed me, he touched the dragons sealed within me. They couldn't stop the whole process, but they managed to make it that somebody else could unseal my Aura. Though it was picky, as not anyone could do it."

At this, he put his hand over Pyrrha's, grasping it, "Then, I met Pyrrha during my travels around Remnant. She was the one who unsealed it. I owe her my life."

Pyrrha smiled before putting her head on his shoulder, relishing the warmth before replying, "I merely did what any kind person is supposed to do."

The girls were a bit silent after this big reveal. Ren merely stated that it didn't matter what family he was from, that he would continue serving as his retainer. One by one, the girls all came close to Jaune and gave him a hug, stating that they also didn't care about his past. That they wouldn't abandon him just because of what Vlad Arc did. Weiss was even prepared to call her sister to have Atlas prep a ship for priority bombing, but Jaune managed to convince her to stand down, as it didn't matter anymore.

They went back to JNPR, falling asleep in their new dorms. It was Blake's turn to cuddle. As she took off her ribbon and hugged Jaune, she whispered, "Will I be brave enough to tell them about my past?"

Jaune merely stroked her hair, whispering back, "Take your time. It takes a lot of courage to get it out. Ren helped me, and so I'll help you. But only if you're ready."

Blake purred softly before falling asleep. As they were all falling asleep, Jaune thought about Dew. She still didn't know any of the things he had told JNPR and RWBY. Still, he could not deny that living with Dew had been very fun, and they had been getting close. Jaune had promised her over the Scroll to tell her when she came for the Vytal Festival. He had to stem a nosebleed when he called her, though, because of what she had been wearing when she answered it.

* * *

 _Flashback_

Jaune was sitting in a private room in the library, waiting for his call to go through. Soon enough, Dew picked up.

"Hey Jaune," said Dew.

"Hey D-" Jaune paused there as he took in what Dew was wearing. It looked like she had just gotten out of the showers with just a towel on. The towel only barely covered her breasts and was barely long enough to cover her other private parts, although she crossed her legs, giving him a good view of her toned legs. Her hair was wet, and Jaune could see the towel clinging on to her wet skin.

"Sorry, I caught you out of the shower didn't I?" asked Jaune as he held up his nose to stop the bleeding.

'Yes! It worked! He definitely noticed!' shouted Dew mentally while she said, "No worries."

After stopping the nosebleed, they talked a bit more until it was time to go. Jaune promised to tell her more about himself but didn't want to risk it over the phone.

As Dew hung up, Octavia piped up, "Sooo. Seducing him over the phone I see. Glad you took my advice."

Dew ended up being teased mercilessly by her teammates.

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

The semester continued, with Cardin becoming more and more angry and jealous at team JNPR and RWBY, primarily at Jaune and Pyrrha. Jaune for humiliating him, and Pyrrha for her reputation as well as showing him up in class.

Soon, they were at Forever Falls for an assignment for Professor Peach, traveling there by Bullhead transport. Glynda had volunteered to be the chaperon for the day. Since the trip took up a whole day, the 1st year students were to go in groups on separate days. Today, team RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL were the ones going. Some of the other 1st years had already gone.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so," warned Glynda, "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o'clock. Have fun!"

They all separated into their teams. As they were gathering the red sap, Ren had to find more as Nora kept drinking it. Frustrated, Ren booped her on the nose, telling her that if she continued this, there would be no pancakes for a week. That stopped her from trying to drink more.

Jaune, however, was not having fun.

"I think I'm allergic to dis stuff," sniffled Jaune.

"I'll take care of your share, Jaune," smiled Pyrrha, "Just take a seat and relax. Try to clear your sniffles and sinuses. Ren and Nora will be on the lookout for Grimm."

Back to where team CRDL was, they had finished gathering 6 jars of red sap.

"Russel, did you get the Rapier Wasps?" asked Cardin.

"Right here," smirked Russel as he held out a box with a W drawn on it. Inside the box, there was a constant buzzing noise that could be heard.

"Good. According to the stupid essay I had to do for Professor Peach, these things loovvee sweets. I think it's time we taught them a lesson,"

"Umm, are you sure we should be doing this?" asked Sky.

"Of course. Those guys piss me off. Especially Jauney boy and that know-it-all Pyrrha," growled Cardin. He tossed a jar to Dove and said, "I'll aim at Jaune, you throw it at Pyrrha."

On the count of three, they both threw it right towards their unsuspecting targets.

Jaune had sat down leaning on a tree, trying to get rid of his allergies. He had his eyes closed, trying to get rid of a minor headache.

Ren had finished filling up another bottle of the Red Sap and had turned around when he saw team CRDL already throwing the jars at Jaune and Pyrrha. He cursed as he knew he didn't have enough time to drop the jar, grab his weapons _Stormflower,_ and shoot the jars.

"Pyrrha! Jaune! Watch out!" warned Ren, hoping it would be enough.

Jaune opened his eyes to see a jar coming at him. He quickly responded by grabbing his sword and slicing at the offending object, unable to grab his shield in time. He didn't want to grab it either, as he had no idea what was coming. The jar split in half, releasing its contents on Jaune. Jaune quickly put his left arm up to block most of it from his face, but it splattered over his hair and the front of his hoodie. Pyrrha, however, wasn't so lucky. She had been busy collecting sap that when she heard it, she turned around just as the jar hit her on the head, releasing its content all over her hair and into her eyes.

"Ahhh! My eyes! It burns!" cried out Pyrrha. Shards of glass were also stuck in her promptly dropped her jar, trying to get rid of the sap on her eyes. It wasn't working.

Jaune quickly ran towards Pyrrha, worried about her safety.

"Shh, Pyrrha, id's okay. Just close your eyes for now. I got hid by some dis stuff. It's playing hell on my allergies," said Jaune, trying to cease his sniffles, "Let'z get you to somewhere safe so we can wash dis sap off."

Suddenly, he heard a buzzing noise. He looked back, his eyes widening as he saw a group of Rapier Wasps flying right towards them, with their long deadly stingers coming for them. One of the dangerous things about Rapier Wasps was that their stingers could bypass Aura shields, piercing flesh instead of allowing Aura to block it.

"SHIT!" shouted Jaune as he picked up Pyrrha bridal style and ran. Pyrrha had heard them and hugged Jaune tightly.

"Nora! Go help them, but be careful. I don't want you to get stung," said Ren, glaring at Cardin and his cronies, "I have something I need to do."

He activated his Semblance and sneaked close to them. The team had tested his Semblance and found out he was also hard to detect for humans when he was sneaking up on them. His Semblance was Hidden Presence, able to hide from anyone he chose to. The only downside was he could only choose which race to hide. If he chose to hide from Grimm, then anybody else that wasn't a Grimm could see him. Same with other choices, except Faunus and Humans were grouped together. Even his teammates couldn't see or sense him if he chose humans in general. Luckily, Ren managed to make it work so at least Jaune could see him when he activated it, though Jaune had to rely on his Aura sense to detect him, and even then, it only worked if Ren was nearby, and he couldn't get a lock on his semblance stopped working whenever he would attack, but it was perfect as a ninja. Ren took out a Scroll and started to record what they were saying. They were laughing and saying what a brilliant idea it was, or just plain insulting them, unknowingly revealing that they had done to Ren. He was tempted to break their legs, but he figured Jaune would want to have that right. He would just deal with any leftovers.

Jaune was running with Pyrrha hanging on to his body. He would have dealt with the wasps himself, but he didn't want any of them to escape and sting Pyrrha. Especially when she was blinded, and the fact that since the Rapier Wasps loved sweets, it would sting her face, which was much deadlier than being stung on the body. It might even decide to sting her eyes and permanently blind her. Unfortunately, due to the red sap, his sense of smell was completely shot, his nose stuffy, and he had no idea where Professor Goodwitch was. Luckily he saw team RWBY up in the clearing just as it was getting harder for him to breath.

"Weizz! HELP!" shouted Jaune.

Team RWBY looked and saw the rapier wasps coming for them. Weiss immediately pulled our a red Dust crystal, passing it to Yang, who had the strongest throwing arm.

"Ruby, shoot when Yang tosses!" said Weiss.

"Heads up!" shouted Yang as she tossed it right into the middle of the Wasps. Ruby immediately sniped it perfectly, causing an explosion that caught almost all of the Wasps. The remaining few were quickly disposed of by Blake, Weiss, and Nora, who had finally caught up.

"Well, they got all _fired_ up," said Yang with a pun. Everyone groaned at that. Jaune gently set Pyrrha down, carefully taking the glass out of her hair.

"What's going on!?"

Glynda had come to investigate the noise and noticed scorched earth, a pile of dead Rapier Wasps, and Jaune gently grabbing the glass out of Pyrrha's hair while the both of them were coated with red sap.

"Mr. Ryu-Long, take Miss Nikos to the Bullhead. There is water over there for her to rinse the sap out of her face. I'll ask why she had it in her hair and face later," said Glynda sternly. "The same with you, young man.

After being directed towards it, Jaune quickly carried Pyrrha to it. Nora went with them. On the side of the Bullhead was a hose that was connected to the water supply inside the Bullhead. Together, they gently rinsed the sap from Pyrrha's face and hair before moving to Jaune's hair.

"Can you open your eyes?" asked Jaune.

Pyrrha gently opened them before closing them again, "Just a little to see. It still stings."

Lung Wang grunted inside Jaune's mind, " _ **You realize this was a deliberate attack on you and your mate?"**_

Jaune nodded, 'Yea. Someone threw a jar full of red sap on us. There's no way it dropped from the sky. And Rapier Wasps aren't naturally found here. I'm suspecting team CRDL. But I can't do anything without proof.'

" _ **Maybe not. I noticed Ren isn't here. Perhaps he went to gather evidence?"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

Soon, all teams had returned to the Bullhead. Cardin and his team were sneering at Pyrrha, who could barely open her eyes still after flushing it with water. She would need to be taken to the nurse's office for a better rinse.

"Where is your teammate, Mr. Ren?" Glynda asked Jaune, noticing they were missing someone.

"Right here," said a voice behind team CRDL.

Team CRDL jumped in surprise as Ren seemingly appeared behind them. Without breaking a stride, he walked towards his teammates.

"I have proof team CRDL was behind the attack. We'll bring this up with Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin after we get to Beacon safely," whispered Ren to Jaune only.

Jaune clenched his fist in anger. He wanted to extinguish them now! However, he decided to keep his anger in check only until they reached Beacon. Then he would show team CRDL what it meant to provoke a dragon. If Ozpin didn't punish, he would personally dig them a grave, using their own bodies.

When they landed back in Beacon, Cardin decided to push it a bit further, "So _sorry_ that you were hit by a stray jar. I wonder who could have done such a thing? You were so _unlucky_ that there were Rapier Wasps there." In his voice was smugness, basically telling them that he did it, but they had no proof, and so they couldn't do anything.

Pyrrha frowned at that. She knew it was his fault somehow, but she had no proof. Jaune, however, had no reservations in keeping his anger hidden anymore. Cardin had broken past his tolerance level. His left hand shot out, grabbing Cardin by the throat before throwing him into the concrete floor. Linking up with Fafnir and hardening his right hand, he smashed his right fist into Cardin's face, causing the ground to crack behind Cardin's body. The ground now had a deep imprint of his body from the throw, and his face looked like it had caved in. Jaune didn't care as he winded up for another hit.

"Mr. Ryu-Long!" shouted Glynda, flicking her crop and sending Jaune off Cardin, "What is the meaning of this unprovoked attack!?"

"I warned him that if he should ever do anything to my friends, he would feel my wrath," growled Jaune.

"Do you have proof that CRDL was the one who attacked you?" asked Glynda, cooly. She did not want students attacking others based on gut feelings.

Jaune flicked his head at Ren. Ren nodded before handing his scroll and clicking play on the recording.

Glynda's face grew stone cold when she heard team CRDL laughing and talking about their plans. Cardin and his team, who were trying to lift Cardin off the ground, didn't hear the recording.

With another flick, Cardin was popped out of the ground from Glynda, although his face was still bleeding heavily. Even with full Aura, Jaune's punch had basically bypassed his defense through brute force and made contact.

"Team JNPR and team CRDL, you will both report to the headmaster's office tomorrow morning," said Glynda, "Team CRDL, take your team leader to the medical wing. He's going to need some Aura and blood transfusion if he wants his face to look remotely normal. I can't promise it will."

While team RDL was carrying Cardin, they were giving Jaune death glares, which wasn't very effective as their legs were still shaking from what Jaune had just done earlier.

"Jaune, you shouldn't have done that!" reprimanded Pyrrha, although she was happy to see Cardin pulverized.

"You might get expelled," said Weiss in a worrying tone.

"Man, and I thought I was explosive when I get angry," said Yang, trying to ease the tension, but her voice betrayed her thoughts. She was just as worried.

"Don't worry about it," replied Jaune.

"But-" started Ruby, but Ren interrupted her, "I caught their conversation on my Scroll. Apparently, they had been planning this attack just to show up Jaune and Pyrrha. I would had dealt with them, but I figured Jaune wanted to go first."

"That means!" started Blake.

"I was completely justified in my actions. Cardin's 'prank' could have left Pyrrha badly wounded, blinded, and even dead. And I will not have one of my potential mates die on my watch," growled Jaune fiercely, his eyes unintentionally becoming slits.

"Still, you do need to be careful," said Weiss, "The Winchester name does carry some influence. Most likely they'll try to portray you as some sort of violent maniac."

"Better to be one than to be unable to protect the ones I love," replied Jaune.

Pyrrha blushed before giving Jaune a light peck on his lips. The other girls thought it was quite romantic. They quickly hurried to their dorms, where Jaune took a shower first at JNPR dorm while Pyrrha took hers at RWBY dorm. Needless to say, Pyrrha was tempted to just join Jaune in the shower, but not with so many girls gazing at her. They quickly went to bed, and it was luck that it was Pyrrha's turn to snuggle with Jaune for the day.

* * *

 **What will happen the next day!? Read and Review! Also, next chapter will be released later than usual, due to tests incoming.**


	12. Chapter 12 The end of 1st semester

**Thus a new chapter! I hate tests as usual! Well, least now I have time to write.**

 **Also, got a lot of reviews thinking that it's time for the big reveal. Not Yet! Vlad will know, but in the second semester. Instead, here what happened after the punching incident!**

* * *

It was a new day, and team JNPR and CRDL were standing in front of Ozpin's desk, with Ozpin sipping his morning coffee. Cardin had his face relatively back to normal, although his nose was flatter than before, and had missing teeth. It would take weeks to reset the nose to normal, and he was scheduled to have his teeth replaced.

"So. I have here that Mr. Ryu-Long apparently got mad, and with one punch, sent Mr. Winchester to the medical wing. Is that correct?"

Cardin looked embarrassed and pissed off at the same time when Ozpin said it like that before taking a deep breath.

"I demand that he be expelled for an unprovoked attack, and his aura sealed!" demanded Cardin. Before anyone could say anything, they felt a wave of anger coming from Jaune, most of it directed at Cardin himself. Before Cardin could piss himself, Ozpin raised his own Aura levels, shielding Cardin from the threatening presence.

"Stop, Mr. Ryu-Long," said Ozpin sternly. Jaune didn't look like he was going to comply when Pyrrha grabbed his hands. Jaune looked away from staring at Cardin into Pyrrha's pleading eyes. Taking in her gaze, he slowly let up. He could never say no to Pyrrha, his future mate, and savior. Pyrrha knew why Jaune was so angry about being sealed and promised him that it would never happen, conveying the message through her eyes.

As Cardin was slowly getting his breath, Ozpin continued as if nothing happened, "Mr. Winchester. Right here, in my hand, is a recording of you blatantly confessing to trying to harm, or worst, kill Pyrrha Nikos, a fellow student, and Huntress. If Jaune is to be expelled from Beacon, then your team will also be sealed and expelled from all four Kingdoms. After all, Mr. Ryu-Long's attack was justified, just not in its execution. Not to mention that even if I did expel him, I would be losing a promising student and potentially a team to Atlas, as Jaune is on their top priority list to take in as a student."

Team CRDL paled as Ozpin played the recording Ren had given to Glynda. After a few minutes of discomfort and silence, Ozpin made his decision.

"We are going to forget about this event. I would hate to expel promising students that have made it into Beacon. There is no need to bring the police on this matter, but you five will be punished. Mr. Ryu-Long, you will have detention with Professor Goodwitch for the next month about controlling your behavior and anger. Team CRDL, you will have detention with Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port, learning the consequences of your action for the rest of this semester, as well as your behavior."

Cardin rose up to complain, but Ozpin stopped him, "Before you say anything, your father would be disgusted at what you did, Mr. Winchester. If I let it slip that you almost killed someone, he would certainly be angry at you. Is that clear?"

"It was just a prank! She wouldn't have been in danger!" shouted Cardin.

"No? Consider this, Mr. Winchester. You gathered Rapier Wasps with the longest stingers. You caused a student to become temporarily disabled and blinded. You painted the target at the victim's head. The wasps would have stung the victim in the face, and some might even aim for the eyes. Aura wouldn't be able to help, as the wasps can bypass them. The victim, at the least, would have to be in bed for a month to recover. More likely, the victim would have been blinded. At worst, the victim could've died. Does that seem like a prank or an assassination attempt?" questioned Ozpin. During this speech, his voice has turned cold and deadly, directing it all on CRDL. They were very close to making it wish that they had chosen to wear brown pants today.

With a fierce gaze, he caused Cardin to pale and sit back down, nodding his head meekly. Ozpin slowly turned his glare to each student, to which they each nodded.

"Good. Team CRDL, you are dismissed. You are to report straight to Professor Port at the end of your classes. He will handle the majority of your punishment."

With a nod, team CRDL raced to the elevator, taking it back down to ground floor. Sky had pissed his pants, with Cardin coming close.

Ozpin sighed as he looked at team JNPR, a very promising batch of students. Together with team RWBY, they would be a force to reckon with.

"Mr. Ryu-Long, I know your actions felt justified, but please, control your anger. I will deal with Cardin's father and his complaints that will most likely come, but in the meantime, please ensure that this doesn't happen again. You will report to Professor Goodwitch every weekend for the next month for your detention. You may head to your classes now."

They nodded and quickly took the elevator down to their classes. Glynda stayed with Ozpin as he gazed out of the window.

"Do you think this will work out?" asked Glynda, "Our candidate for... _her?"_

"I have no idea. I can sense something important at work," replied Ozpin, "Something much higher. All we can do is prepare and wait."

* * *

The month went by fast, and Glynda really didn't have much to discipline Jaune. A few lectures, some chores such as cleaning the school, and Jaune was done. Team CRDL had the worst. They thought they would just listen to Port talk about his times, and just get some sleep in. They were dead wrong.

When Port had heard what they had done, he forced them to his version of workout hell. He 'sparred' with them often, and when he was done, their bodies were almost smoking corpses. Oobleck wasn't easier. He made them read and reread any important history lessons, stressing the fact they needed to learn from their mistakes as well as giving quizzes. If one teammate failed the quiz, then the whole team had to do it again. That happened quite often than they would have liked. In one detention, Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port even decided to work together. Port would give his story, and Oobleck would give a quiz about it. They failed 5 times, listening to the same story over and over again. It plagued their dreams.

Meanwhile, in Jaune's little harem, the girls had gone out on dates with Jaune. He would sneak out with the chosen date of the evening and even sometimes fly them to Vale, using Othim's powers. Each girl enjoyed their dates. Ruby preferred to gaze at any new weapons coming out or eat a cafe, choosing cookies as her snack. Blake preferred the library, although she wouldn't say no to a few sushi restaurants. Yang was more of a thrill seeker, and liked to either shop at downtown Vale or just hit the Emerald Forest to explore it a bit more. Pyrrha preferred walks in the park, or even just laying down on the roof to watch the stars while cuddling Jaune. Although she wouldn't say no to chocolates every now and then. Weiss was still quite hesitant, and chose somewhere discreet, such as private restaurants or just staying at school. More than often, Weiss would choose not to go on the date. They all, however, enjoyed one thing in common. It was when Jaune would take them in his arms and go flying in the night sky. Feeling the cool air breeze through their faces, looking over the city, and all while snuggling close with Jaune. There was even a date night where he actually took two girls at once, though it was mostly Yang and Ruby together.

Jaune sighed as he remembered the time when each of the girls had agreed and their first dates.

* * *

 _Pyrrha_

Pyrrha, being the first one to agree, was getting ready for her date. Jaune would be taking her to a cafe, where they would eat, before taking a walk in the park. The others were actually watching her with a bit of envy, but they hadn't made up their minds yet. Pyrrha shrugged at this. It just meant more time for her. Soon, she was walking with Jaune towards a hidden area. She was confused. Weren't they going to take the Bullhead to Vale? She got her answer when Jaune sprouted Othim's wing.

"Are you ready?" grinned Jaune. Pyrrha replied back with a grin as Jaune held her bridal style and took to the air.

They made it to the cafe in good time and ate there quickly. Pyrrha couldn't afford to stay there too long, otherwise, people might notice her and draw in crowds, delaying their date. Something she really didn't want to do. They were soon walking in a nice park they had found in Vale, enjoying their time together.

"You know, Jaune, I never really got to say this, but I really missed you. All that time back in Mistral, I never really had a friend beside you. Too many kept me on a pedestal," whispered Pyrrha.

"I'm here for you now. And I promise, as a mate, I will never leave you. Never forget that" whispered Jaune back.

"I know," smiled Pyrrha before drawing him in for a luscious kiss. Their tongues danced with each other, exploring each other's caverns until they decided it was time to head back to Beacon.

When Pyrrha got back, the girls asked how the date was, to which Pyrrha replied with a silent but radiant smile before heading off to bed. Before she went to sleep, she mentioned how flying with Jaune felt magnificent. The girls glared at her with envy.

* * *

 _Ruby &Yang_

"I wanna go on a date with Jaune!" announced Ruby, declaring her candidacy for being part of Jaune's harem.

"Ruby, you should-," started Yang, but Ruby interrupted her.

"Jaune's a nice guy. I doubt we'll find someone else better."

Yang tried to deny it, but in reality, there really wasn't anyone eye-catching at Beacon at the moment. Nor would there be any in the likely future because of Jaune.

"Fine. But wait for your date next week," sighed Yang, "I'm coming with you to make sure he doesn't try anything funny."

Ruby, however, wasn't listening and had already dragged Jaune out for a date. Jaune had decided to just take Ruby for a flight to a bakery where they had famous cookies. After consuming a plateful, they went to catch a movie. In the dark, Ruby was awing at an action film they had been watching. After the date was over, Jaune gave her a kiss on her forehead. She was just too innocent. However, Ruby was having none of that before grabbing Jaune and giving his a kiss on the lips.

"That felt nice," smiled Ruby as she finished, "Can we do it again sometime?"

"Of course," replied Jaune, causing her smile to beam. Jaune quickly took Ruby into the air, where she cheered and asked Jaune to go faster.

When they landed, they had to deal with a furious and jealous Yang. After chasing Jaune for what seemed hours, Yang demanded hers soon.

A week later, they were in downtown Vale shopping for some new clothes. While Yang was going through clothes, Jaune was going through chairs, waiting and judging if the clothes were suitable. Yang decided to see if she could draw something further from Jaune and came out of the dressing room in a yellow string bikini that barely covered her 'blessed assets'. Actually, it barely covered any of her skin. Jaune almost left the shop by rocket nosebleed from that. Jaune didn't know it, but after seeing that reaction, Yang bought it. She decided to wear it when they were alone at a beach. The date ended with Yang giving him a lasting kiss to his lips.

* * *

 _Blake_

Blake had later caved in, saying she wouldn't mind. Their date was at a private section in the library, where she would just sit on Jaune's lap while they both read a book together. It wasn't expensive, but it felt warm, cozy, and comfortable for Blake. Adam would've never agreed to this, saying it was a waste of time. She frowned at this thought, though. It seemed like she still couldn't get Adam out of her head, still. Then, she felt her bow being pulled off, revealing her cat ears. Before she could complain, Jaune had already placed his hand on her head and was rubbing it softly, eliciting a warm purr from Blake. She wiggled herself further into Jaune as they both continued to read in silence.

"Something on your mind?" asked Jaune.

Blake halted for a second before replying honestly, "I enjoy this, but my mind keeps going back to Adam every now and then, and how he wouldn't do this."

"Your old partner?" clarified Jaune, "The one back on the train?"

"And my ex," nodded Blake sadly, "I admired him. I had a crush on him. We eventually did kiss, but it always felt rough and sloppy."

"Blake...," whispered Jaune softly, but Blake shook her head, "You're not some rebound guy. I was already falling out of love with him. I couldn't stand what he had become. I was just hoping that, somewhere in him, he would come to his senses. But I couldn't wait anymore. I'm with you now."

At this, she nuzzled her head into Jaune's neck, breathing in his scent. It was incredible how his scent always filled her with peace and want. Adam's was mostly chaotic. No wonder her mother recommended him in her letter. This sense of stability was addicting.

As their date ended, they ended it with a quick night time fly before Jaune gave her a kiss on her lips. Not wanting it to end like that, she wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him close for a longer kiss before slipping her tongue inside to touch his for a moment. They parted with a bit of their saliva still connecting their tongues until it finally broke apart, but Blake enjoyed it.

* * *

 _Weiss_

Weiss decided to give a few dates a try. She chose a restaurant that offered private rooms so nobody could see them at all. As they ate in private, Weiss noted that Jaune had learned proper table manners befitting of a wealthy family.

'He would be perfect if he didn't need a harem,' sighed Weiss. She wasn't opposed to dating him or becoming his wife in the future. He was strong, polite, confident, cunning, and with a proper upbringing. Best of all, he could easily handle her bratty little brother. But the fact still remained that he needed 5 other mates. That would not look good in the Schnee family. People would talk, thinking she was weird or , inworse, loose. Some men would try to sneak into her bed, claiming to keep her company while her husband was busy with others. Not only that, but she could lose her title as heiress if her father didn't like the publicity it would bring. She shivered to think how Whitley would run the Schnee business into the ground, destroying their grandfather's legacy. She would not allow it. She had to become the president of the SDC and bring it out of the mud her father had run it through. Her father, who wasn't even a Schnee by blood.

"Something heavy on your mind, Weiss?" asked Jaune in concern, "And don't lie. I can tell."

"It's... it's just... I'm afraid," sighed Weiss, "Me, the heiress of the SDC, dating a man who has 5 other girlfriends. It could bring bad publicity to the Schnee name. And with bad publicity, my father would choose to pass the title to Whitley, something I will not allow. I refuse to let Nicholas Schnee's legacy be brought down by a brat who doesn't even respect others."

"Weiss... As I said, if you're worried and uncomfortable, don't force yourself," advised Jaune, "I won't force you to become my mate. If you feel like there is somebody else out there more suited for you, then go for it. I will support your decision."

"Thank you. But there really isn't anyone I can think of that will have a fitting position as my future husband," blushed Weiss, "Plus, it does help knowing that you have a reason for multiple mates."

The two of them decided to switch subject after that, discussing news and politics. In the end, after taking Weiss out on a night flight, which she enjoyed a lot, Weiss gave him a peck on the cheeks.

* * *

Jaune had also been progressing with his powers quite nicely, being able to boost the amount of power he got on his links while juggling multiple at once. However, this time, he was working on full immersion links.

This sort of link with his dragons was a bit different. He could now easily link up with any of his dragons, and even link up 3-4 at a time, depending on his luck. Full immersion, though, was tricky. The regular link merely allowed Jaune to be able to use the said dragon's power, but his Aura was still the one powering it. Full immersion meant all of his Aura would be devoted to a dragon only, and he would not be able to use the other dragons powers. In return, he gained a lot more power of the said dragon, as well as taking in some of the dragon's appearance. If comparing links, the regular links currently gave him only about 10% of the dragon's powers, while full immersion was 50% currently. With more training, he would be able to link more dragons as well as go deeper on full immersion, but it would always take some time to channel and prepare his body for it, while the regular link merely took a thought.

Soon, the month of June had arrived, signifying their first semester was coming to an end. Team RWBY and team JNPR had the highest team grade out of their years. Individually, they were all within the top 15. Nora was last with Ruby on their teams, but mostly because of their lack of attention span for some of the classes. In fights, they were just as deadly. Each team member had been sparring with each other and learning more and more about each other. When their groups teamed up, Jaune ended up being the leader of both groups, with Ruby as second-in-command.

Team RWBY and team JNPR were at Vale, visiting the docks on a weekend. Weiss's excuse was to 'welcome' the students from Vale. Blake deadpanned, saying she just wanted to scope out the competition. Weiss scoffed, saying that she had no proof. The rest merely smiled, as Weiss really didn't defend her stance.

As they were walking, they came across a dust store that had been robbed of all its dust, but not of its Lien. As the detectives were talking to each other in the crime scene, they mentioned that the White Fang may be the ones behind the attack.

"Hmph! The White Fang," scoffed Weiss, crossing her arms and pointing her nose to the air with her eyes closed, "What an awful bunch of degenerates."

This led to Blake arguing with Weiss about the White Fang. Blake had not pulled up the courage to tell everyone that she used to be part of the White Fang. As Weiss continued to pile insults at the White Fang, unintentionally insulting all Faunus, Blake's anger started to rise higher. Suddenly, they were interrupted when a monkey Faunus jumped from a ship, running away from a sailor, who was shouting for someone to stop the stowaway. The detectives tried but were shown the value of how much they were paid by failing miserably. As the Faunus was running, he ran by Blake and winked at her, but almost faltered when she looked away. He really did falter when he saw Jaune's face. Clear as day, on his face, were the words, "Hands off!" displayed in Jaune's eyes. Deciding running from detectives was more important, Sun kept running.

"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..." said Yang.

Weiss pointed a finger at the runaway, "Quick! We have to observe him!"

As team RWBY gave chase, Jaune merely chuckled as he looked out to the docks. Seeing that their leader wasn't chasing, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren stayed with Jaune.

"So, why are we not observing, fearless leader?" asked Nora.

"Weiss was right about one thing. There's a team that's arriving from Vacuo earlier than the rest of their class," explained Jaune, "And I'm hoping it's the team I know."

* * *

Soon, coming off the boat was four girls from Shade Academy. One of them was actively scanning the docks, looking for a specific blonde boy, as she had told him she was coming.

"Well, Dew, we're finally at Vale. Hoping to see Jaune soon?" said Octavia.

"You know it's mostly to get away from that punk Boyd Arc," defended Dew, still scanning the docks.

"Yea, that's about 30% of the reason. The rest is to see Jaune," deadpanned Gwen.

"I don't mind," added Nebula, "Aurelian Arc's been hitting on me, and it's getting annoying. Just because he was the champion of the last tournament, he thinks he's privileged. He's even hinted on taking all of us for himself."

Team NDGO had received permission from the headmistress of Shade Academy to come to Beacon earlier than the rest of the school to "scout" their living quarters. The real reason was to get away from the Arcs. They were getting tired of them, and it didn't help the Arc 'fans' kept trying to bully NDGO. They were later shown why NDGO wasn't a team to by trifled with.

As they scanned the docks, Dew was the first one to spot Jaune. Without even stopping to tell her teammates, she immediately ran towards him, leaving her team with a dust imprint of her behind her.

"Well, I think it's safe to say she found Jaune," said Gwen, looking at the dust cloud Dew had left behind.

"Let's catch up to her," said Nebula.

As Jaune was talking to his teammates, he heard rapid footsteps approaching him. He turned around to see a blur of green and gold crashing into him. Steadying himself, he made sure he didn't fall over.

"Did you miss me?"

Jaune looked down and saw Dew hugging him tightly. Smiling, he replied, "It's nice to see you again Dew. Where's the rest of your team?"

"Right over here!" chimed a voice.

Everyone turned to see the rest of team NDGO walking up to them.

"Trust Dew to be able to find you so quickly," teased Octavia, causing Dew to blush while Pyrrha raised her eyebrow. She now felt like she had confirmation on the last of Jaune's choice of mates. Dew was glaring at Pyrrha. She had heard the the 'Goddess of Victory' was Jaune's teammate and was terrified she would steal Jaune from her. Seeing as she wasn't doing anything, Dew thought she might still have a chance.

As introductions went around, suddenly a stomach growled. They looked to see Jaune, who looked embarrassed.

"Let's get something to eat before we continue this," said Jaune.

Another stomach growled, and everyone turned to look at Gwen.

"Yea, lets," said Gwen with a slight tinge of redness on her cheeks.

"Shall we try to invite team RWBY too?" asked Ren. Jaune thought about it before shooting a message at Ruby, telling them where they were headed to eat and if they wanted to come.

"Shot them a message. If they come or not is up to them," shrugged Jaune before leading the way to a restaurant.

Night came upon them, and team JNPR and NDGO went their separate ways for now. Jaune promised Dew and her team he would tell them a secret only if they could keep it. They agreed, though it would have to wait for a better time, most likely after the 1st semester ended.

* * *

As JNPR arrived at their dorms, they came in to see Ruby and Yang looking nervous, and Weiss sitting at her bed looking at the moon.

Blake was nowhere to be seen.

"What's wrong?" asked Pyrrha, a little unnerved by the atmosphere.

"Did you know that Blake is a White Fang member?" shout out Weiss.

"Ex-member," corrected Jaune. They all looked at him in surprise.

"You already knew?" asked Yang incredulously, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it's not my story to tell," replied Jaune

"But-, she-" started Weiss, but Jaune held up his hand.

"She was nervous to tell you her past, Weiss, given your family history with them. It took her a lot of courage to even admit she was a Faunus. Tell me what happened, though."

Ruby explained what had happened when they were chasing the monkey Faunus. They had lost the Faunus when Weiss crashed into someone named Penny, who was a strange girl with orange hair, green eyes, and a quirky attitude. She, apparently, was also visiting and participating in the tournament. After introducing themselves to the girl, Weiss had slipped back into her old habit by accident, much to Blake's displeasure. Soon, it escalated into an argument, and Blake let slip that she had joined the White Fang because she was tired of being treated as trash. After that revelation, she ran away. Weiss felt guilty, due to the fact she had come to the fact that Blake was still an active member. She was their teammate! She should've trusted her better than that.

Jaune sighed at this before stating that they should get some sleep. Blake could take care of herself, and that they should use this to let them organize their own thoughts before finding Blake in the morning.

* * *

Two days later, and Blake had still not shown up at Beacon at all. Worried, both teams split up to find Blake while covering more ground. As soon as he was sure nobody was looking, Jaune closed his eyes, linking up with Andusk to sense Aura. While there were thousands in the city, he was familiar with Blake's Aura. Sifting through them all, he found her at a cafe with someone sitting across from her. He quickly ran there but made a slight detour into a food store before coming out with a bag.

Blake was sipping tea while sitting with the monkey Faunus she had seen jumping off the ship. After introducing himself as Sun Wukong, Blake had stayed with him at a hotel, separate rooms, of course. Sun, of course, tried to make himself seem appealing, but Blake barely even talked. As they were sipping tea, Blake finally decided to talk. She told Sun truthfully all about the White Fang, and that she had been part of it.

"So... have you told your friends any of this?" asked Sun.

Blake looked down in shame until a voice piped up, "I already knew most of it."

They looked to see Jaune leaning on the railing with a bag in his hand. He tossed it to Blake.

"Did you eat yet? Have you been eating?" asked Jaune.

Blake opened and slightly drooled when she saw tuna sandwiches. Eating it happily, Sun introduced himself to Jaune. Sun held a slight jealous gaze while shaking Jaune's hand.

"So, what bring you here, Sun?" asked Jaune.

"Eh, wanted to see what Vale's like. My team's not scheduled to come until after the two-week break, but I couldn't resist. It's not the first time I've done this," said Sun, "How do you know Blake?"

"She's in the team that lives with us. Also, I'm well acquainted with her father and mother," said Jaune.

'Crap. He has so much more advantage over me,' thought Sun, 'Maybe he's not interested in her? I hope so. Maybe that glare was like a brother telling people to back off from his sister?'

After Blake had finished devouring her sandwiches, the trio was walking down an ally.

"Blake, you really should let your teammates know you're at least all right," lectured Jaune. Blake slightly wilted at this but stood back up.

"I know, but I can't help but think about these recent robberies. The White Fang has never needed that much Dust before," said Blake.

"What if they did?" asked Sun, his eyes widening. He turned to the both of them, "I mean... the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there! Right?"

"In short, find the real perpetrators," summarized Jaune, "Why couldn't you have just said that?"

Sun just shrugged at this. Wasn't his fault his thought process went that way.

"The only thing is, I've no idea where that would be," sighed Blake.

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about off loading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas," offered Sun.

"How huge?" asked Blake, her eyes narrowing.

"Huge. Big Schnee Company Freighter," answered Sun.

"Looks like we got our location," said Jaune. He was about to call the rest of the team when Blake stopped him.

"Please. Don't tell them yet. I have to find out for myself first," pleaded Blake.

Jaune sighed and agreed, but told Blake that if they needed back up, he would call them.

* * *

Pyrrha was walking in Vale by herself, looking for Blake. She sighed as to contemplated that she should have just gone with Jaune. Suddenly she heard her name being called. She turned around to see it was Dew, by herself.

"Hello, Pyrrha! What brings you around here?" asked Dew.

"Just looking for a friend. You?" questioned Pyrrha.

"Shopping for some personal items. Do you want to grab something to eat? I have something I want to ask you," stated Dew.

Pyrrha thought about it and agreed. Soon, they were eating at a local cafe. There was an awkward silence until Dew decided to break it first.

"How did you meet Jaune?" asked Dew.

Pyrrha decided it couldn't hurt and told her about how Jaune come to Mistral. In turn, Dew shared about how he came to Vacuo. Both left out some details, such as the kiss as well as Jaune's aura being sealed. In the end, Dew decided she needed to ask.

"Are you dating Jaune or are you interested in him? Because I'm going to try if he's still single," said Dew with a serious face.

Pyrrha was a bit surprised at her forwardness before replying, "Yes. I am dating Jaune right now. Why do you ask?"

Dew cursed under her breath, closing her eyes. Tears were threatening to come out. She had lost her chance to ask Jaune out, but all it wasn't lost. There wasn't any guarantee that they would always be together. She opened her eyes before answering, "Because, if you let go of him, then I will snatch him before you get the chance to take hold of him again." She looked at Pyrrha, fire burning in her eyes with conviction.

"You really do like Jaune, don't you?" asked Pyrrha.

"How is there not to like?" replied Dew, "He's strong, nice, and kind. Also very good looking. Compared him to the guy that keeps trying to hit on me, it's night and day."

"Do you like him enough to share?" asked Pyrrha, putting her hands together and leaning forward a bit. Dew gave a confused look in response.

"Jaune hasn't told you yet, has he? Well, I'm sure if you're interested in him, he'll tell you about more about his life and past, just like he did with me and the rest of my team," said Pyrrha cryptically before leaving, letting Dew become even more confused.

* * *

It was night time, and Blake and Jaune were at the docks observing. Sun came in with some food, asking if he had missed anything. He offered them some food he stole and got glares back.

"Do you always break the law without giving a second thought?" asked Blake.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" shot back Sun, receiving an even angrier glare from Blake and Jaune. "Ok, too soon."

"As long as you know it," replied Jaune.

Suddenly, the wind started to blow around them, and they looked up to see a Bullhead flying around before descending to the ground in the middle of all the cargo containers. A ramp came forth, and White Fang soldiers walked out.

"Oh no," gasped Blake, hoping what she saw wasn't true.

"Is that them?" asked Sun. One of the grunts turned around, flashing the White Fang symbol to them. It was a red feral animal with three slash marks behind it.

"Yes... it's them.," said Blake sadly as the White Fang grunts started to

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" asked Sun.

Blake could only stare sadly at the scene, "No. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." She closed her eyes in despair, only to open them suddenly when she heard a new voice. Her vision zoomed into the newcomer to discover that he was human. She recognized him as Roman Torchwick from the news.

"Hey! What's the holdup!?" shouted Roman, "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that," said Blake as she stood up, unsheathing Gambol Shroud from her sheath and walking off the edge of the roof they had been hiding.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" said Sun, alarmed, only to see her disappear.

Jaune quickly sent a message to team RWY and NPR, telling them to come to his location, weapons ready for battle.

"Cmon, Sun. We need to back Blake up," said Jaune, wrapping his head with a cloth again.

"Why are you hiding your face?" asked Sun quizzically.

"Just don't want them to see my face," replied Jaune, "I'd feel safer if they didn't recognize my face so easily, especially since I'm human. The White Fang tends to get more violence if a human is stopping them."

Sun shrugged before jumping after Blake.

"Well then," muttered Jaune to himself as he linked up with Othim. He put _Dragonscales_ into his bag before gripping his sword in his sheath. He pulled it out, and the sheath transformed. It expanded a little before jutting out its sharpened sides forward, making a wider sword with a heavier weight. It now looked like Jaune was wielding a black two-handed sword. Combining the fact he was now sporting black scaled wings, Jaune thought he looked pretty terrifying. Of course, he didn't want the White Fang to think he was the same person who interfered with the train. He took off the pauldrons but kept everything else. He took to the skies, disguising himself for now with the night sky. For the while, he would just observe until he needed to intervene.

Ruby saw the message and started to run towards the docks, with her new friend Penny chasing behind her.

Yang and Weiss made their way after asking around in the marketplace about Blake. Weiss had finally made up her mind to apologize to Blake for her behavior.

Ren had to drag Nora away from all-the-pancakes-you-can-make aisle towards the docks.

Pyrrha ran towards the docks as soon as she saw Jaune's message. Dew, who had reunited with her teammates, saw Pyrrha running as fast as she could with her weapons ready. Intrigued, team NDGO decided to follow.

Blake had managed to sneak up behind Roman and held her blade at his neck. The White Fang reacted, pointing their guns and brandishing their weapons, but were surprised when she took off her bow to reveal that she herself was a Faunus. She questioned why they were aiding Roman when he told her that he was actually working with the White Fang on a certain operation. Blake tried to pry for more information when she was distracted by two more Bullheads flying over. Blake watched in horror at this sight. Roman, seeing her distracted, pointed his cane at her feet. The end of the cane's bottom flipped up, and Roman fired, sending Blake flying away in an explosion.

All teams saw this explosion in the distance and ran faster to the location.

Blake was dazed by the sudden explosion but unhurt. Regaining her bearings, she quickly rolled out of Roman's shots. He kept firing, forcing her away. She did a few back flips before using her Semblance to get some more distance. She quickly ran for cover behind one of the cargo containers.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." taunted Roman until a banana peel landed on his head. He looked up in surprised just to see Sun dropkicking/stomping him on his face. Roman's head ended up on the floor as Sun did a couple flips before landing and turning around.

"Leave her alone!" snarled Sun.

Roman slowly got back up, shaking off the concussion he just got. Soon, the Bullheads that had been hovering above them opened up, letting more White Fang members descend down, surrounding Sun.

"You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?" teased Roman as the White Fang members charged in.

Sun merely smirked as he took out the first victim. The second one was knocked out by his monkey tail slapping him hard, followed by a swift kick on the third one. After punching and kicking quite a few of them, he rolled under a sword slash before grabbing his weapon, a red staff with gold markings. He spun it around quite a few times, knocking the grunts out of commission before slamming his staff onto the floor, knocking out two of them while causing the third one to stumble, to which he quickly tripped him before flipping right over the grunts head and stomping him in the spine. With another flip, Sun sent the hapless grunt at Roman as a projectile.

Roman just groaned in frustration before aiming his cane and firing a shot, to which Sun blocked it by twirling his staff in front of him at high speeds. Good help was always hard to find.

"He's mine!" shouted Blake as she dropped in and attacked Roman as fast and furiously as she could.

However, even abusing her Semblance to launch attacks at all different angles, Roman showed them why he was the boss, and why he was feared in the underground crime city. He was initially surprised from the first hit, but managed to block the rest before attacking her, even landing a fist on her face, although that was once again dodged. It was when Roman stunned Blake by hitting her with the hook part of his cane did he land a few more hits before swiping his weapon downwards on her head, knocking her back. Sun came to intervene, switching his staff into two nunchaku, _Ruyi Bang_ and _Jingu_ _Bang_ , and kicked Roman away. He started attacking with weapons, spinning them and firing shotgun rounds at Roman, while trying to bash him at the same time. Roman parried each attack, leaving Sun unable to get through his defense. Sun finally had enough, and after tossing his left one in the air, he spun, letting the right nunchaku hit first before catching the left one in his rotation and slamming it at Roman's weapon, leaving them both open. Blake took advantage of this and slashed at him, sending him flying backward

"Urg," groaned Roman.

* * *

He looked up to see a cargo container suspended by a crane right above Blake and Sun. Taking advantage of this while chuckling, he shot the hooks off, forcing it to fall onto them. Before Blake and Sun could move, the container was suddenly sliced in half! The container parts fell away from the two so they weren't in danger. Roman's eyes widened in surprise when he saw it split in half. He looked down to see another person, this one with a cloth mask on, covering both hair and face, revealing only the eyes. The only hint Roman had to go off was that the person was male.

"Heh, another hero?" asked Roman sarcastically. His tone dropped as the mysterious man stood up, and expanded his black scaled wings while pointing his black blade at him.

'Please tell me I didn't somehow piss off a real devil! I already have the devil bitch on my ass!' Roman mentally screamed.

"Don't stand there. Get them!" shouted Roman. The remaining White Fang that wasn't knocked out charged forward, albeit a bit scared.

Team RWY, NPR, Penny, and NDGO arrived just in time to see a figure cut through the container and was now pointing his black blade at Roman, his wings expanded. They were, however, at separate spots when they entered the docks.

"Whoa," said Ruby in awe before noticing Roman trying to sneak away. She called him out.

While the trio was distracted, Roman heard a voice call out. He turned around to see it was Ruby.

"Why hello, Red! Isn't it past your bed time!" shouted Roman in a jovial manner as he waved at her.

"Ruby, are these your friends?" asked Penny.

"Penny, get back!" warned Ruby. However, this slight distraction cost her as Roman took a shot, blasting her back.

Yang saw this and roared out in anger as she charged at Roman.

The rest of the team went to help Blake and the others. NDGO revealed what weapons they were using. Dew had a spear with a green Dust crystal embedded inside the spearhead. Nebula had transformed her crossbow into a sword. Octavia was using her kris dagger to stab. Gwen was providing support with her throwing knives.

Penny was giving Roman the glare before walking forward. Ruby tried to stop her, but her reply was, "Don't worry, Ruby. I'm combat Ready!"

Her backpack opened up revealing, a sword that had been folded up before it split into 10 swords. She ran in to fight, jumping from the rooftop they had been on.

Jaune was surprised to see team NDGO helping out, but didn't complain about it for now. There would be time to explain later. He was surprised to see another girl fighting with what seemed to be floating swords and being devastatingly effective. Roman was busy fending off an enraged Yang. A few more bullheads showed up, firing upon them all. Everyone ran to dodge and hide from the barrage. All but Penny, who made her swords block the bullets. Two more swords came out from her backpack, shooting into the wall before she suddenly flew back, dragging her swords along with her. Jaune finally realized that Penny was actually manipulating each sword with a string, like a puppet.

The ten swords in front of Penny folded up as they rotated around Penny in a circle in front of her. She channeled her Aura, forming a green ball in front of her swords. Then, she leaned back and punched both hands forward, shooting out beams of laser that cut the Bullheads in half. White Fang members fell out of the ship in shock as the Bullheads split open. She then threw her swords at another Bullhead, trying to steal the cargo. The Bullhead was unable to move, and Penny brought it down hard.

Roman, taking advantage of everyone being distracted by Penny's attacks, got onto a Bullhead that had still been docked. Signaling the pilot, the Bullhead shot off before anyone could do anything.

"These kids just keep getting weirder..." muttered Roman to himself as the Bullhead flew away.

"Well, he got away," grumbled Yang. Jaune quickly flew away too, leaving them to themselves. Before Nebula could ask, they promised to tell them more later on. The police quickly arrived and detained all the White Fang members on the site. The rest of them was momentarily held up for a few questions before being released.

After they had been released, Weiss turned to Blake, who started to speak.

"Weiss, I want you to-" started Blake, but Weiss stopped.

"Enough," Weiss proclaimed, "I have to apologize for my attitude. I slipped back into a behavior I swore to kick off. As long as you're not part of the White Fang anymore, then I don't care about your past, just like Jaune's. Just... if something big like this comes up, you'll come to your teammates first. And not someone else."

Blake had to wipe a tear before agreeing. Ruby cheered, saying that team RWBY was back together again. Everyone chuckled at this.

"Wait a minute, where's Penny?" asked Ruby suddenly, looking around, noticing she had disappeared.

Everyone shrugged before they finally started to head back to Beacon.

Penny was sitting inside a car, watching the group of friends gather to get ready to leave. She wanted to be with them, but protocols dictated that she had to obey her caretaker, who had come to pick her up.

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city," lectured the driver as he started up the car.

"I know," said Penny sadly. She continued to gaze at the group. The driver noticed and sighed, "Penny, your time will come..." The car drove off in the opposite direction of where the group was headed to.

Qrow was watching a live feed of a newscaster reporting about the incident at the docks. The camera was currently being pointed to Ruby when he noticed an incoming message. Quickly opening it, he saw that it was a message from his trusty 'eyes' Qrow. On the message was something that made him shiver.

 _Queen has Pawns._

Ozpin hmmed to himself as he continued to think and plan what to do for the future.

* * *

" _ **Hey Jaune. Did you notice?"**_ asked Andusk while Jaune was flying in the air back to Beacon.

"Yea. That Penny has a weird Aura. It almost felt like it wasn't... human? Similar, but not close enough. Nor is it a Faunus," replied Jaune as he was flying in the night sky.

" _ **Good to see your senses are developing quite well,"**_ said Lung Wang, **_"Still, the girl itself is intriguing. To be able to weaponize her Aura into a blast like that. Perhaps in the future, if you see her again, you can learn more."_**

* * *

Roman dragged himself into an abandoned warehouse and sighed. This robbery had not gone as planned, and he mostly blamed it on teaming up with the White Fang. Sure, the men that he had borrowed from Junior, an owner of a nightclub, were weak, but at least they got the job done. Granted, this heist had been on a larger scale with much higher risks.

"How very disappointing."

Roman whirled around to see a woman with long black hair and golden eyes with a red dress approaching him. He sighed as he saw it was Cinder. Behind her were her two lackeys, Emerald, a green haired girl with brown skin, and Mercury, a tall gray haired male with pale skin.

After throwing a few words back and forth, Cinder and her two pawns were about to leave when Roman muttered, "I have a devil behind me, and now another in front of me. Talk about being stuck in a hard place."

"What do you mean, another devil?" asked Cinder threateningly, her hands bathed in fire. She didn't mind being called one, as it gave her power over others. However, to hear Roman call somebody else one was... interesting.

Roman tried to wave it off, but seeing as she wouldn't let it go, he sighed, "At the docks, there was another person who stopped me. He had wings like a devil, with a dam black sword. I would have thought it was a Faunus, but something in my gut told me otherwise."

"Intriguing," murmured Cinder before leaving. As they left, Mercury whispered to Emerald, "Think it has something close to do with that 'angel' incident?"

Emerald rolled her eyes and replied sarcastically, "Please. I bet they were just both Faunus that's been hiding. There are so many types of Faunus. Probably some that's been hiding."

"Regardless," interrupted Cinder, showing them that she could hear them, "Roman Torchwick's instincts could be correct. If so, then maybe the angel incident could be real. Perhaps we can recruit this devil. After all, devils and angels never work together in the legends."

* * *

 **No, Cardin isn't expelled. I have some plans for him in the future. Instead, I'll have him walk the path of forgiveness.**

 **Read and Review!**

 **And with this, Volume 1 Ends. Hmm it only took me 4 chapters to go through that. Oh well, with the other seasons, it'll be longer, as more info I can put in.**

 **Maybe I can put something to do during their two week break, since Volume 1, the first semester ends.**

 **Shout out to LordHellPhoenix and his story Jaune Arc: The Elemental Swordsman. He put an a/n about my story, so I'm doing the same.**

 **Also, random news. Made a new story using the Big 4 heading to Hogwarts. Timeline is with Harry heading there too.**


	13. Chapter 13 All mates gathered?

**Since my tests are done, I had some extra time to write this out. And since this story just hit past the 100k view mark, celebrating it by a new release! Hope you enjoy this early release!**

* * *

Team RWBY, NDGO, and NPR arrived back to team RWBY's dorm to rest. Sun had tried to sneak in, only to be found by the worst teacher to be discovered by, Professor Glynda. As he was dragged by the ear to see Ozpin on what to do, the rest of them shrugged and continued walking. They had decided to go into team RWBY's room as there was more space for them to sit on the floor or chairs. A few minutes later, Jaune entered in the room.

"Thanks for the help," said Blake first.

"Wait, where was Jaune?" asked Nebula, recalling that she didn't see him at the docks. Team NDGO looked at him suspiciously. Jaune shrugged, as he spread out his black scaled wings. He had planned on telling Dew, who most likely would have had told her teammates, so he might as well just tell them all.

Team NDGO's jaws dropped in shock at the sudden appearance of the wings.

"Wait, where did those wings come from? I know you're not a Faunus," said Gwen.

"Yea, and when we were staring at your hot naked torso that one day at Vacuo, we didn't see any wings," said Octavia, causing RWBY and Pyrrha to stare at her with jealous rage.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I admired it. Dew was drooling all over it," said Octavia quickly, waving her hands in front of her, as if to protect herself from the gazes.

The gazes switched over to Dew, who blushed.

"So your Semblance is to grow wings and fly?" asked Gwen, "That's a cool Semblance."

"Nice guess, but no," said Jaune as he dismissed his link with Othim before linking with Aryz, sprouting green feathery wings for them to see.

"Oooh! Feathers!" shouted Nora. Ruby was busy trying to collect any feathers that dropped on the floor. She wanted to see if she could use it to make her fly. If not, weaponize it. Or keep it as a souvenir if nothing could be done. Team NDGO was just staring.

"You're the angel from the train incident with the White Fang?" asked Nebula. Jaune nodded. Nebula walked forward before going down on her knees, crying. Shocked, Jaune tried to get her up, but she just kept crying.

"Thank you," sobbed Nebula, "My aunt and nephews were on that train that day. They told me how some of the White Fang tried to kill them when an angel descended from the skies and according to her, 'brought the wrath of heaven to those goons'. I can't imagine what would have happened if you didn't intervene."

Jaune scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Hey, no worries. I only did what any decent person with morals would have done."

" _ **Hmm, a shame you already have marks for each one of us. Have you considered mistresses? Nebula and Octavia look like they wouldn't mind joining your harem!"**_ laughed Othim.

'No. I do not want mistresses when I already have six potential mates,' Jaune mentally thought back.

" _ **Good, Jaune. Othim was testing you, weren't you?"**_ said Aryz, glaring at Othim. Othim looked away, whistling a tune.

Soon, team NDGO was given the overview of Jaune's past and his Semblance, and how he needed to have several mates. Each one of them was surprised at the Semblance, and even more disgusted with the Arc family now.

"Eww, and he thinks he deserves to sleep with us all," said Gwen, commentating about how Aurelian Arc had been hinting about taking NDGO on 'a ride of their lives'.

"Sooo... you need seven?" asked Octavia, "Girls, raise your hands if your in Jaune's harem."

Blushing at this blunt question, all of team RWBY and Pyrrha raised their hands.

"That's what you meant by sharing," mused Dew to Pyrrha, who nodded, "Well, I'm in! I prefer Jaune over Jaune's half-brother Boyd Arc."

"Ooh! That means there's one more space! I'll take it!" laughed Octavia.

"Sorry, Octavia. I actually only need six," apologized Jaune, "Pyrrha's a special case. Since she was the one who unlocked my Aura, she can somehow house two of the marks instead of one. I have no intention of going beyond that number. I have no interest in mistresses."

At this, RWBY, Pyrrha, and Dew blushed but were mentally making ways on how to thank Jaune for this thought.

Octavia pouted for a second before smiling again, "Oh well. Then I'll take Ren!" She sat right next to him, grabbing his arm.

"Wait, what?" asked Ren in confusion and embarrassment.

"NO! Renny's MINE!" shouted Nora, grabbing her hammer out, ready to break the girl's knee. She would sooner give up her pancakes than letting Ren be taken from her.

"Mmm how about we share? Ren's more of my type than Jaune anyways," asked Octavia in a sultry voice, "After all, Jaune's already doing it. I'm sure Ren doesn't want to be left out, either."

For once, Nora hesitated. Ren was the last of his clan after the incident in Kuroyuri, and she was just a mere orphan. She was scared that Ren might ditch her if he ever found somebody else. Somebody from an actual family, and not just some poor orphan. Yet at the same time, she knew Ren would never leave her, but the fear was still there. Ren was her world, the one who saved her. Seeing her hesitation, Ren removed his arm from Octavia and walked up to Nora.

"Boop," said Ren as he gently bopped her nose, breaking her out of her thoughts. He then proceeded to hug Nora, making her feel safe in his arms.

"Sorry, Octavia. Nora's the only girl for me," said Ren, causing Octavia to pout again.

"I'm... not totally against it," said Nora slowly, causing Ren to look at her in shock. "I know your clan followed Jaune's clan, and you are going to need to restore yours if you want your clan to be Jaune's retainers. And I'm not stupid to think I can provide all the children you need. But I get to be the first wife!"

"Looks like she agrees, boyfriend!" said Octavia, jumping up and clutching Ren's arm while Nora had the other one. Ren could only sigh as he sat down with both girls on his arms.

"Let's go on some test dates in first before we even consider that," said Ren logically, "We barely know each other as it is. For all you know, you may dislike my... attitude."

"Sure," chirped Octavia, "The semester ends soon, and so we'll have two weeks of free time to go on some dates. Which means we should all go SHOPPING!"

As all the girls agreed and discussed where to go, Ren was left with Jaune.

"I'm not escaping this am I?" asked Ren.

"Welcome to the club," replied Jaune, dreading the shopping trip.

* * *

The first semester ended with a, as Yang with says it, with _Yang_. As team RWBY, NDGO, and JNPR prepared to head to Vale for the massive shopping trip, Jaune was actually stopped by somebody who he hadn't expected to be stopped by. Cardin Winchester.

"Hello, Cardin," said Jaune coolly. He was still angry at the incident. The dragons inside him were telling to send him to the hospital again.

"Hey, there Jauney B-" started Cardin before shaking his head. He lightly slapped himself, surprising Jaune and the dragons.

"Sorry. I mean Jaune," said Cardin respectfully, "There's something I need to say to you."

At that, he got onto his knees and bowed to him, "I'm sorry for my actions that day. I was a jealous git who forgot his own morals. I lead my team down the wrong path."

Jaune looked in shock for a bit before coughing, "I'm not the only one you need to apologize for. You put Pyrrha in danger."

Cardin raised his head, "I know. I just finished the last set of punishments from Professor Port when I ran into you. I was planning to find her next. After my apologies, do you think we can... start on a blank new slate?"

Jaune thought about it before raising his hand towards him, "Only after you apologize to Pyrrha. Then, we can start anew."

Cardin nodded as walked with Jaune to meet up with Pyrrha and the rest of them.

As they were walking, Cardin was talking about his punishment with Port. Apparently, one of it was camping out in the Emerald Forest without any supplies or their weapons, just the clothes they had on. When Russel complained, Port asked him dangerously whether being able to at least see and move from Grimm was better than being blinded and having some Grimm set upon him. Russel shut up fast.

When Pyrrha saw him, she immediately prepared herself for a confrontation and was surprised to see Cardin bowing down and asking for forgiveness. Seeing that he was being completely truthful for his actions, she forgave him but warned him that she would be watching him. Cardin admitted to them that it would take some time for him to get over his grudge and biased views, but promised to try to curb it.

* * *

Over the next two weeks, the teams bonded even closer. All of Jaune's girls were closer to the man himself, giving him light kisses and hugs in public, just to let others just think they were all really good friends. In private, they made sure Jaune knew he was loved. Only Weiss was still hesitant, as she had a name and reputation to uphold, as well as being unsure of her feelings. Together, they had fun and even trained together. Ruby was finally starting to learn a little hand-to-hand combat when Jaune discovered that when she didn't have her scythe, she was helpless. The others decided it wouldn't hurt to be able to fight without a weapon, as Pyrrha, Ren, and Jaune showed them they were still deadly without them. For Yang, it would be more of refining her techniques.

During the time, Jaune took Dew out on her first date alone.

 _Dew_

They had gone to the movie theaters to catch a new movie Dew wanted to see. They quickly arrived to take their seats, with Jaune buying popcorn for them to share. As they watched the movie, Jaune put his hands over Dew, causing her to blush, but still focus on the movie.

Three-quarters through the movie, Dew whispered, "Wanna do something in the movie theater that involves not watching the movie?"

Jaune tilted his head in confusion but nodded, curious. With that, Dew put the popcorn away and swung her legs over Jaune's so she was facing him instead of the movie, and made out with him. They missed the rest of the movie, and when they came out, Dew's clothes and hair were quite messy.

* * *

There was one incident during the last week of the break where Jaune was surprised to see another clan that served the Dragon Clan.

Yang had taken them to a nightclub, claiming she knew the owner well. Upon arriving, they found themselves with guns being pointed at them.

"Can you define friend for us, Yang?" deadpanned Jaune as he saw the multitude of guns, with scared faces of the henchmen.

"Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot!" yelled a voice.

The henchmen moved out of the way to let their boss, Hei Xiong, otherwise better known as "Junior" walk forward, wearing his black vest, red tie, and white dress shirt.

"Blondie! You're here... Why?" asked Junior.

"Just wanted to have fun. I know your night club is fun. Thought I'd bring my friends to see." replied Yang, "I promise it won't turn as... violent as last time."

"Well, as you can see... the last time you came here, you kinda ruined it. Broke my windows, floors, drinks, everything! It's going to take awhile to before I can reopen this place," sighed Junior as he pointed behind him

Everyone turned to look to see the building was indeed going under construction. Yang just noticed that usually well-dressed henchmen were all wearing construction clothes.

"Umm whoops? Guess I brought down the roof on that night?" sweatdropped Yang.

"Yes, you did. After you left, the roof collapsed from all that destruction," replied Junior. Yang could only blush in embarrassment.

Behind the three teams, a cough could be heard. They turned around to see twin girls, one wearing a red dress with claws and the other one in a white dress in high heels that also worked as blades. Yang recognized them as Militia and Melanie Malachite, the twins she had beaten up before.

"You're blocking our way," scoffed Melanie. Militia pointed to the bags they were carrying.

As they passed by, they looked at Jaune and Ren, and liked what they saw. Dropping their bags for some henchmen to carry, they both seductively walked up to them.

"Mmm don't you two look good," purred Melanie.

"Want to ditch these girls and come with us? We'll show you a good time," whispered Militia.

"HANDS OFF!"

The Malachite twins found themselves pushed off the two men. They pouted when they saw Jaune had 5 girls surrounding him, while Weiss was standing by, but not as close as the other 5. Ren had Nora and Octavia in each arm. Nebula and Gwen could only chuckle.

"Better luck next time," counseled Junior.

"Shut up, uncle," scoffed the twins, leaving Junior depressed, with a rain cloud above his head. As he took a look at Yang's friends, his vision suddenly zoomed in on Jaune. He felt something familiar radiating off of him. Something his own family had told him to watch for.

"Wait. There's something I need to check," said Junior before rushing into his office. He came back with a box before handing it to Jaune.

"Open this," said Junior.

Confused, he unlatched the lock and opened it. As he did, he felt some of his Aura go into the box before it opened, as if trying to recognize who was opening it. Inside, he saw a necklace.

"Umm I opened it?" said Jaune as he titled his head.

Suddenly, Junior kneeled down, along with Melanie and Milita. Half of the henchmen followed quickly, while the other half was confused before following their boss.

"Xiong clan recognizes the return of the Dragon Clan," said Junior, shocking Jaune

The rest of the day was Jaune trying to wrap around his head that he now had an underground information ring under his command. According to Junior, the box was enchanted that only Aura from the Dragon Clan could open it. The necklace itself had no significant meaning, but it was something that was passed in the Xiong clan. While Melanie and Militia pouted that they didn't have a chance to be with Jaune, seeing that he had six girls and no interest in expanding, they set their eyes on Ren. They didn't mind sharing the same man between themselves. Ren, fearing for his life, ran away as far as he could. Junior was tempted to chase after Ren, telling him not to seduce his nieces, but decided on pity as he could see the fear in his eyes.

* * *

Soon, it was the last day of the break. NDGO had to go finish up any paperwork needed to finalize where Shade Academy was staying, as well as report what was needed. RWBY and JNPR were eating at the cafeteria. Blake was slightly looking at a few sketches she had drawn and paused at the picture of Adam she had drawn. It still hurt in her heart for her to leave her first love, but she didn't regret it. She had friends, and she had a new love. One that would never hurt her or abuse her trust, like Adam did. Suddenly Ruby dropped a binder she _clearly_ did not take from Weiss, stating all the things she had planned for the day. Suddenly the door burst open, and striding in was... Taiyang Xiao Long.

"Dad!? What are you doing here?" asked Yang in surprise.

"I came because of a _certain_ letter Ruby wrote home to me," said Taiyang, with clear anger in his voice. They all noticed most of his anger seemed to be directed towards Jaune.

"Ruby? What did you write to dad?" asked Yang curiously.

"I wrote how you and I both found a boyfriend, and that it was Jaune who we met back at Patch," said Ruby naively. Yang facepalmed at this. At least Ruby didn't tell their dad that Jaune was dating 4 more girls.

"Girls, I need to have a word with Mr. Ryu-Long," growled Taiyang.

'Umm, guys? Any suggestions?' Jaune asked his dragons.

" _ **Hmm, usually I would say stand your ground, but this is your future father-in-law,"**_ said Lung Wang.

" _ **There's really only one thing you can do,"**_ said Fafnir.

" _ **Run!"**_ shouted Andusk and Othim.

Jaune sprinted out of the cafeteria. Taiyang roared and gave chase.

"Ruby! We need to calm dad down! He doesn't know about the conditions why he's dating both of us!" shouted Yang.

"But I wrote it down for him!" said Ruby.

"I think he stopped reading after the fact you mentioned the fact we had the same boyfriend!" replied Yang, running out to stop her dad. Ruby quickly followed.

* * *

Sun had been walking with his friend, Neptune, a blue haired man wearing the latest fashion, trying to define the definition of being cool. Sun was talking to him about his adventures, and how he met Blake. He was hoping to hit it off with her but had his doubts. Still, he wanted to at least try until he saw somebody else that would catch his eye. Just as the two of them were about to open the door to the cafeteria, they heard "DYNAMIC EXIT!" before the doors swung open hard, slamming them both into the wall. Jaune had kicked the door open without any warning and was running from Taiyang. Who was swiftly followed by Yang and Ruby. The rest of the group just slowly walked after them. The doors slowly closed, revealing them sprawled into the wall.

"Why does it hurt being cool?" moaned Neptune.

After chasing Jaune for 2 hours straight, Taiyang finally stopped when Glynda had enough of them playing around. Getting permission from Jaune, Ruby and Yang took their father to a private and secure room, with soundproof barriers, to tell them about why they were both dating Jaune. They swore they could feel the ground vibrate every now and then, but 20 minutes later, Ruby and Yang came out with a panting Taiyang. A few seconds later, the rest of them were back in the room.

"All right, let me get this straight. Jaune has a semblance that contracts him with some giant lizards of ancient past, and it requires him to have several mates?" asked Taiyang in disbelief.

" _ **GIANT LIZARDS! LET ME AT HIM! I DON'T CARE IF HIS LAST NAME MEANS DRAGON!"**_ roared Lung Wang.

"To be honest, I don't quite believe it. Of course, I was shocked when Ruby asked why couldn't Jaune do it with more women when I did the same thing, and that took a bit of an awkward talk," continued Taiyang, "So if I can get some sort of proof? Besides wings? Which I do think is cool."

" _ **Jaune. Place your hand on his forehead. We'll bring him to your landscape. Actually, this might be a good time for them all to see."**_ said Ryo-Wo.

'I can do that?' asked Jaune. Aryth nodded.

Agreeing with it, Jaune called in team NDGO to join them. After linking hands with everyone, Jaune concentrated, focusing his Aura. There was a bright flash of light, and everyone felt their minds being drawn into the light.

"Where are we?" asked Nora when they all found themselves standing on a patch of grass. Everywhere else was just pure darkness.

" _ **Tell me, human. Do we look like mere 'lizards' to you?"**_

They whirled around to see Lung Wang, staring down at them at his full height. Taiyang was shaking in fear. He had heard about dragons, but mostly from just fairy tales. There was barely any myths about them that he heard from Ozpin. Hell, he doubted Ozpin even knew about dragon legends.

" _ **Tell me, little dragon. Does it look like Jaune was lying?"**_ said Lung Wang, breathing fire through his nose. Taiyang tried to shrink into his shirt while he shook his head.

Ren, however, stepped forward before kneeling down in respect, "Lie Ren greets his esteemed contract holder's contractor."

" _ **Hmm very nice. I knew revealing the truth to you would be beneficial. The dragons recognize the Ren Clan as retainers of the Dragon Clan. You bring honor to your clan."**_ said Lung Wang.

Ren could only hang his head down for a bit.

" _ **What's wrong?"**_ asked Aryz as she revealed herself. Taiyang was now hyperventilating at another dragon coming into the scene.

"I was, and still am, a coward," said Ren, "My family died trying to protect me, and all I could do was run away. Nora was the only one I could bring with me."

"Ren.." said Nora tenderly, hugging him, "We were only kids. There was no way we could have dealt with that Grimm."

"But we could've had gone back with other Hunters! To avenge my family! My clan!"

" _ **Enough,"**_ said Aryz, **_"Lie Ren. Do not hold onto your past, just like Jaune is trying his best to let go of his past. Look to the future instead. Grow stronger, and make sure that such a thing won't happen again. Especially since you are the retainer for the Dragon Clan."_**

Ren looked up to Aryz and Lung Wang and nodded. He felt some of the weight in his heart being lifted off.

" _ **Jaune. You really should consider giving the Dragon's Mark to Ren,"**_ said Lung Wang.

"Dragon's Mark?" asked Nebula

" _ **A mark showing that you are in service of a dragon holder. It has it's benefits, such as enhanced senses and a bit of a power boost. Not to be confused with the Mate Mark."**_

"It would be an honor," said Ren immediately.

" _ **Good. Good. We'll let Jaune decide which dragon to mark you with later. I think it's time you all left Jaune's mindscape."**_ said Lung Wang. Then, with a fierce roar, all of them were shot out of Jaune's mind.

"Whoa. That was an interesting experience," said Yang, shaking her head. Everyone agreed. Taiyang was still shaking after that confrontation.

"What's wrong dad? Is something _draggoning_ you down?" teased Yang. Everyone groaned at her puns. "What's wrong? I think dad was _pun_ ished enough," continued Yang.

After a few more puns, Taiyang requested to be alone with Jaune, promising he wasn't going to do anything but talk.

"So..." started Taiyang, "You have to get 7 girls to be with you?"

"Six, potentially," replied Jaune, "Pyrrha's a special case. She's able to hold two marks at once since she was the one who unlocked my Aura."

Taiyang nodded before continuing, "Does that mean she's to be the first wife while all the others are mistresses?"

Jaune shook his head, "No. They'll all be equal, even if Pyrrha has two marks. But it's why we're just dating, nothing official. If the Yang or Ruby don't feel comfortable enough in the future, then they're welcome to break up with me. Because once they take the Mate Mark, it's official. The same is with all the other girls, although Pyrrha keeps hinting she wants the mark now. Saying she would never break up."

Taiyang nodded, frowning, but agreeing with the plan. At least his two daughters would have a choice.

"If they do agree... Don't ever break their hearts. Dragons or not, I'll hunt you down," said Taiyang with a threatening voice.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," answered Jaune.

Satisfied, for now, Taiyang headed back for Signal.

"Whew," breathed Jaune, "that was nerve-wracking."

"Yea," chirped Ruby, "Dad approves of you!"

"Now you just need to go through some more parents," said Yang.

Jaune paled slightly at this. The Belladonna family and Nikos family may had have accepted him, but he wasn't sure how he was going to break it to them that he needed a harem because of his Semblance. He also had to deal with Dew's parents, whom he never met, and Weiss's father potentially.

"Let's take this slowly," moaned Jaune as the other girls laughed. Dew, Pyrrha, and Blake all assured him that he would be okay when he met their parents. Or at least, he would leave their houses alive.

* * *

A few days later, and soon students from all the academies were arriving. What was slightly special this time was that the headmaster of Atlas himself, General James Ironwood, was also coming with his students. It was uncommon for a headmaster to leave his school just to attend the Vytal Festival.

Glynda was commenting about the airships while Ozpin was agreeing with her how it was an eyesore. Soon, the elevator could be heard coming up, and Ironwood stepped out to greet them. Glynda excused herself shortly after greeting.

They talked about a few things before discussing the fact that Ozpin was worried why he had brought his fleet here. Ironwood replied, saying if what Qrow said was true, they should be prepared. Ozpin sighed before telling him bringing hundreds of soldiers would just scare the citizens of Vale.

Seeing on how they would just agree to disagree about their tactics, Ironwood turned to another subject.

"So. Have you found any interesting students lately? I was hoping to see the teenager my best soldier Winter rave about would come to Atlas. A shame he never seemed to have shown up."

"You mean Jaune Ryu-Long? As luck would have it, he is a student at Beacon," replied Ozpin with a smirk.

"You're a lucky man," commented Ironwood, "Not only do you have him, but you also have the pride of Mistral, the 'Goddess of Victory'. Some of us are jealous how you seemed to have gotten the cream of the crop this year."

Ozpin could only smile, agreeing that he did have some very special students this year, "Indeed. And we will train them to become the best Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Ironwood nodded before turning around to walk away. He suddenly stopped before looking back at Ozpin, "Do you honestly believe your children will win a war?" before exiting.

Ozpin could only sigh as he sank back down into his chair before replying softly, "I hope they never have to."

* * *

In the library, team RWBY and JNPR had planned to study for their classes. NDGO had gone back to the dorms to meet up with some of their friends back in Shade who had come. Jaune wasn't eager to see if his half-brothers had come, although according to Nebula, both brother's team was in the tournament. As they were sitting in the library, Ruby distracted her team by bringing the board game _Remnant: The Game_. Nora was just sleeping while the rest of JPR was studying.

As Ruby was busy declaring war on Yang's fleet, Jaune was more of thinking about how he now had two clans supporting him. And the second clan had a lot of men ready to fight. Although Yang noted how most of them would be just cannon fodder, while only Junior and the Malachite twins were the only ones with any real potential. Though right now, most of those men were going through training to improve their status from 'cannon fodder' to something useful.

His thought process was interrupted when a Grimm statue piece hit his head. He looked over and chuckled as he saw Ruby put her head on the table, crying. He noticed that Blake didn't seem to be paying attention. He went back to studying for his subjects, ignoring Weiss' maniacal laughter and speech before Yang played her into a trap, instantly causing her to cry. Ruby ended up on her lap crying with her.

It wasn't long before Sun and Neptune came up to team RWBY to greet them, calling everyone by their given name except Weiss, who was given the nickname Ice Queen.

"Umm, aren't libraries for reading?" asked Neptune.

Ren threw up his arms in reply, saying, "Thank you!"

Nora popped out of her sleep with the first word in her mind and mouth being pancakes.

When Neptune introduced himself, Weiss asked him where he was from. Neptune played it cool, slowly walking next to Weiss before calling her Snow Angel. Weiss blushed before introducing herself to him. Sun was still trying to have Blake hang out with him a little more.

Jaune slightly raised his eyebrow at this. Inside his mind, Lung Wang was telling him to tell the both men that the girls were claimed, and to buzz off. Blake brushed off Sun, which put a slight relief in his mind. Weiss, however, seemed charmed by Neptune.

'If she does go for him, then it'll be by her own choice. I'll just need to find somebody else,' said Jaune mentally, thought he didn't like it.

" _ **Mmm. Maybe Weiss' sister instead. She may be older than you, but she's still within your age range and just as graceful, if not more, than her. There are also other potential mates, such as the girl Melanie from the Xiong clan,"**_ replied Ryo-Wo, trying to placate Jaune. It wasn't easy when one of the potential mates leaves for somebody else, but Weiss had been the most reluctant of them all.

Blake excused herself and left, leaving them all to themselves. Night came, and Blake was at RWBY room, just looking out the window, remembering what had happened at the harbor and her discussion with Ozpin. Suddenly, RWY came in, with Yang complaining about the game she had just lost to Neptune. Blake tried to leave when Weiss stopped her.

After a small discussion involving Weiss telling Blake she had promised not to hide anything anymore, Blake smiled and told them her worries. They started to make plans on what to do when Ruby suddenly remembered she forgot her board game back in the library and rushed out the door. She didn't pay attention to the road and bumped right into Emerald, who was with Cinder and Mercury.

After apologizing and running to the library to grab her board game, Emerald turned to Cinder.

"Think we'll meet that flying dude here?"

"Most likely. From what Roman told me, he seemed friendly with the girl we just saw and Blake. Perhaps a student from Beacon. It'll be a pleasure to have him come to our side," replied Cinder calmly before they continued to walk towards their dorms.

However, Cinder could feel something in the air. Ever since her team came here, she felt like she was stepping into somebody's territory. At first, she thought it was just a stray thought of infiltrating Ozpin's school, but it didn't seem like it. She shrugged and decided to ignore the feeling.

* * *

 **And now Ren get's to have his potential harem! Cardin's been put on a path of redeeming himself. This plays into the future chapter later on.**

 **Be honest, who saw that coming about Junior and his crew? :)**

 **I was debating about the food fight scene, when I thought, this would actually be the best time to have Taiyang barge in! Ruby writes and calls back home every now and then, so she's bound to spill it out.**

 **And what's this? Weiss is falling some somebody else? What will happen now? Find out next time!**

 **Read and Review! Almost passing the amount of follows in this story compared to my Naruto story! Special things will happen :) Also, reviews to see what I can improve on or just compliments makes me happy!**

 **On a side note, I'm surprised my Harry Potter & Big 4 story isn't going that hot. Maybe if I put it under just Harry Potter instead of Harry Potter and X-overs, since the story is mainly at the Harry Potter universe. The Big 4 characters could be considered OC.**


	14. Chapter 14 Investigation&Aftermath

**Goal Reached! Surpass the # of followers in my Naruto story with this story! Celebration! New chapter release Woot! Next goal! Somehow get past 900 likes!**

* * *

The second semester had just started, and the staff was stretched pretty thin. With a number of students from each school, it was a miracle they could still be efficient. Luckily, Ozpin had predicted this and already hired a few extra staff hands to help out. So far, Jaune had seen glimpses of Aurlian Arc, but made it a point to never go near him.

As the first week of the new semester hit the weekend, team RWBY was suiting up for their investigation mission. They had planned to try to find out what the White Fang was doing now, and why they needed so much Dust. Since it was her team's own investigation, she didn't want to drag team JNPR into it. Meanwhile, team JNPR was getting ready to train for a bit before heading to Vale to pick up some more pancake supplies while also bonding as a team. They had plans to catch a movie later.

Ruby looked around her team, who were all wearing new clothes for their investigation and were going over what they had planned. Ruby would be going with Weiss to check the Schnee records for any Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Blake was going to attempt to get in a White Fang meeting to see if they could discover what the White Fang was planning. Yang was headed back to Junior's club to see if there was any information they could use. Sine she was one of Jaune's potential mate, getting information out of Junior should be easy.

"Great!" cheered Ruby, "We'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found." She pumped her fist up in the air in excitement, "Let's do this!"

"Yeah!" cheered on another voice that came through the window. They all looked to see Sun hanging upside-down by his tail in their open window in surprise.

"Sun!" said Blake.

"How did you get up there?" asked Yang.

"Ah, it's easy; I do it all the time," replied Sun.

"You do _what?!_ " Weiss nearly shrieked.

"I climb trees all the time!" clarified Sun, flipping into the dorm room, "So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"

Blake and Ruby tried to convince Sun not to come, that they didn't want to involve friends into it. It was the reason why team JNPR didn't know what was going on.

"Psh! That's dumb! We should always get friends involved! That's why I brought Neptune!" laughed Sun as he pointed out the window. The girls looked out to see Neptune leaning on the ledge, trying to look cool before asking to come in.

As they were all inside, Ruby made a new plan. Sun was to go with Blake as he was also a Faunus, being able to enter the White Fang meetings easily. Neptune was left with Yang, as she currently had no partners. As she was pushing Neptune to Yang, he winked at Weiss. Surprised and blushing a little, she subtly tried to suggest that Ruby goes with Yang instead and that Neptune accompanies her to the CCT.

"Hahaha, nah!" laughed Ruby as she dragged Weiss out of the room to head towards the CCT, with Weiss fruitlessly trying to get back to Neptune.

"Guess we have our assignments. Let's go!" said Yang, dragging Neptune with her. Blake and Sun nodded as they walked away, with Blake leading him.

Ruby and Weiss were walking towards the Transmit tower when Ruby decided to ask Weiss a personal question.

"Weiss... Do you like Neptune?"

Weiss froze for a bit before sighing, "I don't know. I know we're all technically dating Jaune, but I do have my name and reputation to look after. If word got out that I was part of a ….. harem, it would look bad on the Schnee name. Especially since I'm the heiress. Neptune seems nice and cool, and most of all, he's single."

"Yea but what about Jaune?" asked Ruby.

"Jaune did say we should try dating before we consider getting marked, to see if we're compatible. He also promised not to be angry if we found somebody else we want to be with," answered Weiss.

Ruby put it off for now as soon as she saw the Transmit tower, forgetting about the earlier conversation as she continued to admire the tower. Later, Weiss ended up having to make the call alone as Ruby got distracted and went chasing after Penny. Weiss sighed as she got the information she needed, and sat there looking at a blank screen for a bit. She was still debating about Jaune or Neptune.

* * *

Yang was driving her beloved Bumblebee motorcycle to Junior's club before stopping, She got off, with Neptune slowly getting off after shaking his head to clear out what seemed to be a petrified face of terror. He was going to have nightmares of Yang's driving. As they approached the club, the two men standing outside the door stiffened at the sight of Yang and put their instincts to run into the club, lock the door, and try to warn Junior. However, they knew that Yang was Jaune's potential mate, so they merely gave them a glance as the two went in.

Inside the club, Junior was feeling good. His club was almost back to its pristine conditions, and thanks to Jaune's donation of Lien, he had some better drinks in the fridge. Then, the doors opened to reveal Yang, walking in with Neptune. All the members had to stop themselves from instinctively drawing their guns and pointing them at Yang. They were still terrified and angry at her for that night.

"Blondie! Or Yang, I suppose. What do you need? Does Jaune want something?" asked Junior as he walked forward.

"You still owe me a drink," said Yang, grabbing Junior towards the bar table, hinting to him that she wanted some information.

"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a lady." sighed Neptune in his love-struck staring before noticing the Malachite twins standing next to him.

"Sup," said Neptune, regaining his posture and tilting his head up a little, trying to look suave and cool.

"Whatever," was the reply of the twins, turning to walk away, their noses held up high. They paused to look at Neptune, "We already have someone in mind, and he's much cuter than you. He'll be taking us both if we can convince him."

Neptune looked dumbstruck at this news as the twins walked away. "Whoever it is, that dude's lucky. TWINS!" muttered Neptune before running to catch up to Yang. In a supermarket, Ren sneezed as he was holding up two different syrups, trying to decide which one was better suited for Nora.

* * *

Blake was guiding Sun to what seemed to be a row of abandoned warehouses. Blake was looking for the key hints of where the White Fang might be. There was always some sort of code that only members that were interested in joining or were already a part of it knew.

Sun saw this chance to try to start a conversation.

"Soo... Your team seems to get along with team JNPR well," started Sun.

Blake merely nodded as she continued to look for clues.

"Are you... close with Jaune?" asked Sun.

"Yes," replied Blake without looking.

"Are you two... dating?" continued Sun.

Blake sighed as she turned around to him. She had a feeling this might have been one of the reasons why Sun was so forward to come with them.

"Yes. Jaune and I are dating."

"Oh," said Sun before looking sulky, "but he looked so cozy with Pyrrha."

"That's because she's also dating him," answered Blake.

"Wait, what? He's two-timing you?" asked Sun in disbelief.

"No. We're both dating him and are well aware of each other," replied Blake. Sun tilted his head in confusion.

"It's not my story to tell, but in short, Jaune needs to take on multiple wives/mates for a special reason." explained Blake.

Sun merely nodded, his confusion only slightly lessening.

"Do you have to be part of the harem?" asked Sun. In reality, he was asking, 'Leave and date me, please? I'll be the only guy for you.'

Blake saw the unasked question, "Sun. You're cute and nice, but I've known Jaune a bit longer than I've known you. He already has a special place in my heart. We're dating to see if this feeling comes true, but please, don't actively try to sabotage it."

Sun sighed as he nodded. It wasn't his style to try to take another guy's woman, even if he was dating multiple women at once. Looks like he was going to have to try his luck elsewhere. Though he wasn't planning on giving up so easily.

"Just promise me this. If you two do break up... promise that you'll let me take you out for dinner?" asked Sun. "I'm fine with just being friends."

Blake slightly smiled, "Fine. Just warning you, you have an uphill road. My parents met Jaune when he was younger and apparently have their approval and blessings already. And it's very hard to get my father's approval since he doesn't like any boys close to me. Jaune's been the only exception so far. You'd be better off looking for somebody else for a relationship."

"This was already stacked against me in the start, wasn't it?" deadpanned Sun. Blake could only giggle in reply before spotting 3 distinct lines on the wall. It was a sign that the White Fang meeting was close by.

They saw Faunus people walking towards a location before being ushered in. Blake and Sun quickly followed them. Blake took off her bow, revealing her cat ears before donning a Grimm mask. Sun looked at the mask with curiosity and disgust before putting them on.

They walked in to see the warehouse full of White Fang members in uniform and newcomers interested. The White Fang Lieutenant the introduced to them all Roman Torchwick, an ally. Blake was furious to see Roman Torchwick on stage talking but was even more surprised to see that he had somehow stolen Atlas's newest technology. Th Atlas Paladins. They had barely been announced, and already Roman had managed to grab a few for the White Fang. And with his charming demeanor, he already had the initial complaints about a human joining them to be forgotten.

The lieutenant then announced for all newcomers to come forward. Struggling on what to do, Roman noticed Blake and Sun, his eyes narrowing as he kept staring, as if trying to remember something.

"He sees us," said Sun nervously and urgently. Blake spotted a junction box before smiling.

"He can't see us in the dark," replied Blake, grabbing her weapon and firing at it just as Roman finally recognized them. The whole building went dark.

"Don't let them get away!" shouted Roman.

"Sun! The window!" shouted Blake.

"Stop them!" commanded Roman.

Sun and Blake managed to get to the second floor and jump out the window to escape. A few seconds later, an engine sound could be heard, and the giant Atlas Paladin broke through the wall and started to chase them. Roman had gotten inside to chase them down. Sun was shouting for backup, and Blake was on her Scroll, dialing group call for her team while putting out a distress signal for her team to be able to see where she was.

Weiss had just walked out from the tower when she got the call, and quickly ran towards Blake's location. Ruby, who had managed to get out of a dumpster after hiding from some soldiers, grinned before dashing towards the location. She didn't want to miss out on this! Yang and Neptune had gotten out of Junior's place. Junior apologized, but he had no real information about Torchwick, other than the fact he had hired some of his men before.

"Where are you guys?" asked Yang, not noticing the distress signal.

Just behind them, they heard loud noises and noticed Blake and Sun running. A few seconds later, they saw the giant mecha tank chasing after them.

"Hurrry!" wailed Sun.

"I think that was them," pointed out Neptune.

"Yea, I got it," grunted Yang. She really didn't see what Weiss saw in this guy before accelerating to chase after them.

* * *

Jaune was walking out from the supermarket with his team. It was nice just to have a team bonding time. Pyrrha held hands with him for almost the whole time, snuggling into him. They were ready to head to the movie theaters when they saw Blake and Sun, running as fast as they could. Shortly after, they saw a giant machine chasing after them. A few seconds later, Yang was chasing the robot on her motorcycle, with Neptune holding on for his life.

"Please tell me I wasn't the only one who saw that?" asked Jaune.

"It seems like team RWBY, Sun, and Neptune have encountered some sort of trouble," commented Ren.

"Should we help them?" asked Pyrrha.

"I wanna smash that robot!" shouted Nora, taking out her hammer.

"Guess the movie's gonna have to be put on hold," said Jaune as he took out his sword. They started to run after them when a short lady with pink and brown hair and heterochromia iridum blocked their way.

The lady grinned as she spun her umbrella.

"Umm, please get out of our way?" asked Jaune. The lady shook her head.

"Guess we're doing this the hard way. Nora, smash," said Jaune.

Nora grinned as she jumped into the air before slamming her hammer down. The lady's image suddenly shattered into pieces like a mirror being broken.

"What?" said Nora in confusion, "Did I break her?"

"Nora, behind you!" shouted Ren. Nora acted in instinct, pressing the button to shoot a grenade into the ground to cause an explosion, sending her into the air. In the air, she saw the lady had actually been about to hit her from behind.

Jaune and Pyrrha quickly dashed forward and attacked. The lady was skilled as she fended off both of them with her umbrella and her CQC skills. However, even then, she was starting to struggle to fend off both of them.

'What's with these kids?' thought the lady mentally. She was Roman's right-hand woman, Neopolitan, aka Neo! It was no surprise that the red haired girl was skilled, otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten her name 'Goddess of Victory'. However, what threw her off was the blonde male who seemed to be the leader. He was just as skilled, if not better, than Pyrrha! Quickly using her Semblance, she jumped back to give herself some distance just as Pyrrha landed a hit on the afterimage, shattering it.

Jaune sighed when he saw the image shatter before linking up with Fafnir and Andusk simultaneously. With those two dragons, he was able to sense someone's aura better while being able to feel where they were based on the ground. Stomping his right foot, he sensed that Neo was trying to sneak by him to attack Pyrrha. He lifted his shield and aimed at her. Inside his shield, the gears whirled for a bit before sprouting a muzzle for the hand cannon. He fired as soon as he had a lock. Neo yelped in surprise and blocked it with her umbrella. Before she had the chance to recover, Jaune was already on her, slashing rapidly. Neo parried, blocked and dodged most of the slashes, but some of it still managed to land on her, cutting down her Aura. Neo had to jump to the left when Pyrrha fired a few shots. She glared at Pyrrha, Jaune, and Nora as they stood in front of her. How did the boy somehow sense him? She was still pondering that question when she noticed something was wrong. Where was the green boy?

Her instincts suddenly screamed at her to dodge. She ducked to see Ren had tried to slash her from behind. She used the momentum to bring her right leg up to hit Ren, but he dodged it before landing a slash on her body. She stumbled away, glaring at them. She didn't have any more time left to fight them, and she wasn't even sure she could win. Seeing that she only had one option, she waved her umbrella in front of her before jumping back, seemingly disappearing into the air. Jaune could track her running away fast, and decided it wasn't worth chasing after her.

"Wonder who she was?" said Jaune as he sheathed his swords. The others were doing the same.

"I don't know, but she was definitely skilled," said Pyrrha.

"Think team RWBY is all right?" asked Nora.

"Team RWBY is one of the top teams along with us. I'm sure they're fine," said Ren.

"We should probably make sure they're all right, still," said Jaune. The rest and started to run in their direction. They had put all their items into Jaune's bag after making sure it was sealed. They were running when they came across Sun and Neptune, eating at _Simple Wok_.

"Weren't you guys with team RWBY?" asked Jaune.

"We got knocked out and off the battle," replied Sun. "I'm sure they're fine without us."

As if to acknowledge that statement, Sun got a text from them saying that the fight was over.

"Hmm. All this excitement and running has gotten me hungry," said Pyrrha as she eyed the noodle dish Sun had ordered.

"Might as well eat here," said Ren.

Team JNPR pulled up seats when Jaune noticed that the owner looked liked the same person he had met at Vacuo. When he asked if he was, the shopkeep shook his head, saying that it was his brother he had met. He was one of quadruplets, all living in the major cities, and all owning the same branch. Shrugging, Jaune and his team ordered some food, introducing themselves to Neptune. They were later joined by team RWBY, though Blake seemed to be severely distracted while Weiss sat close to Neptune.

"So, did you guys get Torchwick? Did you break his legs?" asked Nora.

"No," replied Ruby, pouting, "Some lady interfered as the last second. It was awesome to see Yang punch the machine into pieces, but the lady tricked us somehow. Before we knew it, they were getting away in a bullhead. She seemed really tired, though."

JNPR looked at each other before asking for the characteristics of the lady. Weiss huffed as she gave them the general description while telling them how Roman had mentioned her by the name of Neo.

"Neo, huh. She tried to stop us from helping you," commented Jaune as he started on his noodles. "I think her Semblance deals with illusions. Not only that, we could feel she was much stronger than she seems. And if she's in Roman's faction, then it'll be best if we prepared for her."

"She certainly made our plan... _shatter_ ," quipped Yang.

Weiss huffed and complained, saying hers was better that Yang while the other groaned.

* * *

While Roman was flying away to a safe house, he looked at Neo in concern.

"Why are you so tired?" asked Roman.

Neo took out a sign from nobody knows where.

 _Dealing with a team of huntsmen-in-training before rescuing you._

"You couldn't deal with them easily?" asked Roman.

 _One was the girl they call Goddess of Victory. The other was a boy who seemed just as skilled as her. Finally, one of them somehow managed to sneak up behind me._

"That's troublesome," muttered Roman, "Looks like we caught more attention than we needed. Going have to be more careful in the future, maybe accelerate some plans."

Neo nodded in reply, carefully remembering the boy who could somehow see through her illusions and the boy who landed the hit on her body. She grinned as she plotted what to do with them. Either kill them... or take them for herself. Both boys were cute, and they would be the perfect slaves for her.

The teams got back to their dorms to sleep, although Blake looked like she couldn't sleep. She skipped her turn to snuggle with Jaune and kept searching for more clues about the White Fang, leading them to all become worried about her, but they couldn't do anything for now.

A few days later, Weiss asked Jaune to meet with him privately. They were at a private restaurant, eating.

"Jaune," began Weiss, "I... I... I want to try dating somebody else."

Jaune put down his fork at this and sighed. He knew this was coming.

"Is it Neptune?" asked Jaune.

Weiss could only nod her head, "I know that you need a harem... but I'm a Schnee. I have a name to live up to. If word got out I was part of a group, it could spell disaster for the SDC. What could be worse, is that Whitley becomes the Heir. And I will not let that brat drag the Schnee name farther than my father who only married into the name."

Jaune leaned back into his seat, his eyes closed for a bit. He opened his eyes again to look directly at Weiss.

"Fine. This dating thing was to see if you were all comfortable with me personally and with the fact I have to have multiple mates. The fact that you aren't is reasonable enough. I won't hold a grudge."

"Thank you," said Weiss, "And I'm sorry. I hope we can still be good friends still."

"Of course," smiled Jaune sadly.

* * *

A week after Weiss' confession. RWY, Dew, and Pyrrha were a bit cold to Weiss, but Jaune told them that it was her choice and that he wouldn't blame her. The semester continued, and the team RWBY, JNR, NDGO, and SSSN found themselves sitting at the arena benches with some of the other students from other schools, watching Pyrrha destroy team CRDL. Sun had introduced his team to them all. The class period had mostly 1st-year students from all schools attending it.

It wasn't to say CRDL was bad, but Pyrrha was just too good. CRDL had improved from all their detentions with Port, but it just wasn't enough. Sky Lark was the first to be taken out with a shield bouncing off Cardin's head into his. Pyrrha did a backflip to catch her shield before landing right on Sky, taking him out for good. She grinned as she looked up before running into Russel, bashing him away.

As Jaune was watching, he noted that out of the whole team, Dove seemed to be the most skilled and balanced out of all of them. That was to say, he was able to block most of Pyrrha's attacks. The next to be knocked out was Russel from a shield throw, followed by an extending spear sweep to the head. Dove tried to take advantage of a sneak attack, but Pyrrha spun _Milo_ around her neck before making her weapon shoot out. Dove blocked it but was forced to step back, letting Pyrrha attack even more. He quickly aimed a few shots with his gun/sword hybrid before leaping away from her slash with a butterfly kick. He landed next to Cardin, who managed to get up after being slammed viciously.

Jaune had to give it to Cardin, he was the most tenacious one of the group, as well as the tanky one. He growled and was about to swing his weapon without care when Dove put his hand on his shoulder.

"Careful. You were about to knock me out with your back swing. Remember what Professor Port said," whispered Dove.

Cardin took a deep breath before preparing himself, allowing Pyrrha to be impressed at this. If it was the old Cardin, he would have just swung recklessly, and like Dove said, knock out his own teammate by accident. However, this didn't dissuade her at all as she charged forward. She changed _Akouo_ into another xiphos and started to dual wield, increasing her attack speed. She landed a knee into Cardin's face before spinning in the air and back kicked Cardin away. Using this time, she slashed rapidly at Dove, who tried to block her attacks. In the end, she disarmed Dove before doing leg sweep with her left-hand weapon, going from left to right. Dove was in midair and knew he was screwed when she used her sweep and slammed her right-handed weapon into Dove's stomach, knocking him out.

Cardin got up before slamming his mace into the ground, using his Semblance to enhance his strike and leave a path of destruction in front of him. Pyrrha back flipped to dodge it before suddenly rushing at Cardin, who was unprepared for the assault. Pyrrha knocked him into the air before chasing after him. Landing three hits, Cardin was sent flying away from her. She used _Akouo_ in shield form as a footstool and shot herself at Cardin again, this time _Milo_ in javelin form. She spun around Cardin, managing catch Cardin in a neck hold with her weapon. She started spinning down towards the ground, with Cardin yelling in a panic. Pyrrha slammed Cardin into the floor, back first. Cardin's body flopped for a second, his face near Pyrrha's foot, who took advantage of this and did a somersault kick right into his face. She swung her left arm, catching her _Akouo_ perfectly before getting back into a fighting position, never letting her guard down.

Cardin groaned as he tried to get up with one hand, the other on his chest, trying to block out the pain.

"And that's the match," announced Glynda as she walked forward, calling off the match.

"Lucky shot," grumbled Cardin before collapsing on his back. He knew full well that Pyrrha had just kicked his team's butt, but it didn't prevent him from grumbling. He sighed as he knew he'd have to up the level of training with his team to even hit her on a 4v1. She definitely earned her title as 'Goddess of Victory'.

"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament," complimented Glynda. Pyrrha bowed and thanked her.

Glynda nodded while tapping her Scroll, "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match." She looked around the room, " Any volunteers? Ms. Belladonna?"

Blake slammed her book shut and stared wide-eyed at Glynda. "You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you -"

Before she could finish her sentence and perhaps humiliate Blake, Mercury raised his hand instead. However, before he could say anything, an arrogant voiced rang out.

"I'll fight."

They looked to see a boy with spiky yellow hair and a small rat tail with a sharp face. It was Boyd Arc, Jaune's second half-brother, who wore a smug look and was sitting at the opposite of the teams, Mercury, and Emerald. He was a first-year at Shade Academy, with a big mouth. Mercury put his hand down, although he slightly glared at Boyd for ruining his plan.

"Boyd, is it? Very well, let's find you an opponent," said Glynda. Boyd stood up scoffing before pointing his finger at the male sitting next to Dew.

"I want to _challenge_ him!" declared Boyd.

Boyd had been trying to woo Dew all semester, and when she left early for Beacon, he was pissed. He heard rumors that she had a boyfriend at Vale, and couldn't wait to get to Beacon and show her that he was the right choice. Logically thinking, he thought the boy sitting next to Dew was the one who she was interested.

He had pointed his finger at... Lie Ren.

"Me?" asked Ren in confusion.

"Yes! Come down here and face me, knave!" shouted Boyd.

The confusion came that Dew was actually sitting next to Jaune and Ren, right between them, near the back. Nora had run down to get a front row seat, along with Octavia, to watch Pyrrha destroy team CRDL. He had a 50% chance of guessing the right one, and thought since Ren wore green like Dew, they must've been the couple. That and Jaune was being distracted by Yang, who had put her head on his shoulder.

"Mr. Arc, Please, do not bring that attitude to the competition or the school," warned Glynda.

Boyd scoffed at this. He was an Arc! Only a few could match him, like the Schnee heiress. Although he wouldn't say no to Yang, who had an impressive rack that caught his eyes.

'An Arc? Perhaps this is his half-brother Jaune told us about,' thought Ren as he stood up, "I don't mind."

The two were down at the arena. Pyrrha had put her weapons away and was sitting where Ren had been sitting. Team CRDL took nearby seats. Ever since the second semester, CRDL had been trying to improve their behavior, and the best way was to make friends with a Faunus and more tolerant people.

"Ready to lose?" sneered Boyd, "Hope your _girlfriend_ dumps you once she sees how much better I am."

Ren raised an eyebrow at this, "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? I mean Dew!" shouted Boyd.

"Huh. Dew's not my girlfriend, nor are we even interested in each other," replied Ren, causing Boyd to look in confusion. Ren pointed at Nora, who waved, "That's my girlfriend."

"BREAK HIS LEGS RENNY!" shouted Nora.

During the second semester, Octavia was officially Ren's second girlfriend, to his own surprise. They had agreed not to let it be public knowledge that he was also dating Octavia. That would just draw too much attention. The same was with Jaune. Nobody except a close group of friends knew Jaune was dating several girls.

Boyd swore mentally. Then perhaps the blonde boy sitting next to Dew was the boyfriend! Oh well, at least he would beat someone up. The match started, and Boyd drew out his weapon. It was a big scimitar with the capability of transforming into a pulse rifle. On his left hand was buckler. Ren, on the other hand, did not draw out his weapon.

"What's wrong, scared?" sneered Boyd.

"No. Just interested to see what you can do," replied Ren, "That, and I doubt I'll need it."

Fuming red, Boyd charged in. Ren easily dodged his attacks before kicking Boyd in the face. Struggling, Boyd got some space in between them before changing it to a pulse rifle and fired. Ren kept moving, making it hard for Boyd to land a hit. Ren got near enough that he landed an Aura infused punch right into the buckler. Upon impact, he let the Aura explode, causing Boyd to stumble back with his left hand up in the air. Using this chance, Ren gave Boyd an uppercut, sending him into the air. Ren then quickly jumped while spinning in a tight circle before landing an axe kick into Boyd's face, sending him down to the pavement.

Boyd coughed out blood before rolling away from a punch from Ren into the ground. Quickly getting up, he charged towards Ren before suddenly stopping and using the momentum to increase the force of his swing. Ren, however, blocked it by charging forward instead of jumping back to try to dodge it. Boyd's arm landed onto Ren's shoulder when swinging his weapon in a downward arc, causing Ren to wince in pain, but not enough to cause any injury. With the momentum gone, Ren punched Boyd in the stomach. Boyd's face shot down, letting Ren grab his head with his arm, trapping him there. Then, Ren brought the back of his heels right into Boyd's face, clobbering him a couple times.

Boyd broke out of the hold with pure anger and slashed at Ren, finally getting a hit.

"Not so tough, are you?" roared Boyd in anger. Ren merely smiled as he walked closer, pulling up his sleeves. He held his hands out in front him, palms open. His right hand was extended further than his left, almost straight, while the left hand was in front of his body.

"That doesn't seem like the same stance you use," whispered Yang.

She had an interest in CQC as her weapons basically enhanced it. However, she had gotten lax about it as she thought she could overpower everyone with her Semblance given time. It was after sparring with Jaune and Ren after the Torchwick incident with just CQC skills did she notice she had not heeded her father's warning and allowed it rust, using power to compensate it. Now, she spent more time trying to fight without relying on her Semblance too much. It was slow, but she showed some signs of improvement, no longer rushing into everything headfirst. Of course, when she got angry, she tended to forget about it.

"That's because it's not," whispered Jaune back, "Ren knows the Dragon Style fist, but as we agreed, we didn't want to reveal it to the world just yet. In terms of body, Ren's more flexible than me, while I have more power, though the difference is barely there. This style utilizes quick attacks with agile stances. This is the perfect style to fight against the Arc style. The Arc style revolves on unblockable slashes, but you have to build up a bit of momentum for that. The style Ren is using will completely neutralize Boyd, seeing as he's not that skilled."

Ren slide closer with his stance, causing Boyd to be a bit more nervous. As soon as he was in range Boyd, swung his weapon towards Ren's head. Ren responded with a quick punch from his right hand to Boyd's wrist as it came down, forcing the swing to miss completely to the side. Within the same second, Ren shot his left fist towards Boyd's face, who blocked it with his left hand. Before Boyd could do anything, he felt his legs get hit by a sweep, causing him to fall down. Ren had also done a low kick with his left leg when he launched his left hand. As Boyd was falling, Ren used body turn to swing his right elbow down to Boyd's face, infusing Aura into the elbow. Upon impact, Ren released it.

The end result was Boyd found his head caved into the floor.

Shaking his head, Boyd rolled away and got back up, just to find that he had dropped his sword and shield. Before he could do anything, Ren was already upon him. Boyd took a fighting pose, but it was painfully clear he had not practiced CQC. Ren was weaving his punches right through his defenses, and the two were moving, with Ren moving forward while Boyd was scooting back. After a wicked right hook, Ren shot his left hand out, hitting nothing. That confused Boyd until when Ren was about to withdraw it, his right fist shot out right into his face. Ren did the distraction two more times while punching other parts of Boyd's body before ending it with a high kick into his face, knocking Boyd into the ground.

"And that's the match," announced Glynda, "Next time, Mr. Arc, you might want to choose your opponents carefully. Mr. Ren, a nice display of your skills."

The alarm rang, dismissing the class. Blake jolted in surprise.

"That is all for today. And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses," announced Glynda. She noticed Boyd had yet to get up, but upon inspection, saw he was in no real danger. Using her Semblance, she picked Boyd up into the air with her Semblance before leaning him against the wall. His team would take care of him.

* * *

They all walked outside, discussing how Ren basically humiliated Boyd Arc. Nora was complaining about how Ren didn't break his legs. Octavia piped up, saying that he broke his face instead, so that had to count for something. Dew thanked Ren for putting Boyd in his place. SSSN and CRDL were praising Ren on his attacks, seeing how effective they were, as well as shutting up Boyd's mouth. Too bad Ren didn't attempt to do reconstructive surgery on his face with his fists, otherwise, he might look better.

They were about to split paths to head to their dorms when Sun asked them if they were planning on going to the dance. At this point, Blake exploded, saying it was a waste of time. It was very easy to see that Blake hadn't slept well, considering the bags under her eyes. She marched away from them all.

"Geez that was explosive," said Nebula.

Neptune put his hand on Sun's shoulder, "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get her."

"I'm not trying to get her," said Sun, causing his team to raise their eyebrows, "She's already dating someone, and told me already. I handled it a lot better than I thought I could've. But I was asking everyone in general."

"Who's she dating?" asked Sage, one of Sun's teammates.

"Secret. Sorry she told me not to tell," said Sun before winking at Jaune.

They all headed back to their dorms, and team RWBY was holding a discussion in their dorm room, trying to convince Blake to relax a little. Not to mention that they were the ones preparing for the dance. The original responsibility for the dance was team CFVY, but their mission had to be extended due to circumstances not under their control. Team RWBY was assigned as part of punishment for investigating the White Fang without permission, causing collateral damage to the streets. It failed badly.

"And once it's all over, we'll return for our search, rested and read," finished Weiss.

"So what do ya think?" asked Ruby.

"I think this is a colossal waste of time," scoffed Blake, walking away and opening the dorm door, "I'll be in the library."

"Well, that went well," said Yang.

She sighed, thinking about a way to bring her partner to the dance and to relax a little. Not to mention, they would all be Jaune's dates. Well, everyone but Weiss. She admitted she wanted to try to date somebody else and had plans to ask him to the dance. Octavia expressed no interest in joining, stating that she was with Ren already. Jaune and Ren could only smile at that, knowing Octavia was serious. Ryo-Wo offered names, but Jaune decided to put it off for now. Officially, Pyrrha would be Jaune's date when entering the dance, but they had it planned out. Each girl would get to dance with Jaune at least once, if not more.

Night came, and it was Blake's turn to sleep with Jaune. However, she was opting to go to the library to research more before Jaune grabbed her, stopping her from leaving. Everyone from both teams was watching this play out.

"You need sleep," said Jaune bluntly, worried about her health.

"Let me go," growled Blake.

"No. You're hurting yourself more than you are getting closer to finding out what the White Fang wants," said Jaune.

"We don't have time for this!" snarled Blake, raising her hand to slap Jaune in the face, "Let go! Otherwise, I'll break up with you!"

Jaune let the slap hit before turning his head back to her, "Got that out of your system?"

Blake went for another one when Jaune caught it, pulling her into his chest. She tried to struggle out of it, but his hug was too strong... and warm.

"Blake... I know you want to find what they're up to, but at this rate, you'll collapse before you even reach your goal. If you want to truly want to reach it, then take some time off. Sometimes, you need to step back to see everything then just going forward blindly," said Jaune before rubbing her head. He took off the bow on her head before placing her ear near his heart.

 _lub-dub._ _lub-dub._ _lub-dub._

The heartbeat was slowly making Blake drowsy, realizing she was much more tired than she thought.

'Maybe a quick nap. I'll just head to the library later,' thought Blake, her eyes slowly closing.

 _lub-dub._ _lub-dub._ _lub-dub._

She soon found herself in the world of dreams. Jaune smiled before lifting her up slowly and carefully, letting her head be near his heartbeat. He laid her down on his bed before climbing in. Not hearing the heartbeat, Blake moved to find it in her sleep. She ended up sprawling over Jaune, her head on his chest, her legs tangled into his. Jaune merely smiled as he pulled the blanket over them both.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" said Yang.

The others nodded, feeling slight jealousy. But that was easily squashed, as the girls that were dating Jaune were guilty of also doing what Blake was currently doing. However, it was satisfying to see Blake finally get some much-needed sleep and relaxation. Yang still planned on telling Blake about what had happened when she herself had rushed an investigation, hoping to allow Blake to come to the dance. Just a simple sleep wasn't enough to stop Blake from obsessing over the White Fang.

* * *

At another dorm, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald were discussing their plans and potential targets/threats.

When Emerald got to Pyrrha Nikos, Mercury decided to voice his opinion.

"Pyrrha Nikos seems pretty strong. Can't tell since she was fighting canon fodder, and before I could challenge her, some idiot volunteered to fight," said Mercury, "Then again, her newest nickname 'Goddess of Victory' shows for itself. Her fans and sponsors changed it from 'Invincible Girl' when she won her third tournament in a row, but this one by a landslide.

"Hmmm. People must assume she's fated for victory. Add her to the list," said Cinder.

"Though we did see another potential target," commented Emerald as she added Pyrrha into the list.

"Oohh. Do tell," said Cinder.

"Lie Ren," said Mercury, getting up from laying on the floor, "Although he fought another cannon fodder even weaker than CRDL, he shows impressive close quarter combat skills. I'm actually interested in fighting him. Not to mention, he never pulled out his weapon at all. Either that or his weapon is hidden in his fists."

"Hmm..," said Cinder thoughtfully.

"Although there is not a lot of information about him, his records shows he was a straight A student in combat school. Though the real interesting part is that he's an orphan, meaning he had no support except for his childhood friend, though now girlfriend, Nora Valkyrie," continued Emerald.

"A person who takes fate into his own hands and pushes himself for his own life. Quite different from his teammate. Add him to the list, too. Anyone else?" said Cinder, "Perhaps their teammates?"

"Nothing on them. Nora's a powerhouse with some expertise with explosive Dust, but that can be easily dealt with. No real records on Jaune Ryu-Long either. He's never been to combat school, and there are no records of him taking the test. Either he faked his way in, or he was invited by Ozpin, with the latter being more likely," said Emerald, "Same way Ozpin did with Ruby Rose."

"To be honest, none of them stands a chance against us. You should be able to handle Pyrrha easily, while the rest falls to us," said Mercury.

"It's not about overpowering the enemy. It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time," said Cinder evilly.

"I hate waiting," moaned Mercury as he laid back down again.

"Don't worry, Mercury. We have a fun weekend ahead of us," grinned Cinder.

* * *

The next morning, Blake yawned and woke up, feeling much more refreshed. She took a look at the clock and almost panicked when she saw it was 6:00 A.M. They had gone to bed early, around 8:00 P.M. That meant she had been sleeping for 10 hours straight! She had never done that before!

"Awake?" asked a voice from below her.

Blake looked down to see that she had used Jaune as a bed and teddy bear, sprawling all over him. She blushed, trying to get up when she felt that her legs had tangled into his. Trying to extricate herself out from Jaune, they finally separated. Blake was sitting, feeling embarrassed she had let her guard down so much around him.

"Feeling better?" asked Jaune. Blake sighed and nodded.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier," apologized Blake, "Please don't break up with me after what I said. I didn't mean it."

"No worries," whispered Jaune as he gave her a hug, "You were stressed out. You want to get some extra sleep in?"

Blake thought about it and nodded.

"All right. I'm going to go work out. Feel free to keep sleeping on my bed," said Jaune, getting up and grabbing some of his exercise clothes. He went into the bathroom, and came out, throwing his clothes into his bin before going out.

Blake sat there for a minute before snatching Jaune's shirt. Taking a quick sniff, she could smell his scent on it easily. She felt ashamed a little. She was taking his shirt for his smell, like a pervert! It didn't stop her, though. She laid back on the bed, not even going to her own, pulling the blanket over her. She closed her eyes and fell back asleep, Jaune's shirt in her hands. She curled up, getting her whole body as close to the shirt as she could.

Jaune never found that shirt again.

* * *

 **Alright! Enjoy that fight scene? I had a fun time creating it!**

 **Gasp! Weiss broke up with Jaune! What will happen!**

 **As for all those people in the reviews saying it should be Winter, do note I didn't put her name on the pairing list. That means Weiss is still in it. That, and the poll from when I was saying who should be matched with the water dragon voted on Weiss. However, I felt a little drama was needed. To make it a little more... realistic.**

 **Read and Review! Any is appreciated besides the typical straight out flaming.**


	15. Chapter 15 Confrontations & Dance Time!

**For the first time, my story has hit over 1000 followers! Yaaa! *Celebrates with pie, as the cake is a lie* So here's a new chapter! A bit shorter than usual, but hey, I did this chapter pretty fast. Read up the A/N at the end!**

* * *

Team RWBY was setting for the dance that was to come this weekend. After Blake had been able to sleep, she was then taken by Yang for a private talk. In the end, she agreed to come to dance and was helping out setting the place up. Weiss was trying to see which table cloth to use and asked Ruby which one looked better. Ruby looked down to see two seemingly identical colors of white.

"Aren't they both the same?" asked Ruby in confusion.

Weiss huffed in frustration, "I don't even know why I asked!"

Blake looked down at it before shrugging, saying it also looked the same to her. Yang came in carrying speakers before putting it on the floor, causing the table to jump a little.

"So, have you all picked out your dresses yet?" asked Yang.

"Yep! I'm a little excited, and yet at the same time scared," chirped Ruby. Blake shook her head, saying she would need to check out some dresses, as she hadn't planned on going.

Yang grinned before turning around to see Weiss setting up doilies. They got into a small argument about it, until Weiss threatened if there were none, then there would be no fog machines.

At that point, Sun and Neptune entered the room. Weiss did an 180 about fog machines when Neptune asked about it.

Sun asked if they were all ready for the dance, in which Yang responded that she would be making heads turn. They laughed a little before Sun offered to have his team help out a little since they had time. Blake took this chance to search for a dress, as they had more people helping out now. Sun was trying to go in his usual outfit, but Neptune shut him down on that, saying that he needed to dress shirt and a tie.

* * *

Meanwhile, team JNPR was sparring against each other. They were trying to get some more training in while testing out new techniques.

"Hidden Storm!" shouted Jaune.

This was a move that involved Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora all together. And their target? Jaune.

After enduring through it, they called it off.

"Nice. That's a good move to use in the tournament or against massive amounts of Grimm if needed," said Jaune, dusting off the dust and rocks that had been on him after the attack.

The team nodded before deciding to leave, and try to help out RWBY with the dance preparation. As they were leaving, though, they ran into Boyd and his team, team BYDD.

"You!" shouted Boyd, pointing his finger at Ren, "You humiliated me in front of Dew! I won't forget this!"

"You humiliated yourself," replied Ren with an apathetic voice, causing Boyd's face to turn red. He was ready to attack when a voice called out.

"Stop,"

From behind team BYDD, team ARLN stepped out from the shadows. At this, Jaune clenched his hand so hard that his knuckles turned white. Pyrrha, noticing this and the blood lust Jaune was starting to give off, quickly clasped her hand over his. Jaune seemed to barely notice this at all as he stared at the leader of team ARLN, Aurelian Arc.

"Older brother! You're back from your mission," said Boyd happily.

"Yes. But from what I heard, you lost to some no-named orphan," glared Aurelian.

"He cheated," responded Boyd.

"Oh? Then I suppose as your older brother, I'll have to …. teach your opponent some respect," said Aurelian as he started to step closer.

Ren got into a fighting position, and Nora grabbed her hammer, ready to swing. However, he stopped to look at Jaune with disgust, noticing his bloodlust.

"What are you looking at?" demanded Aurelian.

Jaune didn't seem to hear it as he continued to glare at him.

"Jaune, let's just leave," whispered Pyrrha. Jaune didn't seem to hear her still.

"Ah, the 'Goddess of Victory' Pyrrha Nikos. An honor to meet your acquaintance," said Aurelian with a bow.

"Hello," replied Pyrrha with a practiced fake smile.

"Tell me, are you busy now? We could get to know each other. And perhaps this could become something a little more. You're a powerful woman, and I'm a powerful man. Both of us are tournament winners," said Aurelian with a practiced silky voice. Pyrrha immediately disliked him even more.

"In any case, allow me to accompany you to the Beacon Dance this weekend as your date, and perhaps we could discuss if this could become... more?" said Aurelian.

"She's taken," replied Jaune, finally snapping out of his trance.

Aurelian's face turned from practiced sincerity to undisguised disgust, "Oh? And pray tell, who is worthy to be her date besides me?"

"That would be me," replied Jaune.

"You? That's a laugh. Just because you're her leader and partner, you think you're worthy? Walk away, brat, and let the grown ups talk about having proper relationships," sneered Aurelian.

"The only brat I see is you," snarled Jaune, "and if you don't stop harassing my date and my partner, I will be forced to take action."

"Like you can do anything against the 39th Vytal Festival Champion!" shouted Boyd.

"Bring it!" shouted Nora, raising her hammer.

It seemed tense between the 12 people. It was team JNPR vs team ARLN and BYDD. However, before anyone could do anything, another voice rang out.

"That's enough."

They looked to see Ozpin and Ironwood walking forward.

"The Vytal Festival Tournament will come soon enough. You can fight your battles there," said Ozpin.

"And don't try anything stupid," warned Ironwood, "We wouldn't want you all to get in trouble, would we?"

Aurelian scoffed, as he viewed Ozpin and Ironwood below him, but just above team JNPR.

"Fine. I didn't feel like destroying weaklings anyway," said Aurelian before turning to walk away. The others followed though Aurelian paused for a second.

"Come find me when you get tired of your deadbeat partner. I'll show you what a real man's like," said Aurelian with his head turned back to Pyrrha, taking a good look at her body. He laughed and turned his head forward to see a pebble smack him in the forehead. He snarled but saw nobody was there. Confused, he walked away with his team with a red mark on his forehead.

"Arcs. They were never this bad until Vlad came to be the Patriarch of the Arc family," sighed Ironwood, "I remember his father was a decent person when I was young."

"It seems like the bad seed inherited a position of power and allowed it to spread," commented Ozpin, taking a sip of his coffee.

Both headmasters turned to JNPR, who were standing there.

"Soo, this is the famous Jaune Ryu-Long," greeted Ironwood, putting his hand out. Jaune shook it as he was confused.

"My best soldier, Winter Schnee, told me about you," explained Ironwood, "A pity you didn't apply to Atlas. You had her recommendation, and she made the condition that if you ever even put your name on the application to Atlas, you would be automatically accepted. After all, not many can say they landed a hit on Raven Branwen."

"I got lucky," blushed Jaune.

"Not from what she told me," smiled Ironwood, "Still, if you ever feel like transferring to Atlas, just say the word. I'll also be willing to take your team."

"Now, now, James. I can't let you take my students so easily," scolded Ozpin.

"Can't blame me for trying, Oz. You have the cream of the crop this year. A prodigy that was moved ahead two years. The daughters of one of the strongest teams to graduate Beacon. The Goddess of Victory. And Jaune Ryu-Long, who managed to get technically three recommendations from the hardest people to impress. Qrow, Leonidas, and Winter," laughed Ironwood.

"Mmm, I do admit, I got lucky. If you can excuse us, James, though, I'd like to talk to team JNPR in private," said Ozpin. James raised an eyebrow, which Ozpin added, "It's not about that situation. This one is a little more personal."

James nodded and walked away.

* * *

"Now, then.. Mr Ryu-Long, can you use your Semblance and manipulate the ground into a dome so we can have a private chat like you did back at initiation?" asked Ozpin.

'Why does he think my Semblance is manipulation of the ground?' thought Jaune.

"He said he did see you manipulate the earth back in initiation. They must've placed cameras in the Emerald Forest. It would make sense, as to help judge the students while grading them," stated Lung Wang.

"Let him believe this for now. There's no need to reveal your real powers to him just yet," advised Ryo-Wo.

Jaune nodded as he stomped the ground and spun a bit, causing the ground to shift until all of them were in a dome.

"Interesting. To be able to manipulate the earth so easily, just as Miss Nikos can manipulate polarity. And your parents told me," said Ozpin as Pyrrha looked at him in surprise.

"Do they know?" asked Ozpin to Jaune, to which he nodded.

"Good. It is always better to share than to keep secrets from your friends, especially your partners. Though, I am a little concerned. Are you sure you're alright? Meeting your half-brothers face to face must not have been pleasant," said Ozpin.

"You know?" gaped Nora.

Jaune sighed as he explained to them how Ozpin was easily able to deduce his ex-last name through deduction and information from other people.

"No worries, professor. I'll be able to handle myself," said Jaune, "I have my team."

"Just like you made the pebble fly into Mr. Arc's forehead?" asked Ozpin.

Jaune could only ruefully grin back.

"Do be careful, and enjoy the rest of this week. Missions do start on Monday," said Ozpin as he tapped the wall. Jaune nodded and brought his hands up before lowering it down, causing the earth to also lower back down.

As JNPR walked back to the dorms, Ren asked, "Does Ozpin not know what your real Semblance is?"

Jaune shook his head, "Like I said. I don't want this to be spread out everywhere. Even though I know he can keep it quiet, I'd prefer it remain within a small group of people."

"Got it," said Pyrrha.

"No problems, fearless leader," saluted Nora.

'Guess I can use Fafnir's powers a bit more to the public. They'll just think my Semblance is to manipulate the Earth, although I can do much more than that,' grinned Jaune.

" _ **Not fair. I want you to use my powers a bit more,"**_ complained Lung Wang, causing the other dragons to laugh a bit.

 _ **"Don't worry. I'm sure there will be more chances for Jaune to use our powers,"**_ placated Aryz

They changed out of their clothes and showered before heading out to help team RWBY with the dance.

* * *

Night fell upon them, and Jaune was meditating with Ren at the roof. Jaune took a look at Ren and decided it was time.

"Ren?" asked Jaune.

"Yea?" replied Ren.

"Give me your hand," commanded Jaune seriously as he put his hand forward. A little confused, Ren obeyed, and Jaune clasped it.

 _ **"So you have decided?"**_ said Lung Wang, _**"Which Dragon's Mark will you use?"**_

'I'm using Othim and Andusk,' replied Jaune.

 _ **"A good choice. Using us two for Lie Ren,"**_ said Andusk.

 _ **"Not only well the shadow power increase his Semblance's effects, but the light can also increase his already incredible Aura control,"**_ nodded Othim in reply.

 _ **"Then, repeat these words while clasping his hands. Link up with**_ Othim _ **and Andusk, and let the Aura gather in your hands,"**_ advised Ryo-Wo.

Jaune linked up with Fafnir first, stomping his leg to create 4 walls surrounding them to avoid anyone peeking.

 _"In my hands, I trust you to with my blessing. To defend those who cannot do so, and to aid my clan. To be able to protect those worthy with your new power. Will you do so, Lie Ren of the Ren clan."_

Ren paused for a second before figuring out that Jaune was blessing him with a Dragon's Mark. "I will," said Ren with a smile.

 _"Then by my power and contracts, I bless you with_ Othim _and_ Andusk's _Dragon Mark. Prove to me you are worthy of their marks."_

With a bright flash, Ren felt something being burned onto the back of both his hands. As Jaune let go, he looked down to see a black dragon's claw on his right hand, and a white dragon's claw mark on the left hand. He could feel his Aura had increased quite a bit, and yet he still had perfect control of it.

"I'll definitely prove to you I am worthy," said Ren as he put his left hand over his right fist and bowed.

The next few days passed by fast, and the dance was soon upon them. Dew had been asked by Boyd many times, and rejected him each time flatly. The same was with Pyrrha and Aurelian, except he was more assertive and commanding. He grabbed Pyrrha and tried to kiss her, only to find a knee to the crotch from Pyrrha before Nora swung her hammer at his legs, hoping to break his legs. He didn't have time to activate his Semblance, so his Aura took the brute force. Upon impact, Nora made it explode, sending him flying away. They were let off with a warning, as Aurelian did try to force himself on Pyrrha. Aurelian's punishment for forcing himself on a girl was to be banned from the dance, much to Pyrrha's delight. To Nora's disappointment, she didn't break his legs.

As the night came upon them all, everyone who could attend the dance was excited. Ruby was hoping to switch back to her shoes and hoodie, though, as she was not used to wearing stilts at all. She was wearing a red dress with black outlines and was hoping not to trip anytime soon. Weiss and Yang both wore white dresses, though Yang wore hers with a hint of sexiness while Weiss portrayed more elegance. Blake wore a dark purple dress and decided to switch her black bow for a turquoise bow. Team NDGO all wore strapless dresses of different colors. Nora was in her pink dress, and finally, Pyrrha was wearing a halter style red dress. Ren and Jaune were wearing their tuxedos.

Soon, they were dancing with their dates. Pyrrha was happily placing her head on Jaune's chest as they danced. The next dance was with Yang, followed by Dew, Ruby, and finally Blake. Yang danced quite sensually with Jaune during their time. Dew was happily dancing when Boyd, of course, made a scene. He was quickly shut down by team CRDL and SSSN, who didn't like him at all. It had been cute dancing with Ruby as she kept stumbling a bit. In the end, she had her feet on Jaune's shoes as they danced so she wouldn't trip. Blake danced with Jaune for awhile before Sun requested to at least have a turn with her, promising he wasn't trying to steal her away.

Ren alternated between Nora and Octavia. When they decided to take a break, Jaune noticed Weiss hadn't been on the dance floor at all. Yang was busy at the front, greeting any other people who had come to the party later. She had just greeted Emerald and Mercury. He looked to see Weiss trying to coax a dying flower before looking at Neptune, who was joking with Sun and Blake and then at Jaune. When she saw him looking at her, she looked away in embarrassment.

"What's wrong with Weiss?" asked Jaune to Ruby.

"Well..."

* * *

 _Flashback begins_

"I'm going to ask Neptune to the dance today!" declared Weiss. It was a day before the dance, and it was night.

"Good luck," cheered Ruby.

"Still can't believe you're choosing Neptune over Jaune," said Yang.

"She does have a reputation to think of," remarked Blake.

Weiss walked away from their dorm, hoping to catch Neptune. She found him easily walking back to his own dorms.

"Neptune! Wait up!" shouted Weiss.

Neptune turned around to greet her, "Oh, uh, hey, what's up?"

Weiss clasped her hands behind her back, trying to look innocent and cute, "I know this is a little unorthodox, but... I wanted to ask you something. Would you... like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"

Neptune rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment, "Oh. Well. Umm.."

"Yes?" asked Weiss eagerly.

"I'm... flattered, but... I'm going have to say no. I'm sorry," said Neptune uncomfortably, "I... kinda had plans made with the guys for the dance."

"Oh," replied Weiss without any emotion, "Well.. Ummm. Okay. I guess I'll see you later then."

Weiss quickly ran back to her dorms, tears threatening to come out. She ran into her bed at the JNPR room. Team JNPR was out, making a supply run. Only team RWBY was there.

"Did he say yes?" asked Ruby excitedly.

Weiss raised her head to show them all her tear stained face.

"Oh Weiss," said Yang sadly, sitting next to her and hugging her.

"I think I'll have some words with Sun," announced Blake, thinking what to tell him about his best friend.

"No," said Weiss, "It's my fault for falling for him when Jaune was the perfect person. He even has a justified reason for having multiple wives. I was just too prideful that I wanted my future husband to only have me. I'll have to live with my mistakes. I made my choices, and I'll suffer the consequences."

"Cheer up. I'm sure Jaune will accept you," said Ruby.

Weiss shook her head, "How could he? He knew I was going to chase after Neptune and let me go. He even wished my good luck and fortune! It would make me seem pathetic and desperate to try to come back to him now."

In the end, they went to bed early. Team JNPR missed out on the conversation.

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

"Neptune rejected her?" asked Jaune. Ruby nodded in reply.

Jaune sighed as he looked at Weiss who seemed depressed, sitting on a chair and gazing at the dance floor. Making his choice, he rose up.

"I'll be back," said Jaune. He walked forward to Weiss, standing in front of her, and bowed.

"May I have this dance?" asked Jaune. Weiss looked up in surprise before smiling sadly, "You don't have to do this."

"Ah, but I want to," replied Jaune, "And I won't take no for an answer."

Weiss looked a bit happier before accepting the waltz. As they danced with the music, Weiss started to talk, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" replied Jaune.

"For breaking up and falling for a stupid jerk," replied Weiss, "I made a stupid choice, and have to live with it. I know that I'm no longer a candidate for one of your girls, but I want us to still be friends. Maybe in the future, you can find it in your heart to forgive me. To accept me back if it's not too late."

Jaune merely smiled, "I have always cared for you, Weiss. When you wanted to see if you could get in a relationship with Neptune, I was willing to let you go. For now, let's just see how our friendship goes, see if it evolves into something else. If you want to become one of my girls, though, promise me you won't do it again. I don't think my heart can suffer another break."

Weiss cried, this time with tears of joy, as she leaned into his chest, "Thank you. I can't believe you're so forgiving. I hope in time, our friendship will be even stronger, and perhaps grow back to what it was."

As the song ended, Jaune gave Weiss a peck to her cheek before leading her back to a table with the rest of their friends. He noticed Ruby was gone, and when he asked, they told him that she decided to step out for some air, and maybe replacing her heels with more comfortable shoes. They continued to dance through the night. Jaune danced with the rest of team NDGO to let them have a good time, too.

Ruby was outside, getting some air when she noticed someone running on the rooftops. Deciding to investigate, she went after the figure.

Cinder was running towards the Beacon Tower, where the CCT was, while everybody else was busy with the dance, wearing tight black clothes that were revealing and a mask. She had received the go-ahead sign from Emerald and Mercury. Using stealth, she took out the guards with a series of close combat skills as well as manipulating fire Dust into dual blades. As she walked up to the elevator, it opened, revealing two guards who were just about to get off duty. They were so surprised at the intruder that they didn't do anything as she entered the elevator with them, pressing the top floor.

A minute later, the elevator opened up at the top floor with both guards knocked out. She quickly dragged the guards to the side while stealing a Scroll from one of the guards for herself before logging into the mainframe. She quickly put the stolen Scroll to use, being able to access the main system before uploading a secret program and virus into the mainframe that she had gotten from her secret friend in Atlas.

Ruby had arrived at the Beacon Tower to see the knocked out guards. She quickly summoned her weapon, Crescent Rose, with her scroll. She considered calling her friends but thought better of it. By the time they got here, it might be too late. She entered the building, taking the elevator to the top floor.

Cinder had been typing in a few commands when she got a message from Emerald, telling her Ironwood was leaving the party. She acknowledged, saying she had just finished the upload. All the computer screens lit up, showing a black queen chess piece. As she stood up, pocketing the Scroll, she heard the elevator ding. She quickly hid.

Ruby stepped out of the elevator with her weapon ready. She stumbled a bit, not used to heels, before shouting out if anyone was there.

Surprisingly, Cinder stepped into view. When Ruby demanded her to take off her mask, Cinder opened a container of ice dust, flinging it in the air. Using her skills in Dust manipulation, she formed ice shards and shot them at Ruby. Surprised, Ruby spun her scythe, blocking them all before firing her gun. Cinder blocked each bullet with her hand while channeling Aura. Ruby noticed that her opponent's legs and arms seemed to glow, as well as her eyes.

Cinder spun around after blocking the bullets, forming her dual blades from fire Dust. Ruby jumped forward and tried to slash her with an overhead slash, but missed. Cinder did a couple backflips before summoning three arrows composed of fire Dust, shooting them at Ruby. She jumped back quickly and fired at Cinder, who dodged it this time. Suddenly, the elevator opened up to reveal Ironwood. Ruby smiled as she saw she had backup, but when she looked back to where her opponent was, she was gone.

Jaune turned his head towards the direction of the Beacon Tower. He could feel that some sort of fight just went off, but couldn't pinpoint it. Closing his eyes and linking with Andusk, he spread his sense towards it. There, he felt Ruby's and Ironwood's Aura, but nobody else. Shrugging, he went back to dancing with his current partner, Dew.

Cinder quickly took off her mask and used her remaining Dust to change the clothes of her Dust-imbued clothes, going from her stealth mode into an open back halter black dress, with a slit at the bottom to show her legs, and matching black dress gloves. She walked into the dance, asking a random boy to dance with her. The guards that had been trying to chase her burst into the room, only to be unable to even locate the suspect.

"Dammit. Suspect got away," muttered the guard into his communications device.

Cinder finished dancing with the random boy before walking to Mercury and Emerald and requested a dance with Mercury. Emerald obliged, walking to take a seat. Cinder then whispered to Mercury, saying her part of the job went off with a success. When asked what to do next, Cinder chuckled before replying that they should enjoy the rest of the night, as it was a party.

Jaune was dancing with Pyrrha and Blake, as others went to mingle. Everybody was unaware of what Cinder had done.

* * *

 **Alright, some random stuff. Got another person helping me betaread this, so I have 2 helpers now! So give it up for TheMischieviousPuppyDog and Jauneforever!**

 **Thank you readers for following me thus far! Appreciate it, really!**

 **Now for some random review responses! Mostly ones I can't pm back. Just a reminder, remember the tags I put. Thats the pairing.**

 **Dragonslayer: Did think about it, decided not to. Might get too close to LordHellPhoenix if I did.**

 **Guest: You misread that chapter. I said Pyrrha unlocked it, so she could house 2 marks. Plus, I wanted something that would enhance her Semblance ability. Each dragon is marked for each girl for special reasons, whether natural ability or Semblance, or secret power.**

 **That's It! Hope to see you all in the next chapter! It's mission time, and I've prepared on how it's going to go!**


	16. Chapter 16 Mission Time

**Hope you guys been enjoying these rapid releases! I won't have so much free time anymore as Spring Break has come to and end. Booo!**

 **Thanks to my beta reader TheMischieviousPuppyDog for catching mistakes on my writing while Jauneforever giving his opinion! Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

The next morning, after the dance on Sunday, revealed a furious Ironwood in Ozpin's office with Ozpin and Glynda. Glynda looked displeased while Ozpin looked annoyed.

"They were here..," growled Ironwood, raising his voice, "Ozpin, they were here!"

Ironwood slammed his fist on Ozpin's desk in anger.

"We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James," Glynda stated, her voice sounding quite annoyed.

"Fantastic!" grumbled Ironwood, "You're aware! Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?!"

Suddenly, an alert sound pinged out, causing them to pause, Ozpin stood up to call the person in from the elevator. That person was none other than Ruby Rose herself, who stepped out of the elevator, nervous, explaining to them all that she was sorry she was late, but somebody had pressed all the buttons on the elevator. She quickly defended that it wasn't her doing.

Ozpin gave a small grin as he welcomed her in before asking if she was, in which she replied with a small joke. Unfortunately for her, nobody laughed. Seeing that she was feeling uncomfortable, Ironwood gave his opinion and gratitude. Seeing she was feeling a bit better, Ozpin decided to ask if there was anything familiar about the intruder. Ruby gave her description while saying the intruder didn't say anything, to which Glynda added that save the glass attacks, it sounded like the same person she had fought when she first met Ruby.

Ironwood scoffed it off, saying that embedding Dust in clothing was a technique that had been known for ages.

"Wait. You think this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" Ruby questioned.

"It's possible. But we still lack the required evidence to link the two together," Ozpin replied, though with a slight glint in his eyes as he looked at Ruby. Ruby thought about it before deciding to reveal something Blake had heard when she infiltrated the White Fang meeting.

"Actually, I...I think I remember her saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom," stated Ruby.

"Interesting"

"I thought you said the intruder never," started Glynda, but Ozpin interrupted her with a wave of his hand

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you."

"Anytime," replied Ruby before leaving. Before she got into the elevator, Ozpin called out to her,"And Miss Rose, please try and be ... discreet about this matter."

"Yes sir," she nodded right before the elevator doors closed.

Ruby walked back to her dorm, opening up the RWBY dorm to see the rest of her team and JNPR waiting inside.

"What happened?" asked Yang.

"Uh... well, um..," laughed Ruby nervously as she started to explain.

* * *

Back in Ozpin's office, Ironwood looked at the information they had just gotten with glee before planning to have as many troops as they could spare to the southeast quadrant, and eliminate anything that stood in their way. Glynda growled in frustration about how Ironwood always wanted to use an overwhelming display of force like it was a contest. She never got to finish what type of contest she was about to say due to Ozpin scolding her. Ozpin sighed before telling Ironwood that she was right and that they couldn't risk sending all troops available, but rather advised Ironwood to send a small squadron of soldiers to investigate the source, first, before fully committing on the information.

"That was a risky move," started Weiss.

"No, I think you handled it well," commented Blake.

"I hope so," Ruby replied

"Don't worry," began Jaune, "Least they have a bit more information now."

"I'm sure everything will be alright, Ruby. Oh, I know what will cheer you up!" exclaimed Yang, pulling out a cylindrical package the length of her forearm, "Dad sent it to us. I thought we could open it together!"

"Ooooh! Something from home!" squealed Ruby before zooming over to her sister, wrapping herself around Yang and trying to take the package from her.

The packaged suddenly opened, and another cylinder object that was black and fluffy fell to the floor. It started to shake a bit before it suddenly transformed into a corgi. Team RWBY and JNPR leaned forward, staring at it. The dog barked twice, showing that he was still quite alive. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Blake reacted in shock, while Ruby and Yang reacted excitedly. Nora was gabbling on how cute the corgi was, asking Ren if they could adopt one, or better yet, adopt a sloth. Ren and Jaune merely raised an eyebrow at this scene.

 _ **"How did the dog even fit in there in the first place, and how did he live?"**_ mused Aryz.

 _ **"I'm trying to figure out why he sent it through the mail instead of getting a cage before sending it,"**_ murmured Alaerth, _**"Sounds like animal cruelty, except we've seen how they treat the Zwei back in Patch."**_

 _ **"Probably to save money. It doesn't look like this was the first time Zwei traveled like that,"**_ guessed Lung Wang.

"Zwei!" yelled Ruby in excitement as she picked up Zwei.

"He sent a dog?" began Blake in disbelief.

"In the mail?" continued Weiss, yelling in surprise.

"How is your pet still so... active?" followed Pyrrha.

"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time!" explained Yang while Zwei was busy licking Ruby's face, who was currently cuddling the loveable corgi and laughing.

Blake had disappeared from Weiss' side and had taken herself to be furthest away from Zwei the corgi, in the corner of the room.

"Your father or your dog?" she deadpanned.

Weiss, at first, asked angrily that if the dog was going to live with them. However, after she got a better look at the corgi, she saw how cute Zwei was and instantly changed from disliking the dog to loving it, talking in baby talk. Jaune chuckled as he went over to pet Zwei, who seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting. Nora quickly ran over to hug the dog. Then, the intercom rang, calling all first-year students to report to the amphitheater.

"Well, we can't exactly leave him here while we're gone for the week," said Weiss.

Ruby had put the dog down, who tried to walked over to Blake. Seeing how she was trying her best to get away from the dog, Pyrrha took pity and picked him up, petting him. Yang found a letter stuffed in the package and read it out loud. It was from Taiyang, telling them that he needed to leave the island for a few days, so he sent Zwei over for them to take care of, and had already packed food inside. In the post scriptum, he also put a warning for Jaune, telling him not to do anything funny, as his daughters weren't ready yet.

Zwei barked as he jumped off Pyrrha's arm, running over to Yang before sitting himself next to her. Yang turned the package upside above Zwei only for it to rain dozens of cans of dog food on the dog. The dog quickly stuck his head out, looking unharmed. Yang shook it once more, and a can opener fell from the package, bouncing off Zwei's head.

"Well, that settles it! Come on girls, Zwei will be here when we get back!" cheered Yang, walking away.

 _ **"How did that much food and a dog fit into that container?!"**_ asked Andusk.

 _ **"Maybe humans found a way to do** **spatial** **expansion in small packages, like our bag?"**_ replied Othim, uncertain either.

 _ **"The package doesn't give the same enchantments like the dragon bag that Jaune has,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

 _ **"This will have to be further studied upon later,"**_ murmured Fafnir, making a note to tell Jaune to take a look at the package when they came back.

 _ **"I'm more concerned** **about** **how the dog is going to able to use a can opener,"**_ said Aryth.

 _ **"I think they trained him to be able to use one?"**_ replied Alaerth with uncertainty.

Weiss' speech descended down to baby talk once again as she said her goodbyes to Zwei, Blake had latched herself on Jaune to avoid Zwei. Laughing, the rest of JNPR left, leaving Ruby alone with Zwei. She stared at Zwei for a moment before smiling, an idea taking root.

Ruby quickly caught up with the rest of the students, wearing a rather suspicious and large backpack. She put it down near the rest of the bags before quickly lining up with her team, who were all waiting in the Vale crowd. They were all in their uniforms. In the auditorium where students from all four Huntsmen academies, all sitting within their respective schools. Jaune noticed that only Shade Academy students didn't have uniforms while the others did. Sun looked uncomfortable wearing his uniform and was desperate to get out of it.

 _ **"Pity Shade academy doesn't have a uniform. I'm sure you would've liked to see Dew in a uniform. You could play teacher punishes naughty student! Although I'm sure your other mates would be willing to lend her one,"**_ commented Othim, snickering at his own joke. Jaune rolled his eyes before paying attention to the front. Although he couldn't deny the fact that a little uniform play would be exciting WHEN they did it. Big on the when.

Glynda walked up to the front, telling everyone to be quiet, as Professor Ozpin had some words to say.

* * *

 _Insert Ozpin's inspiring speech from Vol 2 Ep 8._

* * *

As the inspiring speech ended, students started to head to the electronic bulletins to pick out a mission.

"This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a Huntsman working in the southeast!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Yeah! We'll follow them around by day and give them the slip by night!" followed up Yang.

"I don't think it'll be that easy to slip away from a Huntsman," stated Ren, playing devil's advocate.

"Yea, to be honest, only Ren would be able to, but even that's not a guarantee that they wouldn't get suspicious," followed Jaune.

"Let's go check 'search and destroy'!" said Weiss, ignoring their advice. The two boys sighed as their teammates patted them on the back.

Jaune took a look to see SSSN already choosing a job, as well as NDGO.

"You guys got any preferences?" asked Jaune as he leads his team to a bulletin next to team RWBY.

"Not really," began Pyrrha, "As long as we can get it done."

Jaune was scanning the bulletin when Ren pointed one that he wanted to check out, along with Nora. It was shadowing a sheriff of a village outside the walls of Vale. Seeing no disagreements, Jaune was about to select it when a beeping noise caught their attention. They looked to see that RWBY had tried to choose a mission located in the southeast, only to be denied.

"Tough luck," said Jaune.

As RWBY was discussing ideas how to get there, Ruby suggested mailing themselves there.

'I guess that's why they didn't question why Zwei was in a capsule,' thought JNPR, Blake, and even Weiss. The sisters acted as though it was the most natural thing to do. Suddenly, they had a surprise guest.

"Well, that's one option."

They all turned to see Ozpin appearing with a Scroll in one hand, his cup of coffee in the other.

"Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you four will make your way there no matter which job you choose," commented Ozpin, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Weiss, Blake, and Yang glared at Ruby, who nervously rubbed her head before trying to act innocent and asking why he would say that.

"I'm still curious how you all found yourself at the docks last semester and managed to get two more teams involved in it. I'm interested to know how you really learned about a hideout in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago." continued Ozpin with a smirk as he continued to be amused by the blushing Ruby Rose.

Ozpin gave a mock sigh, "I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So how about this; instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" He typed in a few commands into his scroll before the electronic bulletin flashed for a bit, making a noise.

"We won't let you down. Thank you, professor," Ruby stated as she was determined to make her headmaster proud!

"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far. But you must understand, the things that await you beyond the protection of the Kingdom will not care. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory," warned Ozpin.

RWBY nodded in reply, but Ozpin had more to say.

"I do not feel completely comfortable having just you four with a Huntsman, even if you are one of the top teams in Beacon. So... team JNPR. Have you selected a mission yet?"

"Umm.. no?" replied Jaune in confusion, "We were about to choose one."

"If it's not too much to ask, I want your team to accompany team RWBY as backup. You will also do the same as I just said, though. Stay close to your Huntsman at all times, and he will be the leader," requested Ozpin.

"I don't have any problem with that," admitted Jaune. He was worried about RWBY taking a mission that wasn't meant for first year teams, but with the two teams together, they should be fine.

"That sounds grand," acknowledged Pyrrha.

"Smashing Grimm and getting paid for it! I'm in!" Nora shouted the last part with glee! Who can blame her, she just loves smashing after all.

"I suppose we'll make the trip some other time," sighed Ren, although not entirely opposed to the sudden request.

"Good luck," said Ozpin, "And be sure to stay on your guard."

* * *

Team RWBY and JNPR quickly changed into their gears and were headed towards the airfield that would take them to quadrant 5 in the southeast. Ruby was apologizing to Jaune and his team for dragging them into their investigation. They waived it off, saying that it was all right. The others were talking about how serious Ozpin sounded, but Ruby cheered them up, saying they could do it. Then, they heard the news that team CFVY was back. They hurried to find Velvet walking with her team, all of them looking quite tired.

"Velvet? Are you okay?" asked Blake in concern.

"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me," answered Velvet.

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?" asked Weiss.

"Nothing happened. It was just ... there were just so many...," Velvet trailed off for a bit before looking at the worried expressions of her juniors. "Oh, but don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine," she tried to assure them.

Commonly, after finishing the first year of any Academies, students from the second year and forward were to work without a Huntsman to watch over them, as they were considered to be good enough if they could pass their first year. Of course, the mission rankings still played a part whether a team could do it or needed someone to watch over them. As the students progressed through the year, they were entrusted to take care of themselves more and more, until they graduated. However, they were all required to work as a team during the four years. After that, the graduates could decide to take solo missions if they wanted to, or team up with other people in case one of their own members were down.

Velvet left to catch up with the rest of her team, leaving both teams feeling a bit nervous. However, Ruby tried to cheer them up, saying that they would be with an honest-to-god Huntsman. Jaune also joined in, saying that with the two teams together, they would be a force to reckon with. However, when they reached the airfield, they felt their spirits dampen, their shock grew in size. It could be said that the relationship between dread and fighting spirit was inversely proportional, with dread being the bigger part.

"Why, hello boys and girls! Who's ready to fight for their lives?"

It was Doctor Oobleck, their history teacher.

"Professor Oobleck?!" asked Weiss in horror.

Oobleck, pacing around while talking in his usual speed, whose default setting for that was pretty fast, spoke, "Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, boy and girls, seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you, we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And..," he zoomed up right to Weiss's face "It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!" He backed away quickly.

Weiss looked over to her team, who also looked disturbed. Oobleck suddenly declared they were late before zipping off to the airship ahead of them in a manner of speed so fast that it looked like he was running at the same speed as Ruby did when she uses her Semblance. It was hard to say, but it looked like his Semblance was also speed. That, or the ungodly amount of coffee he drank made him that fast.

"Well, alright, then!" shouted Ruby, trying to cheer them up, "Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck- okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse." She ended looking quite sad.

"Cheer up," Nora patted Ruby on her head, seeing as she still had a backpack, "I'm sure Professor Oobleck is a-"

"DOCTOR!" shouted Oobleck in the background

"Doctor Oobleck," Nora corrected herself, "Will show how he BREAKS GRIMM LEGS!"

"Perhaps," sighed Ren, "None the less, Doctor Oobleck is a Huntsman, despite his... idiosyncratic behavior."

"We just need to trust him and each other," said Pyrrha.

"Alright, let's move to save the world before Oobleck gets impatient," motioned Jaune.

"Cool, you're all headed out?"

They turned to see Sun and his team walking towards them.

"We're shadowing a crime specialist tomorrow. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges," explained Neptune..

"We normally go to the city with you guys which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know... normal," finished Sun.

"Well... he's not wrong," sighed Jaune. Oobleck suddenly popped out from the airship, calling for both teams to get on board as they were now four minutes late.

They said their goodbyes and went towards their respective locations.

* * *

As they were all flying towards their destination, team RWBY was talking with Oobleck, before asking why he had been assigned to be their leader, to which he explained that he was a fighter as well as an expert in history as well as dabbling in archaeological surveys, telling them what advantages they had. He also discussed a bit of a history lesson with them, as well as some practical solutions. Jaune had gotten slightly bored, so he took a golden coin from his bag, flipping it for a bit. A hand caught it in midair, surprising Jaune. He looked to see Oobleck had dashed over to him to grab the coin and was now inspecting it.

"Jaune. Where did you find this coin?" asked Oobleck in a low voice.

"Found it in my travels?" replied Jaune weakly.

"You managed to find what ancient people in Remnant used as currency!" exclaimed Oobleck, "Look at these markings! This minting! Why this must be centuries old, and yet it looks like it's in pristine condition!"

While Oobleck began to babble, Jaune sighed. He was about to stand and sit next to Blake before Oobleck popped another question.

"Can I keep this? For studies of course! I may never get a chance to review this so easily."

"Sure, got a few more," shrugged Jaune. Oobleck grabbed his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.

"You've had precious relics of the past, and you've been withholding them from me for about a semester now! Why have you done this!? Why have you denied me time to study these relics!" shouted Oobleck shaking Jaune in the process.

"Didn't... think... it ….. was... so... important!" Jaune replied in between shakes as well as he could, as Oobleck hadn't stopped shaking him.

"Can I see them?!" Asked Oobleck, "And do you have more ancient relics!?" He gazed at Jaune as if he was a source of priceless information about history. Which would be true, as the dragons had been the rulers of Remnant before.

"Not that I know of," said Jaune as he tried to stop the world from spinning, grabbing a few more coins in his bag before handing them to Oobleck, "Here. Go nuts." His eyes were still swirls.

Blake took pity and put his head on her lap to stop the world from spinning, getting a few jealous gazes from the other girls.

Soon, they were at Mt. Glenn, their destination. They all jumped off, in a battle ready position, weapons and shields out. Only Oobleck seemed calm as he took another chug from his thermos.

Oobleck began his speech, "Ladies! Gentlemen! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntresses and Huntsmen has begun! From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded when Oobleck looked over to Jaune and Ruby. "Ruby! Jaune! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school.

"But, uh, you hadn't told us to listen to you yet. So I didn't," replied Ruby.

"Sorry Doctor. But this bag stays with me at all times. It won't get in the way, as it's pretty small. It's got some essentials that I carry at all times."

Oobleck started to mumble to himself, "She's not wrong.. And it would be useful to have someone carry some more stuff just in case, as we have two teams," then he spoke up, "Very well, Ruby; leave your bag here, we can pick it up upon our return. Jaune, you can keep yours as long as it doesn't hinder you in combat."

"But I, well uh-" stammered Ruby, "I also brought some sup-"

"Young lady, what in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with..." he stopped talking as her bag's zipper opened up from inside, and Zwei's head popped out from the backpack. Everyone stared at the sudden uninvited guest. Ruby whispered to Zwei, telling him to get back in the bag, to which he barked in response, still looking around.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought... a dog?" Asked Oobleck darkly and sharply. Ruby could only look shy when Oobleck's attitude did a 180, "Genius!"

Ruby shrugged in confusion before Oobleck zoomed past her, grabbing Zwei away from Ruby, who fell down at the sudden lack of weight in her back. She fell right towards Jaune, who helped her get back on her feet. Of course, when she fell, she may have had given Jaune a good idea on how the development of her breasts was going when she pressed them on his chest. Oobleck didn't seem to notice as he started to babble about how canines were useful for a hunt like they would be doing.

"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" asked Blake, trying to get the get back to the mission.

"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" exclaimed Oobleck as he suddenly let go of Zwei, who dropped down to the floor and immediately ran towards Ruby. Oobleck adopted a serious pose as he began his talk, "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hot spot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being... Grimm."

Everyone looked at him in confusion at this sudden short explanation. Jaune was about to ask when he sensed something was approaching them slowly before turning around. Ren, who had been training to learn how to sense other creatures like Jaune from him ever since he received the light Dragons Mark, also felt it and turned around, albeit slower than Jaune. The rest of the team just stood there in confusion.

"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment," explained Oobleck, noticing the two Huntsmen had already noticed, secretly applauding them for understanding why he had stopped or guessed that they were aware of their surroundings a bit better than the girls.

The girls turned around in shock to see a Beowolf prowling the streets of Mt. Glenn, alone.

"Let's break its leg! Or keep it as a pet!" said Nora, ready to charge in.

"Stop!" commanded Oobleck. At this, even Nora obeyed.

"There are a number of reasons why Grimm will congregate in this particular area, the most likely of which will be their attraction to negativity: sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harboring ill intent."

"So... What now?" asked Ruby.

"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey," explained Oobleck.

When Blake asked how long they needed to wait, Oobleck began theorizing, "It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months - and there's the whole pack."

At this sudden statement, the students looked back to see that indeed more Beowolves had joined the lone one.

"What?" Weiss asked in shock.

"And now they've seen us," stated Oobleck, ignoring what Weiss had just said.

"What?!" shouted Wiess in shock even louder. To this, Oobleck yelled right at her ear to repeat what he had just said, slightly deafening her. Seeing as tracking them was no longer an option, Oobleck gave them permission to open fire and kill the Grimm.

The Grimm were slaughtered quickly. Nora had a fun time punting a few to Yang, who uppercutted them into the air. As they finished, Ruby hefted her weapon, "Heh. Piece of cake!"

"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" asked Oobleck. The group nodded as they continued down their path. They slew through Grimm as they traveled, starting to show signs of fatigue while Oobleck merely studied everything else, never lifting a finger to fight. The only people who didn't show too much sign of fatigue were Jaune, Pyrrha, and Yang. Even Nora was starting to lean on her hammer for support.

"Excellent work! Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well! Moving on!" stated Oobleck, starting to march away when Yang voiced her thoughts and impatience, wanting to see a pro in action, or at least helping them fight. She was glad that team JNPR had come with them, as they would've been much more tired if they hadn't. Oobleck merely replied that he was indeed helping, before turning around to lecture them about what they had signed up for, and that it was not always a mission full of heroism and drama.

At this, Yang replied, but there was hesitance in her answer. Oobleck caught onto this before pondering, thinking about a few questions he would want to ask. While traveling through the empty city, Oobleck decided to ask a few specific people he had in mind why they wanted to be in this profession. Of course, saying to fight monsters and save people was something Oobleck threw out immediately, stating the honest reason why.

For Yang, it was for the thrill, to travel around the world. For Weiss, it was a duty as a Schnee. For Blake, it was to fight the injustice in this world. For Ren, it was originally for revenge, but now it was to uphold his family legacy and honor. For Nora, it was mainly to be with Ren. Also beating up Grimm played a big part of it with pancakes. Although for after each questioning, he left most of them confused about their reasons, starting to plant seeds of doubt. Nora was too happy and crazy to think about it, though, and Ren had already cleared up most of his doubts after meeting Jaune.

* * *

Oobleck decided to call it a day, stating that night would be upon them soon. Designating them to a building, he had both teams set up and clear it out of any hostile creatures, while having Ruby and Jaune to secure the perimeter with him. Zwei quickly followed them. The members of team RWBY stared at their leading, feeling like they knew what Oobleck would ask their leader.

The trio rounded the corner of the building to see Grimm Goliaths marching through the trees. Ruby was in awe at the size before pulling out her weapon, saying they should kill it. Jaune snorted in amusement while Oobleck gently told her that her weapon wouldn't do anything but agitate the Grimm.

When Ruby asked about any dangers of those Grimms attacking them, Oobleck gave a lecture, stating not all Grimm are mindless. The older the Grimm, the wiser they were and learned that attacking the city borders would just get them killed, so they leave the major cities alone. Yet, they were merely content on just waiting until the opportune moment to strike. They learned patience, to strike when nobody expects it with maximum results. At this moment, one of the Goliath swiveled its neck towards them, as if to merely observe them.

 _ **"Hey,** **Jaune. Flash your Aura for a bit. Let them know who is the superior one,"**_ muttered Lung Wang. Jaune grinned and obeyed while Oobleck was busy with Ruby.

The Goliath looked at the three humans with disinterest. It knew that if it killed those three, more would come and try to take them out. They would survive, but it was a hassle to deal with so much more humans. Not to mention they could lose key numbers when it came time to strike. Yet, while it was observing the green-haired human talking to the girl with a red hood, the blonde one raised his Aura for them to see. At first, it was going to ignore it, but then, it suddenly felt like it was being stared at by the ancient ones. The ones that ruled Remnant. The other Goliaths also turned their heads at this Aura, staring at the blonde one. Each one felt fear as they could feel the power of the dragons flowing through this human. They all quickly decided that waiting to attack the city while this human was there may not be the best idea. They would wait to strike, but they all decided getting a bit more distance on watching the city would be a better idea. They continued to walk but went with a path that would put themselves further from Vale.

"What in the?" said Oobleck as he noticed the Goliaths walking away, further from the wall.

He shrugged and chalked it up as peculiar Grimm behavior before walking back to their camp. It was at this point, Ruby decided to ask a question. Oobleck intercepted, asking her if she had been wondering why he had been interrogating her teammates all day, also shooting a look to Jaune to see if he had the same question. Jaune shook his head as Ruby surprised him by asking why he himself wanted to be a Huntsman. Oobleck slightly grinned at this question. At this, Jaune also perked up to listen.

"Look around and tell me what you see," directed Oobleck.

Jaune and Ruby looked around, with Ruby stating the obvious physical structures. Jaune stated the past.

"I see lives that could have been saved, although you were closer to what I wanted, Jaune," said Oobleck, continuing to walk while the others walked beside him.

"As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger."

At this, he paused for a second before looking at Jaune and Ruby with a serious look, "I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be."

 _ **"An interesting one,"**_ began Ryo-Wo, _**"Besides**_ _**his peculiar habits, he has the will and strength to back up his words. You can easily see in it his eyes that he was serious about it."**_

 _ **"Perhaps he would be useful in restoring some ancient texts,"**_ followed Aryz, _**"I know there are some relics of our past age that could be useful."**_

 _ **"I'd say bring him to a nesting ground, but I'm afraid he would never want to leave if we bring him there,"**_ stated Alaerth.

Back at the makeshift shelter, the group had made a fire and was already laying out the sleeping bags. Yang was in disbelief that they hadn't found any clues, with Nora booing at the side. Blake merely stated that they had mostly been lucky to be in the right place at the same time, and they couldn't always be this lucky. Ren merely stated that they needed some patience and that in time, they would find what they were looking for. Pyrrha was outside using her Semblance to create some barriers just in case. Suddenly, Weiss told them that what she had said earlier to Oobleck wasn't completely true, that there was more than that. Both Blake and Yang agreed about their own statements before looking at Ren and Nora, who they knew had been questioned.

"I just wanted to be with Ren. I was an orphan for as long I can remember until I met him," said Nora in a sad voice.

Ren hugged her before turning to them, "My original reason has changed somewhat. I still want revenge on the Grimm, but now, I have another duty to uphold. And being a Huntsman is the only way to honor that. There is nothing else I would do."

As the trio pondered about that answer, Yang said weakly that it didn't matter, that they knew why they were here. The awkward silence that followed didn't help. Suddenly, Oobleck rushed into the room, with Jaune, Ruby, and Pyrrha following him inside. As Jaune sat down near the fire, Ruby sat next to him, hugging him for some warmth from the fire and his body heat. Eager to do the same, Pyrrha took the other side. When Oobleck asked who wanted to take the first watch, Ruby volunteered, along with Nora. Oobleck nodded before rushing off to another part of the building.

As Ruby stood up to take first watch with Nora, Yang asked, "Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean...what did you tell him?"

Ruby thought about it for a second before answering, "Hmm... No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!"

The rest of team RWBY looked a little shock that Oobleck didn't ask her, and when they asked Jaune, he shrugged, saying he hadn't been asked either. They looked at Pyrrha, who said that she had been asked why but didn't really give it much thought afterward. It didn't plague her like it did with the rest of them.

* * *

 **Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Team JNPR is sent out with Team RWBY! Oobleck goes crazy over some coins! And yes, the Goliaths taking another path will play into part of the story, just minor one. And we are also nearing the end of Vol 2! But be warned! I will not be jumping to Volume 3 directly! Cookie to those who somehow guess what I'll be going to do! And no, Jauneforever, you can't answer that, since I've already discussed it with you.**

 **Feel free to leave reviews about what could be improved on, or just even giving a thumbs up. It really does motivate me, as long as it's not a big F u flaming style.**


	17. Chapter 17 Stop that Train!

**Man, spring break was a great time to let my juice flowing. Too bad I have to revert back to study mode :(. Hope you enjoy this new chapter! Proofreading & ideas done by my beta readers Jauneforever and TheMischievousPuppy! Seriously, they catch mistakes that I tend to miss even with Grammarly helping me.**

* * *

Ruby yawned as she was getting tired. Nora wanted to bash the lone Grimm, but she followed Oobleck's orders on not engaging any Grimm unless they came to them. Just a few more minutes, and they would be changing shifts.

Back in the camp, laid several sleeping people. Oobleck had taken the second floor for his rest, while the rest were on the first floor, their weapons easily within reach if they needed to fight. However, only JPR were truly sleeping. WBY still had Oobleck's question buzzing through their minds. Soon enough, Yang decided to talk with the other two about Oobleck. They shared their experiences and why they really had chosen to be hunters. Blake even let out a rant. But soon, the seeds of doubt dispelled as they all agreed that their main job was to protect the people and that their needs or wants would just have to come second.

Oobleck, who had heard all this, gained a small smile. He was not truly asleep. Merely resting while being aware of any dangers that may come. Any sort of attack, he would react.

Soon enough, Ruby swapped with Yang while Nora swapped with Pyrrha. The night proceeded without much hassle until Zwei suddenly stood up from Ruby's side. She woke up from the sudden movement before she noticed Zwei running off. Quickly chasing after him without giving anyone a notice that she was chasing Zwei, she found him urinating on some ruins in the distance. It was unfortunate at this time because Yang had distracted Pyrrha with some small talk to keep themselves awake. Chastising him for going so far, Zwei barked in response.

"What was that?"

Hearing someone talk, Ruby quickly went to hide behind some ruins. She peeked out to see two White Fang grunts patrolling the area. Gasping in surprise, she decided to follow them silently. Sneaking around, and even using Zwei to have him tell her if it was clear, she saw them going inside a ruined building with a pair of metal doors. Asking Zwei if they had gone into the building, with one bark being yes two for no, Zwei confirmed it with a single bark.

"Oh! This is it! This is it!" squeaked Ruby as she brought out her Scroll to call her teammates. However, she soon discovered that the area they were in could barely receive any signal. "Aw man! Come on, we gotta get the others!"

They hurried down the street to regroup. However, the asphalt beneath them suddenly sank. They stopped moving, hoping they were safe when it caved in. Ruby grabbed onto the ledge with one hand while the other hand was on Zwei. She had thrown her weapon away from her so she could have a free hand to catch Zwei. Grunting, she tossed Zwei out of the hole before trying to pull herself up. Unfortunately, the ledge she had been holding on broke off, and she plummeted down into a huge cave with ruined buildings, far below the surface. She had luckily landed on a tall building against the cavern wall, so her fall wasn't too bad. Before she could try to find her way out, a nearby door on the cavern wall opened up, revealing two more White Fang grunts.

"Freeze!"

"Where did she come from?"

As the two men got closer, Ruby backed away as far as possible, which was only a little as she noticed she was at the edge of the building already.

"You're a long way from home, little girl,"

threatened the grunt. Ruby reached for her weapon behind her only to remember she had dropped it back on the surface. The grunt grabbed her arm in a threatening manner, to which Ruby jerked her arm out of it before punching the guard in the stomach. Unfortunately, due to her build and the man's build, it had little effect. The guard who had been punched worked out, while his partner barely did. If she had punched the other guard, then it might have had some effect. She tried to punch him again, only to have her hand be caught. The guard winded up for a punch when Ruby remembered her recent lessons from Yang when she realized that she needed some hand to hand combat training. It was thanks to Jaune who suggested it to Ruby. Quickly, she raised her right leg and swung it up as hard as she could at the guard. Her aim was at a place where Yang had told her to aim if she was defenseless, her opponent was a guy, and if he had his guard down. Her kick landed...

Right in the balls.

* * *

 ***CRACK***

* * *

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"

The guard fell down, both hands on his family jewels, hoping nothing had ruptured while still singing in a high pitch voice. Ruby grinned until the other guard used his gun and bashed her in the head. She had let her guard down after successfully taking someone down without a weapon. Even if it had been a dirty shot.

"The boss is gonna want to see this one..." mumbled the other guard as Ruby collapsed, barely cognizant of what had happened, "You ok?'

"Yes," squeaked out a high pitch voice as the other guard slowly crawled to the wall, "Just give me a minute. The Nutcracker shot hurts."

The other guard felt sorry for him before kicking Ruby in the head, knocking her out.

Yang and Pyrrha yawned as they went back into the shelter to switch when they noticed Ruby was gone. After waking everyone up to ask where Ruby went, Zwei suddenly came running in, barking. "Grab your weapons! Ruby may be in trouble," declared Oobleck.

Ruby woke up with a killer headache before trying to figure out where she was. She remembered being knocked out by a kick. She looked around to see White Fang members at work, doing various jobs, and even piloting stolen Paladins. She even saw them loading what seemed to be some sort of device into the train.

Soon, the one with glasses dragging Ruby called out to one of the carts, "Hey boss! Found something you might want to see!"

A familiar voice came from the cart, replying "Is it good or bad, Perry? Because let me tell ya, I have had a day. Also, who was the girl that was screaming earlier?"

"Uh, it's a little girl?" replied the guard named Perry. He didn't want to respond to the second question, as he already felt bad for his partner.

From the cart, out came Roman Torchwick, smoking his cigarette. He looked down and saw Ruby, frowning.

"That would be bad."

* * *

As they were running, Jaune had already linked up with Andusk and Fafnir to see if he could sense Ruby. As he ran, he suddenly noticed the streets below him were hollow.

Yang found Ruby's scythe and was starting to panic. Ruby never leave her beloved weapon out so carelessly for no reason.

"Doctor Oobleck? Is there any reason why the ground is hollow?" asked Jaune. Oobleck looked at him in confusion for a second. Something very important that he had forgotten about was ticking in his mind.

"You think she fell down that hole?" pointed out Weiss.

Oobleck looked down the hole, realization dawning on his face, "Oh my. Of course! Of course, OF COURSE, OF COURSE!"

"What is it?" asked Blake. Oobleck seemed to ignore her as he continued to rant how he could have been so stupid before explaining the history of Mountain Glenn, and the key point being deep caves.

"What are you saying?" asked Yang in confusion.

"I think he means that the underground crime network literally went underground," Pyrrha stated

"Precisely!" shouted Oobleck.

"They've been working in caves?" asked Blake in aghast.

"Would be harder to find them," commented Ren. Oobleck then went off on another history lesson, on how Mt. Glenn tried a last attempt at survival by building a city in the caves they had originally cleared out for a subway. It had worked, until an explosion opened up the mouth of another cavern. They had been looking to expand and ended up finding a cave filled with subterranean Grimm. With a grim look, Oobleck then told them that Vale basically sealed up everyone's fate that had been living there by sealing the tunnels.

Jaune shivered as he imagined countless lives, all desperate for help, only to find that their only source of help had cut them off. The others were imagining the same thing.

At this, Oobleck seemed to become serious before grabbing his thermos and swinging it, transforming it into a weapon, declaring they had to go down and find her.

" _ **Huh. Not only does it hold his drink, but it doubles as a weapon. That's certainly unique,"**_ stated Othim.

Everyone quickly jumped into the hole, landing on the same building Ruby was once on. They spread out until they noticed a bit of blood. At this sight, Jaune's temper rose, his eyes flashing. They had hurt one of his potential mates. They... **H** ad..to **PAY**!

" _ **Jaune. Calm down! You're letting your instincts run wild. First, find your enemy. Then let it rampage,"**_ lectured Lung Wang.

Jaune took a deep breath and quickly obeyed. He closed his eyes, expanding his senses to its limit. He punched the cave, letting it echo through, feeling the vibrations travel. Everyone was surprised at Jaune's action, but nobody questioned it for now, as they searched for clues. Just as his senses were about to hit his limit, he sensed her.

"This way!" shouted Jaune.

"How do you know where to go?" questioned Oobleck, tilting his head. Not that he didn't trust Jaune, but it was intriguing how Jaune seemed to know where to go.

"Part of my Earth Semblance," lied Jaune. Oobleck seemed to accept it and told Jaune to lead the way. They went through a door just to see a maze of tunnels. However, Jaune wasn't planning on finding the right path, merely the direct path. He linked with Fafnir and made holes through the caves.

"That may not be a good idea, Jaune. You might destabilize the cave, causing it to collapse on us, " Oobleck stated

"Then keep up," Jaune began, "These holes won't destabilize the roof, but I'll just shut the holes after we all get through."

Seeing no point in arguing, Oobleck nodded.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ruby was being tossed to the floor by Roman.

"Wow! You are much more manageable without that over-sized gardening tool of yours," snarked Roman.

Ruby got up, trying to get into a fighting stance that Jaune had taught her. However, the headache from earlier was affecting her strength and balance. All she could do was try to land random hits, but Roman easily sidestepped and tripped Ruby, sending her to the floor before laughing.

He walked towards her, bending down before pointing his cane, Melodic Cudgel, at her chin,

"But seriously. How'd you find this place, Red?"

Ruby growled before using her Semblance to escape, leaving rose petals behind her trail. Roman looked around in shock until she saw Ruby running away. She stopped using her Semblance, as she still had a headache from earlier, and using her Semblance just now almost made her throw up. Roman chuckled before tossing his cane up in the air to switch sides, the handle pointed towards Ruby. He fired it, and it hooked onto Ruby's hood like a grappling hook. She was quickly dragged back to where Roman was. He was about to start interrogating again when a massive explosion could be heard in the distance. He looked up, before making a decision. He would've merely tried to send some men to take care of it, but after meeting that devil that night, he decided not to take his chances.

"Load the cargo and attach the cart. Spread the word. We're starting the train."

"But we're not finished!" said a member.

Roman responded by pinning the member against the wall, "Do it, or you're finished!"

"Hey boss, what do we do with the girl? Can we keep her? She looks... good." said a lecherous wildcat Faunus with ears, who seemed to be around his 40s.

Roman seemed to actually be thinking about it. Thinking Roman approved, the pedo-cat was about to grab Ruby's breast. Suddenly, he found himself being slammed in the face by Melodic Cudgel.

"Let's get this straight. I'm the boss. My word is law. I may be a convict, a con man, a thief, and sometimes even a killer. I lie, I cheat, I steal, and I survive. But I do NOT promote rape, and especially pedophilia! That's below even for me!" snarled Roman. Bringing his foot back, he slammed his foot into the man's nuts, causing everyone to cringe. The males all covering their junk from pure instinct.

"Ooh, that's the second one of the day," said Ruby. Roman perked up, "Really Red? Who was the first one?" He was grinding his shoes in painfully at the Faunus, not letting go while holding a conversation.

Ruby pointed to the White Fang whom she kicked, "I kicked him in the nuts while I was trying to resist." Said Fang member was still holding his balls while crossing his legs. Seemed like Ruby's kick was a lot stronger than one first thought, might've cracked a nut with that nutcracker shot.

Roman actually chuckled, "Red, if you weren't so determined to stop me and be a hero, I think we could've been acquaintances. But whatever. Take her into the train, lock her up, or send her to Adam. I don't care."

As he turned to leave, another massive explosion went off.

" _WHAT_ is going on here?!" shouted Roman.

Another explosion happened, this time it could be seen. White Fang members were running around the corner, one of them turning to shoot. However, the member couldn't even get a shot off before he was hit by a flying shield. Followed by a war hammer slamming him up into the air.

There, they saw the members of WBY, JNPR, Oobleck, and Zwei running around the corner. Seeing as everyone was distracted, Ruby took the chance to escape by jumping on Roman's shoulder, pulling his hat over his eyes, and then jumping towards the ground, before running off towards her friends.

Roman readjusted his hat before glaring at Ruby, "Somebody kill her!"

He pointed his cane at Ruby, and fired, along with the other White Fang members. Ruby did her best to keep herself a moving target to avoid being hit, but she soon wouldn't need to worry.

" _ **They're firing at a potential mate!"**_ snarled Andusk.

" _ **Show them what it means to try to take a mate from a dragon!"**_ shouted Lung Wang. Jaune agreed easily, using his link with Fafnir. He jumped and slammed his right hand into the floor. Suddenly, 3 walls of earth came forth behind Ruby, protecting her from any stray shots.

"What in the- Kids just keep getting weirder," groaned Roman before quickly boarding the train. The rest kept firing, trying to buy some more time. Some of the other members tried to intercept Ruby, but they were quickly taken out by Nora and Yang.

Jaune quickly ran and jumped, punching one of the walls he created. All three walls were sent flying right towards the members, who yelped and scattered.

"Ruby!" yelled Yang as she hugged her little sister.

"Are you okay/hurt?" asked both Weiss and Pyrrha as they got near her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" insisted Ruby, "But listen! Torchwick's got all kinds of weapons and robots down there. Androids, mechs, they're all loaded up on the train cars!"

Blake looked in shock. She never imagined the White Fang were somehow capable of getting so many hi-tech supplies. Somebody had to be supplying them besides Roman.

"Ahhhh, that's ridiculous. These tunnels are sealed, the tracks lead to a dead-end," said Oobleck until they heard Roman announcing that they were leaving. Seeing as they had no choice, they quickly ran to the train and got on.

"I believe we only have one option..." Oobleck began as he turned to the young team.

"We're stopping that train!" shouted both Ruby and Jaune, finishing what their professor was going to say.

* * *

A White Fang member peeked out to see a flap of a red cape. He radioed to warn the others, but Oobleck smacked him upside the head with his weapon.

In the front of the train, Roman groaned as he ordered them to force the intruders off.

The crew was on top of the train and were about to jump into a cart when Weiss noticed something.

"Err... Professor?"

"Doctor..," growled Oobleck. He did deserve that title, after all.

Weiss ignored that for a second as she pointed down to the cart, "What's that?"

Everyone looked down and saw a device with wires attached all over it.

"That my dear... appears to be a bomb," said Oobleck, frightening all of them.

"Can we disable it? Pyrrha can use polarity to hold it and disarm it maybe," suggested Jaune.

"Not a good idea. We have no idea what type of bomb it is," reminded Oobleck.

Suddenly, Ruby pointed to the front of the train, "We've got baddies!"

Dozens of White Fang members were climbing on top of the train now, getting closer to them, but from quite a bit of distance.

"Well, I didn't expect them to go—" started Oobleck. Suddenly, the bomb below started ticking.

"-easy on us," he finished. He stood up before announcing it was time to go. He had Blake go detach the cart. As all the members made it to the next one, Blake was about slash at the connection when it disconnected itself. Confused, she yelled up to them, saying that it decoupled itself. Oobleck was confused when he saw the detached cart explode in the tunnel.

"That's not good..." muttered Oobleck.

Ruby opened the next hatch only to find herself staring at a bomb. Jaune and Ren quickly went to the next one and found another one.

"Err, neither is this!" pointed Ruby.

"Another bomb?!" shouted Blake.

"Make that two!" shouted out Jaune, "There's one here too."

Oobleck looked pale before announcing, "They all have bombs!"

The next cart detached itself, making them all quickly run to the next cart for safety. Yang piped up that it didn't seem to make sense. However, they had to put that on hold as they noticed the White Fang members were closing in. Everyone prepared their weapons.

Yang managed to make one fly up in the air momentarily with a leg sweep before winking and smashing the poor sucker into the train with her fist. Blake slashed as fast as she could, no longer caring that these were once brother and sisters of the White Fang. They had made their choices. She had her obligations to protect the innocent. Weiss stabbed as many as she could, darting towards a new target. Ruby, who was finally feeling better now, she finally had her weapon back and that her headache of hers was gone, thanks to a massaging technique Oobleck employed. Dashing forward, she slashed low, causing many members to fall down.

Nora was having fun just swinging _Magnhild_ , sending them flying. She didn't want to risk using her grenades seeing how she might cause a bomb to go off. Ren was slashing and kicking the White Fang off. He decided to copy Yang, except after the leg sweep, he did a backflip and slammed his foot onto the member, sending him into the cart. Pyrrha was in her field, blocking and attacking multiple enemies at once, using Milo in its multiple forms. Jaune was using his sniper rifle attachment to snipe off any enemies before charging in with his sword.

Oobleck, however, turned around to observe why they were detaching carts, only to look in horror as he noticed Grimm dropping down from the holes the bomb blew. Then, the Grimm started to chase after the train.

"He's leading Grimm to the city!" shouted Oobleck, **"** It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm!"

"If this wasn't so threatening, I'd say that sounds awesome," Nora stated, she would have with glee, but this was a serious matter they were in.

Another cart detached itself, forcing them all to board the next one.

"We have to hurry!" He quickly pointed at Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, and Ren, "You five, go below and try to stop the bombs!"

"What about us?" said Ruby as she gestured to Jaune, Nora, Zwei, and herself.

"We're going to stop this train," said Oobleck dramatically. It was ruined when Ruby reminded him that that was what they were already doing.

The groups quickly split off. As the top runners were running, they noticed multiple Atlesian Paladin-290s with the White Fang logo on it jumping on top of the train. It started to run towards them.

Oobleck merely took a sip of his thermos before transforming it into a weapon, the place that used to hold the opening of the thermos, where he would drink, was now containing a small flame burning on the tip.

" _ **Isn't that unsafe?"**_ sweat-dropped Alaerth.

Zwei barked at Oobleck, as if ready to attack. Before Jaune and Nora could do anything, Zwei jumped into the air and flipped. Oobleck slammed his weapon into Zwei, sending him flying like a small deadly fireball. The person piloting the front-most Paladin saw it coming and tried to shoot Zwei, but he was coming in too fast. Zwei rammed into the Paladin, causing it be knocked off the train. Jaune and Nora could only stare at what seemed to be a cute pet, now turned deadly.

" _ **I would say animal abuse, but it seems like that dog is used to being a projectile,"**_ deadpanned Aryz.

" _ **That is an awesome pet!"**_ Othim shouted with glee, _**"We need to get one like that. Wonder if Zwei has siblings. Or if we can, just breed him and use his children!"**_

"That.. was.. AWESOME!" shouted Nora, "Can I do it next?"

Another Paladin appeared before Zwei, its gun was aimed at him. However, before it could even start rotating its gun, several fireballs slammed into the machine, followed by a quick but effective slash, sending the Paladin tumbling off the train.

"Damn. You really gotta respect him," Jaune began as he watched Doctor Oobleck at work, "I know we all had our doubts, but seeing him in action reminds us that he is a Huntsman for a reason."

The other two nodded before running to help their fellow huntsman.

* * *

Down, below, inside the carts, the five finally managed to get into a cart that didn't seem to have a bomb.

As they started running forward, Weiss had tossed a magazine filled with Dust for Blake. Suddenly, Neo appeared before them, dropping from the ceiling to block their path.

"You all go ahead. This one's mine," said Yang. The others nodded and ran forward. Neo was prepared to stop them when she noticed Yang had fired a shot to distract her, allowing the four to continue ahead. Yang stepped forward toward her opponent, staring down at Neo as she got nice and close. The height difference could easily be seen. However, Neo didn't seem to be bothered by it at all as she gave a sinister smile.

Yang tightened her fist and winded up for a right straight, only to be hit by Neo's umbrella, which had jabbed her faster than she thought. Neo grinned as she opened up her umbrella, holding it like a noble lady under the sun. Shaking off the damage, she growled before launching a barrage of attacks. Neo, however, seemed to dodge them with ease even with her umbrella open. When Yang tried to include a few kicks, Neo blocked them with her umbrella closed up before doing spin kick, landing it right on Yang's face.

Yang stumbled for a bit before growling and swiftly dodged Neo's forward flip kick. She dashed forward to punch, only for Neo to parry it before locking her arm in place, her back towards Yang. There, Neo showed how flexible she was by landing a kick to Yang's face by raising her left leg all the way up before combining it into a back kick. She quickly flipped behind Yang, who responded by trying to use her shotgun gauntlets to her advantage. Sadly, they were blocked by the umbrella without any damage to it. Neo was already use to Yang's patterns, as she was getting sloppy and offered to real techniques, just brute strength. After landing a few more hits, Neo taunted her by holding her opened umbrella in front of Yang. Yang responded by punching it, but Neo did a few backflips before landing on a cargo, sitting on it with a smile while crossing her legs.

* * *

 _Back to the four_

As the four were continuing forward, Ren stopped.

"I'm going to help Yang," he announced, before walking back to her.

"We still need to stop Torchwick!" shouted Weiss.

"I trust you guys. Plus, we know Neo's a skilled fighter. She was able to handle four of us, even if she was losing. Yang might be in over her head on this one. I will not let one of Jaune's potential mates be killed off by her own pride. I know he is protecting Nora, so I will do the same," replied Ren.

"She doesn't like it when people interfere with her fight," warned Blake.

Ren merely smiled, "She won't notice me. I'll intervene when it's necessary." He activated his Semblance, causing them to lose sight of him.

"He really is a ninja," sighed Pyrrha.

"No time, we need to keep going,"

In the next cart, they hear a revving noise up ahead. Soon, a figure dragging a chainsaw along the floor appeared. It was the White Fang Lieutenant that Blake saw back at the White Fang meeting. She remembered that the man was very loyal to Adam. He was Edward Talutah, aka Bloody Ed, the bloody chainsaw user.

"You go on ahead!" shouted Weiss as she and Pyrrha readied their weapons.

"Got it!"

Weiss charged ahead, only to suddenly backflip as Blake deflected Ed's attack. Pyrrha and Weiss took this chance to deliver several strikes, knocking him down.

Blake looked back before running forward again.

Ed got back up before chuckling darkly, "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee. Although the famous 'Goddess of Victory' might pose a challenge."

Weiss held up _Myrtenaster_ in an en garde position while Pyrrha raised her shield, ready to fight.

* * *

As soon as Blake entered the room, she saw Roman Torchwick, twirling his cane.

"Hello, kitty cat. You miss me? You know, we really gotta stop meeting like this. People are gonna talk..." smiled Torchwick.

Blake charged forward to attack, drawing her sword while Roman walked forward, ready to deal with the Faunus. Suddenly, as Torchwick struck, Blake rolled away, leaving a shadow behind her. However, she combined her Semblance with fire Dust, creating a clone that exploded in Torchwick's shocked face. He was sent flying into the air, to which Blake took advantage of this to land three hits on him, sending him hurtling to the ground.

As they both landed, one on her feet and the other on his back. Torchwick quickly scrambled to his feet before firing a shot, to which Blake blocked it with a shadow infused with earth Dust before jumping into the air to attack. Torchwick swiped upwards, only for Blake to dodge it with her shadow again, using wind Dust to blow herself back to a better position before attacking. Torchwick easily parried her two sword style before swinging his cane down on her vulnerable head. Blake left a shadow infused with Ice Dust, freezing her clone. It caught Torchwick's cane in the middle, causing him to struggle to get his weapon free while leaving himself wide open.

Blake took this chance, charging forward before unleashing a blade beam attack, knocking him into a wall and losing his weapon. As he tried to get up, Blake stepped on his chest, pointing his sword at his throat.

Roman chuckled nervously a bit before giving a dramatic sight, "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally, we're on the same side and you know it..."

Inside his mind, he was a little nervous. He had severely underestimated the girl.

* * *

Back at Yang fighting Neo, she was having a hard time landing a hit, and she was getting angrier. She walked up to Neo, who was still sitting down, and tried to punch her. Neo, however, blocked it with a sweep of her umbrella before spinning on the cargo hold, forcing Yang to back off. Doing a couple flips while Yang backed off, Neo kicked her away. Yang responded by launching a projectile, which Neo blocked. Yang then tried to follow up quickly with a jumping punch, but Neo merely spun out of the way before attacking with her umbrella, diverting any shotgun blasts that was directed towards her.

Yang then decided to throw her. When Neo kicked, she grabbed the leg, taking Neo for a spin before throwing her. Neo, however, easily recovered from it, landing on her feet. She then dashed forward, swinging from Yang's right arm before managing to put her hand on top of Yang, spinning her around and getting Yang confused. She would finish this by grabbing the disoriented Yang by her left arm and threw her into the roof, knocking her out.

However, before she could do this, her instincts once again screamed at her. However, it was too late as she saw a flash of green with white pants, and a leg flying right into her face.

Ren had been hiding with his Semblance the whole time, watching Yang fight Neo. He entered when Neo had been sitting on the cargo.

'I was right. Yang can't solo this. I doubt I could either. But together, with Yang calming down, we might stand a chance,' thought Ren. When he saw Neo starting to get ready to throw Yang, he knew this was the perfect chance.

Ren loaded his leg with Aura, and when he struck Neo with a kick to her face, he let it explode. This sent Neo flying away and into the wall.

"You all right?" asked Ren as he put his hand out. Yang had fallen to the ground, a bit dizzy from that attempted throw.

"I had her," pouted Yang, knowing full well she didn't.

"Yea yea," replied Ren as they both faced Neo. Neo looked up, wiping the bruised and slightly bloody lip. She grinned as she saw it was Ren, the same boy who managed to land a hit on her. She licked her lips and walked forward, emphasizing on her waist while looking at Ren.

"Is she... hitting on you?" asked Yang in confusion.

"I hope not," sighed Ren, "I already have two girls and another two trying to get in my pants. I'm not Jaune."

Yang was about to charge when Ren stopped her.

"Remember the time when you had us help you with a few new moves? Use those. You're letting your anger control you, making your moves sloppy and easy to predict."

Yang nodded before taking a deep breath. She then changed her fighting position. From her usual brawler/boxer stance, she had her left hand extended slightly farther than the right, but kept both slightly bent. Both hands had their palms facing upwards, but her fingers were bent in. Her stance shifted, right leg back and left foot forward, and the arms were close together. An unintentional consequence was that her breasts were squeezed together a little, emphasizing just how big they were.

Intrigued by this, Neo attacked Yang. Yang shot her left fist out first, to which Neo parried it before using the momentum to slam her umbrella into Yang's face. She was surprised to see Yang's right-hand block it. As Neo tried to withdraw her umbrella to launch a kick, she felt her head pound from the earlier damage. Before she could continue her attack, Yang's right hand suddenly shot forward, punching her in the face while her left hand blocked the kick. Neo, undeterred, launched a barrage of attacks, and yet Yang was able to block them and even launch attacks at the same time. It was simple, concise, and dangerous.

Neo shook her head in shock. She had been dominating this fight! But now, thanks to Ren and this new stance, she was now tied, at worst, losing! Frustrated, she activated her Semblance as Yang drew near with her new stance, launching a punch to shatter the illusion.

Ren merely smiled as he closed his eyes to sense Aura. He felt Neo trying to attack him from behind, so he launched a back kick, surprising Neo. She blocked it but was sent back as Yang quickly walked next to Ren.

"Ok, I'll admit it. This is over my head. But with the two of us, we can do it," said Yang, swallowing her pride. She had to admit, this stance that Jaune and Ren found to teach her was really useful. She could defend herself much better. It may take a little longer to launch attacks, but it was worth it as she finally could land a hit on Neo, whereas earlier, she was being slammed like a punching bag.

"Sunflower, then?" asked Ren. Yang grinned as they approached Neo.

Neo was planning on what to do when she felt danger behind her. She turned around to see Raven Branwen suddenly appear, with her mask on, and slashed at her. Neo blocked it but was instantly terrified to see Raven. Quickly, she used her Semblance and ran away.

"Get back here!" shouted Yang.

"It's no use. She ran away due to that woman," said Ren. Both of them looked at the stranger.

Raven looked at Ren for a bit. Raven had been there watching Neo fight her daughter, ready to intervene when necessary. She may have abandoned Yang, but it didn't mean she had some sort of parental feelings. She would save Yang once, but she would be on her own after that. However, she never sensed Ren was in the room until he launched his attack. Another candidate for her clan. She turned to look at Yang. Her biological daughter. It seems like she had gotten quite strong, but not enough to handle Neo alone. Raven decided to pursue her original goal anyways. To 'convince' Jaune to come to her clan.

"Who are you?" asked Yang. She seemed... familiar. She even wore a small cape drifting off her waist, like she did.

Raven gave no answer as she opened a portal and disappeared. Yang stared at the empty space until Ren shook her out of her trance.

"You okay?" asked Ren.

"I think... Never mind. We need to keep going," said Yang. Ren nodded and the two of them left. However, in her mind, she thought, 'Was that mom?'

* * *

With the fight against Bloody Ed, Pyrrha and Weiss were doing pretty well. Ed slashed down, but Pyrrha blocked it with her shield. Ed thought that with his chainsaw, he would just cut right through it, but was shocked to find out that the metal of the shield completely blocked it. Weiss took this chance to stab him, sending him back. Ed quickly recovered and slashed down, only for Weiss to parry it before slashing at his head. Weiss spun forward in the air, hitting him again. Ed, getting angry at these hits, retaliated with another slash, which Weiss dodged with a backflip, albeit just barely. Weiss performed a three hit combo, hitting Ed to the ground.

Grunting, he quickly stood up as Weiss flipped away. He tried to slash at her but found his face being hit by a thrown shield. Pyrrha charged in, slashing at his head, stabbing his heart, liver, and then slashing at his legs. All vital points, draining his aura. The last attack made him trip, leaving him vulnerable. Pyrrha thrust _Milo_ towards his chest, making it extend into a javelin, sending Ed flying back. He got back up to take a quick look at his chainsaw and saw that most of its teeth were broken. He looked back at Pyrrha's shield to see that it had absolutely no marks on it.

"Gotta thank Jaune and my uncle," smiled Pyrrha just as she stepped aside. Weiss had been channeling a time dilation glyph, allowing her to go much faster.

"North Pole!" shouted Pyrrha.

Weiss acknowledged and shot forward. As she did, she channeled 7 glyphs for her to use, dashing to each one while hitting Ed. He was forced into the air, where Weiss slammed her last attack downwards, sending Ed back to the floor, into a waiting Pyrrha Nikos. She had both _Akouo_ and _Milo_ in xiphos form, before rapidly slashing at Ed. He was unable to defend himself from the second assault. Weiss had landed and quickly channeled a glyph. Pyrrha's last attack sent the man flying away from them before she landed next to Weiss. Quickly changing _Milo_ to its rifle form, she shot out bullets. Weiss had her glyphs in front of the rifle, making all the bullets explode into ice upon impact. 4 shots later, Ed found himself standing, but unable to move as his legs were whimpered a little when Pyrrha winded her throwing arm for _Milo,_ shifted into a javelin. When she threw it, the end part of _Milo_ exploded, giving it a boost of speed. It went through a movement glyph, making it go even faster. The end result was Ed being shot into the next room, where Blake had Roman cornered.

"Oh, still feisty," commented Roman, "Soooo, what are we gonna do now? You think a little bow on top is gonna make people forget who you were? What you've done...?"

As she gritted her teeth at his words, she heard the door from the previous cart open behind her. An unconscious Ed landed next to them.

"That can't be good," said Roman, looking at lieutenant with a frown. He was sure that that man would be able to handle his opponent. Until he saw Pyrrha walk in with Weiss, looking pleased.

"Oh, cmon. Having the 'Goddess of Victory' team up with 'Ice Queen'? That's just unfair," moaned Roman. Blake merely grinned before kicking Roman in the face, knocking him unconscious. They were later joined by Ren and Yang.

* * *

Back with the group on top of the train, they were taking out Paladins easily. Oobleck showed just how good he was, dodging an attack before running up onto the Paladin itself, shooting its engine. As he jumped off, he turned around and shot its foot. Jaune responded with the same, sending the Paladin up into the air. Ruby was with Nora, getting ready for their attack, which was now.

"Sugar Rush!" shouted Ruby.

At this, she sped up, dragging Nora in a pink and red tornado before sending Nora towards the robot. Nora, going at a high speed, ended it with a swing of war hammer, sending it flying off. Oobleck noticed more Paladins coming from the back before commanding them to head to the front. Before they could complain, Oobleck just smiled, reminding them that he was the leader. And that it was time... to teach his opponents a lesson. One they wouldn't forget.

Jaune, Ruby, and Nora nodded before going up head. Ruby noticed a sad Zwei before smiling and motioning him to go ahead with Oobleck. Zwei happily barked before running after Oobleck to back him up.

They got to the front of the cart just as the rest of the team emerged from the train cars to join them. They noticed that they were running out of time when the train was going on a collision course to smash into the thick concrete wall.

"That's not good," commented Jaune. Then he ducked just in time for a sword swing to miss him. Everyone quickly turned around to see a masked woman wearing black and red clothes.

"Who are you?" asked Ruby. She was intrigued that the woman wore the same color scheme as her.

"Oh no. Not you again," moaned Jaune.

"I see you still remember me, Jaune Ryu-Long," said the masked woman.

"Who could forget you so easily, Raven Branwen?" sighed Jaune, causing Yang to stiffen up. Before they could do anything, Raven slashed a portal open.

"Get in. All of you. This'll lead you to a safer place in Vale so you won't have to deal with being sent flying in the inevitable crash," said Raven.

They all looked at each other uneasily before Ruby stepped forward.

"All right. Let's go."

They all looked at her in surprise, to which she responded "She's Yang's mom. I'm sure she wouldn't do anything that would endanger Yang."

The others couldn't fault her for that logic, but Jaune still didn't trust her. However, they were running out of time.

"Don't worry, Jaune. I won't hunt you down... yet," smiled Raven.

The team all quickly jumped through the portal, Raven being the last one to enter. Just as the portal closed, the train crashed into the concrete wall and exploded.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger! Kinda of? Next time, it's the final chapter of Volume 2!**

 **Shout out to ManofManyTales for pming me to guess what I was going to do and getting it correct!**

 **Hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Review if you can, motivates me! Also, anyone care to guess what sort of fighting style Yang swapped to when fighting Neo for round 2?**

 **And if you noticed, some of the team name are pairing names that I had to look up. Figured if canon combo names work up as pairing names, they should work here. I tried to find the ones that are the most reasonable.**

 **You know, I always had some questions about Ruby being knocked out and caught so easily. Wouldn't Aura protect her? So many questions! And when she woke up, why didn't she just spam her speed Semblance and run away? Instead, she got tossed around easily, using her Semblance like once or twice, and still get caught. She wasn't even tied up! So rather, I just theorized that the blow to the head affected her powers for a bit. She can't be that helpless without a weapon.**


	18. Chapter 18 Breach and Aftermath

**A short chapter this week, but I've been busy. Thank my betareaders for helping me out as usual! Read and Review!**

 **The scene may not exactly follow cannon breach, but I needed it to be a little more epic.**

* * *

They landed on top of a building just in time to see the wall explode. Jaune looked around to see Raven had disappeared. He shrugged and looked down to see innocent civilians standing there, watching the hole in shock. The sun was already rising up to the sky. It was just past dawn. They had been up all night dealing with the White Fang. Soon, Grimm started spilling in. An alarm started to ring in the city.

"MOVE!" shouted Jaune. Everyone quickly obeyed, but Jaune stayed behind. The others didn't question why he stayed behind but accepted it as some sort of so many civilians, there would be no way to save them all. Not unless he used his links in public, and not just Fafnir. Getting a good idea what to do, he quickly ran into a building to switch off some clothes. After grabbing some clothes, he found a safe place and began to meditate.

* * *

Back at Beacon, Cinder was walking with her pawns when she heard the alarm from the city. Beacon soon also sounded the same alarm. It was a wall breach, calling for all Huntsmen and Huntresses to come help.

"You don't think...," said Emerald slowly.

"Sure looks like it," commented Mercury.

"That's still days away!" shouted Emerald. Mercury shrugged before looking to Cinder, "So? What do we do?"

Cinder seemed to be thinking hard on what to do, and how to adjust the plan _._

* * *

Team RWBY and NPR were busy fighting and trying to save as many civilians as possible. It wasn't easy as Beowolves, Ursa, and other giant Grimm were spilling from the hole. Some of the civilians were hurt, some even killed before their eyes. They desperately tried to save those injured. They never felt so helpless. Yang was punching cars as projectiles for massive damage to both Grimm and the word collateral.

"Where are you, Jaune?" muttered Pyrrha as she stabbed a Grimm creeper.

Ruby, Weiss, and Ren were busy trying to shoot Grimm Nevermores from the skies.

They were suddenly backed up by team SSSN, who charged in. They had been called by Jaune, telling them where to go. Later on, team BYDD obnoxiously declared they were here to help. Boyd pointed to Ren, saying that if he got more kills, Ren would apologize to him. Ren ignored him as he slashed at an Ursa.

Soon, even more reinforcements came in, supplied by Ironwood. The Atlesian Knights-200 helped in suppressing, but soon, any White Fang grunts that had survived came into the fight, trying to kill as many civilians as they could. Even the stolen Paladin units came into play, wrecking havoc on the knights.

Cinder had arrived with her team before nodding to them, telling them to fight the Grimm so they could keep their cover. Mercury grinned as he kicked an Ursa down. Emerald took out her pistols and started firing at the group of Ursa. Suddenly, an Alpha Ursa came charging in. Emerald wasn't worried as her pistols changed into sickle blades. She slashed at the Alpha before extending the chains inside her weapon, wielding them like kusarigama weapons. She spun around a few times, slashing the Alpha Ursa twice. The Ursa tried one last effort, but Emerald jumped above it while spinning, letting her weapon slash into Ursa, slaying it.

However, holes were popping out from underground, spilling even more Grimm. Everyone was busy trying to kill them all, but there were still civilians who were in danger. Oobleck crawled out one of the holes while operating a Paladin, and team CFVY arrived with Professor Port to help out. Yatsuhashi slammed his blade down, driving a dozen Grimm away with his powerful slash. Velvet was kicking Grimm away, while Fox began to slash at an Ursa Major before punching it on the head, sending it flying. Once it landed within a group of Grimm, it suddenly swelled up before exploding, sending its spikes into other Grimm and killing them. Quite a few flew towards them, but Yatsuhashi blocked some that was coming to Velvet while Coco merely swung her handbag at the spikes. She complimented Fox, slapping his butt before walking forward to a Beowolf.

"You destroyed my favorite shop," commented Coco before spitting at the ground, "Prepare to die."

The Beowolf roared and tried to slash at her, only for Coco to block it with a swing of her handbag before kicking the Beowolf right in the groin, causing it to fall down. She stared at the impudent Beowolf before bringing her handbag down onto its head, crushing its skull. A few more tried to attack her, but Coco handled them easily before dodging the stinger of a Death Stalker. As Velvet was about to help out, her hands on the clasps of the box she was carrying, Coco stopped her, saying it wasn't worth using it here. She transformed her hand purse into a gatling gun fired.

As Coco was busy using her gatling gun to mow down as many Grimm as she could, Alpha versions of the Grimm, ranging from Beowolves, King Taijuta, and others, started to spill out from the initial hole.

"Oh crap," said Sun, noticing the Alpha breeds arriving. They were all tired from fighting already, and team RWBY and NPR were very tired from the lack of sleep and continuous fighting. They were falling back, further from the hole. They were slowly being overwhelmed. Glynda arrived, already blasting Grimm, saving as many civilians, and plugging holes in the ground. She was too busy to deal with the arrival of the Alphas.

The Alphas roared and were about to charge in when they all suddenly stopped.

A Faunus mother was protecting her child from being killed by a Beowolf when it stopped. All Grimm all around had stopped moving. Everyone was looking around in surprise when they saw something up in the sky.

* * *

For the innocent, Huntsmen and Huntresses, it was hope. As if descending from the heavens above, was a man with white feathery wings. An angel from the above to help them.

For the Grimm, they could sense that it was the Dragons. The true rulers of Remnant. The ones that merely decided to leave, instead of becoming extinct like other legends, on a whim. The Grimm had never been able to kill one, and even if they did, the dragons repaid them a hundredfold, almost driving them into extinction.

For Cinder and her group, their jaws dropped as they saw what seemed to be an angel.

'So the White Fang and others weren't hallucinating when they said they saw an angel. But this one has white wings. Is it a different person?' thought Cinder.

'I'm starting to get less confident about this plan,' thought Mercury.

'We're going to have to deal with that? I thought it was just a winged Faunus!?' mentally screamed Emerald.

SSSN stopped and dropped their badges they had been holding with pride.

BYDD was staring in awe, although Boyd was busy telling himself that the heavens had come to bless him, or whatever egotistical thoughts.

Coco lowered her sunglasses, rubbing her eyes to make sure she was actually seeing what others saw. Fox was staring impassively with Yatsuhashi, but both were also in shock. Velvet, however, cheered with excitement as she saw an angel come down.

Team RWBY and NPR merely smiled as they knew who the 'angel' was.

Jaune had taken the time to switch off his clothes and put his weapons away. He didn't want anyone making a connection to who he was yet. Putting on a faceless mask with eye holes, He then linked up with Andusk and Aryz. Using Andusk's color, he sprouted white wings instead of the usual green wings instead. He thought that with this look, it would bring hope.

It certainly did, as people started to cheer that the heavens above had come to help.

Oobleck watched in awe, while Port dropped his weapon in shock. Glynda was also stunned but took this time to quickly fill up some holes while saving civilians.

The White Fang were starting to shake in fear. They had heard about the angel incident from the train, and now another one was here. Were they really the evil ones? They couldn't believe it. They had to be righteous! They were the ones trying to fight for Faunus rights! Right?

Jaune smiled he started to channel Aura into his wings. His wings spread out as wide as they could before glowing with power. With a brilliant flash of light, beams of energy came forth from each feather, flying towards the Grimm, swiveling and turning past any humans, Faunus, or robots. The Alpha had already tried to start climbing back into the hole, hoping to avoid a Dragon's wrath, but it was too late. Beams of energy collided into the Grimm, killing them instantly. Nevermore's in the sky tried to fly away, but the beams chased them down. Some took 3 to 4 hits, but they were slain, vanishing from existence. Soon, the plaza was almost devoid of Grimm life. The Alphas were wiped out, leaving only a few stray Grimm that were easily taken care of.

The Beowolf that had cornered the mother and child tried to take its last victim before running. It roared and slashed down. The mother hugged her child even harder, ready for the pain, but it never came. She looked up with her child to see the angel had stopped the Grimm with just his bare hands, floating in the air.

"Disappear," whispered the angel before he punched the Grimm in its face, killing it instantly.

Glynda quickly took this time to seal up the breach with her Semblance before turning to stare at the 'angel'. Ozpin needed to know about this.

* * *

As Jaune landed onto the ground, he was panting. That attack had dipped deep into his massive reserves. Team RWBY and NPR were probably operating with 5% Aura left in their tanks. He himself was operating at 1% after exhausting his Aura on that attack. Suddenly, he found himself being crowded by people, wanting to thank him, to touch him, to have him bless them. Newscast members were shoving their way to interview him. Helicopters above were filming him. He looked at his team, who nodded, saying they would meet up with him later. Jaune opened his wings again, making those who were close to him back off, and flew away. Some Atlas ships tried to follow him, directed from Ironwood, who wanted the 'angel' to be brought in to talk. However, Jaune had swapped back to his basic link and linked up with a third dragon, Alaerth. It strained him as he felt his reserves drop even more. With the extra speed and disguising himself as it was morning, Jaune disappeared. Seeing that they wouldn't be able to get him, Ironwood called it off. Two lone feathers dropped from Jaune, floating down until they were taken by the little child who reached out and grabbed them. She smiled and hugged them, not letting anyone take them from her. This would remind her forever about the angel who saved her mommy and herself.

Jaune had flown into Junior's bar before shutting off his links. Junior, seeing that Jaune was quite tired, quickly made him a pick-me-up drink, which Jaune took gratefully. While drinking, Junior had his men grab some Aura transfusion kits, quickly giving Jaune the extra boost. Junior then had some of his men escort Jaune back to the plaza quickly, so as not to arouse suspicion.

Jaune arrived at the plaza a few minutes later just in time to see Mercury and Emerald escorting Roman into an Atlesian airship.

"Oh, I can't believe that you caught me, you've really taught me the error of my ways," mocked Roman as an Atlesian Knight grabbed him on his arm, "He-hey, watch the hat!"

Although Roman was putting up airs, inside, he was terrified. He had seen the devil, and now he just witnessed an angel wipe out the Grimm. He didn't sign up to fight divine beings! Still, he would do what was best and survive.

Emerald and Mercury approached Ruby and the rest of the others gathered in a group, smiling. Everyone was smiling but got annoyed when Boyd was busy saying that he could have taken them all out and that the 'angel' merely interfered with his kill count. He was busy then ranting at Ren, who was getting annoyed. Nora solved it by smashing _Magnhild_ into Boyd's legs, trying to break them. Boyd's team 'tried' to help him, but they were also starting to get annoyed with Boyd's attitude.

"Hey, Jaune! Where were you?" asked Sun. He remembered not seeing him in action. Or so he thought.

"Busy escorting as many civilians out," replied Jaune, "We couldn't have all of us fighting Grimm. Some of us needed to make sure the civilians were being led to safety, and not into another pack of Grimm. Which is why I called you guys for help."

Sun nodded before turning around to his team. It had been quite an eventful day.

* * *

Team RWBY and JNPR were back at Beacon, looking at the city of Vale from a distance.

"Well, we did it," said Yang.

"YAAY. We are heroes!" shouted Nora.

"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm gonna be seriously disappointed," scoffed Weiss.

"Considering the collateral damage, that might not be possible," pointed out Pyrrha.

"Plus, I mean, we didn't solve everything. A lot of people were hurt, and we still don't even know why they did this, or who that mystery girl was," said Ruby before looking around, "A lot more might've died if it wasn't for Jaune."

"Well, not every story has a neat and tidy ending," reminded Weiss.

"We might not have all the answers, but we do have a lot of dangerous people behind bars. And I think that's something we could be proud of," said Blake with a smile.

"That's something I can agree on," said Ren.

"Yeah! And if anyone tries something like this again, we'll be there to stop them," cheered Ruby.

"Nobody can stop us from doing that," smiled Jaune.

Yang lied down on her back, " Yay, teamwork, camaraderie, good guys, g, team, alright, good job... So, what now?"

"I suggest bed rest," suggested Ren.

Everyone quickly agreed to that, but not before Jaune suggested some food and a shower. At that, all their stomachs growled in unison. Jaune smiled as he quickly reserved the Beacon Jacuzzi for them to used. A second later, Ozpin approved of it, saying that they would need it.

They quickly got something into their stomach and were delighted to be able to use the jacuzzi. Changing into swimsuits after taking a quick shower to wipe off any grime or dirt, they got in and relaxed, feeling their muscles unwind. Yang would've tried to seduce Jaune with her body, but she was too tired to try. Twenty minutes later, they had gone back to JNPR room, climbing into their beds and fell asleep immediately. Ruby fell asleep next to Jaune, as it was her night to cuddle.

* * *

In Ozpin's office, he was dealing with the Vale Government Council, who had called him on his Scroll. Ozpin had their faces on screen, with Ironwood next to it.. They were expressing their concerns about security, and that the Vytal Festival Tournament couldn't be held if they were unable to ensure the safety of citizens. The intervention of the angel had helped, but they couldn't rely on divine intervention all the time. So they went over Ozpin's head and reached to the Atlas Government Council and appointed Ironwood as head of security for the event.

Ironwood accepted it, stating he would do his best. As the council was about to sign off, they slightly threatened Ozpin and his position as headmaster, saying that the reports from Ironwood had left them concerned. Ozpin was left with staring at Ironwood, who tried to convince Ozpin that this was the right move and to trust him. He signed off as Ozpin looked out the window, drinking his coffee while looking deeply concerned about the future. He had heard about the angel and wondered how this might influence the future. Who was the new player?

Ironwood tried to interrogating Roman, but got nothing from him before leaving, saying that he was in his custody, meaning he had all the time to make him crack.

Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald were on the rooftop, looking down at where all the action had been. Cinder looked concerned, as the mission to expose fear on the citizens and bringing negativity slightly worked. It would bring more Grimm closer, setting up for the final stage. However, the appearance of the angel almost neutralized it. People had hope brought to them with the appearance of the angel. And that wouldn't attract the Grimm. She received word about how many Grimm had gotten closer, and it was not as high as she estimated. Cinder would need to lure a bit more in, but she had time. Just a few well-placed "accidents", and misery would bring some more Grimm.

"Those stupid kids really made a mess of things," commented Emerald, "Not to mention the appearance of that angel. I have to admit, I'm a bit scared of that. Not that I'm saying that you wouldn't be able to take care of that angel, Cinder."

"Yeah. A lot of Faunus didn't make it out the tunnels. You still think the White Fang's gonna listen to us?" asked Mercury, "With that angel, it might be hard to do so."

A voice interrupted them, "No, but they'll listen to me."

They turned around to see Adam Taurus, leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang.

"I can handle this 'angel'. The White Fang will stick with your plan for now."

"Excellent," said Cinder, "Then we keep going as planned. At the end of the Vytal Festival Tournament, it'll be a one to remember. Especially for Vale."

Inside, though, Cinder contemplated on sending a message to her mistress, Salem, asking for potential reinforcements.

* * *

Team RWBY and JNPR had slept for a full day, waking up at 7 in the morning. They grabbed something to eat before relaxing at RWBY dorm room, opening up the television.

"In other news, people are asking where the angel went. Here, we have a footage of an angel that came from the heavens and wiped out the Grimm."

The footage showed Jaune using his attack to wipe out the Grimm. Jaune almost spat out his drink while the others chuckled.

"This incident was caused by members of the group known as the White Fang. However, we cannot be sure that if it is the White Fang driving this action, or an independent group that split off from it. But we can surely thank the angel for saving the people of Vale. Here's a crowd that has gathered around the plaza that the angel landed."

The camera switched to a group of people all holding signs pointed to the sky, saying thank you. There were even several girls holding up signs asking to marry them. At this, RWBY and Pyrrha got protective and hugged Jaune.

"Some are even asking the government permission to create a statue of the savior who saved many people. Here's a few interviews."

The camera switched to reporters interviewing the citizens. Even Faunus citizens were saying they were glad for the help. One interview that touched Jaune's heart was when a little faunas girl with a missing tooth and a small lion's tail gave her biggest smile and said that the angel saved her mommy from being killed in front of her eyes.

"Soo, you're an angel instead of a dragon now," smirked Yang.

The dragons huffed and turned their head away. It wasn't their fault that Jaune decided to use white feathery wings and trick the people. Lung Wang told Jaune that he better use his powers soon.

Both teams spent the whole day just relaxing, finishing up any homework or getting caught up with any studies.

At night, Yang was walking outside, getting some fresh air, when she saw Raven with her mask on. Raven took off her mask, revealing just how much Yang looked like her mother.

"Yang, we have a lot to talk about," said Raven.

"No we don't," huffed Yang, "You left us. Dad told me who you decided was your family."

"It's not that simple,"

"No, it's quite easy," Yang began "You made your choice. I'm making mine."

She turned around to leave when Raven asked a question, "How is.. Taiyang?"

Yang stopped for a second before replying, "He's fine. Although his 'true' wife Summer died, he managed to get over it. He looks over both me and Ruby."

Raven nodded. Even if she did leave them, Summer always had a special place in her heart. To suddenly hear about her death was heartbreaking. It was the only day Raven actually indulged in some alcohol, to wash away the pain.

"And you? Are you with that boy in green? Ren, was it?" asked Raven.

"No. I'm dating Jaune," replied Yang. Raven's eyes opened wide at this.

"Interesting," murmured Raven, "Perhaps there is another way."

"Don't even think about it," warned Yang, "I have no interest in joining your 'clan', and neither does Jaune."

"Even if it means being with your mother?" asked Raven in a soft voice.

"You're merely my birth mother, the woman who played a part in birthing me," replied Yang bitterly, "Summer Rose was, is, and will always be my true 'mother'. Sometimes, I wish I was her blood daughter and not stepdaughter. She treated me like I was one of her true daughters by blood."

At that, Yang walked away before stopping for a second, "It was nice to finally see you... Goodbye."

She never looked back.

Raven sat at the fountain, sighing. Maybe she had made a mistake somewhere. Maybe she should've listened to her little brother, Qrow. Her own blood daughter didn't even look at her like a mother, just as she didn't really look at her as a daughter. For some reason, that hurt her in her heart. Sure, she had her rule of saving someone only once, even her own daughter. Yet, to be fair, that hadn't really applied yet. Yang had been saved by Ren, and the portal act couldn't really count. She was sure that they would've survived through the crash anyways. She merely wanted Jaune to be more.. cooperative the next time they met.

"Need a drink?"

Raven looked up to see Ozpin carrying another cup. She took it and sipped it a little as Ozpin sat down next to her.

"So. You've met your daughter, I suppose it didn't go well?"

"Oz... No, I suppose it didn't go as I thought it would," sighed Raven, "And I don't know why, but it hurts me. I know I shouldn't expect gratitude or happiness from her, but hearing her just flat out saying that she doesn't look to me as a mother, but just merely a stranger, hurts."

"One cannot easily deny one's blood, You were the one who carried her for nine months. You birthed her. Fed her until you decided to leave them to reunite with your 'true' family."

"I suppose...," admitted Raven. There once was a time where she truly did fall in love with Taiyang.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Ozpin.

"I don't know... Carry on with my clan I guess," stated Raven, finishing her drink off. She put on her mask before cutting open a portal again.

"Be careful, Oz. Beacon will fall if you're not careful," she warned, "Not even those divine interventions will always help you, and certainly Ironwood's toys won't help."

"Thank you, Raven. And please, try not to flirt with my students. It would not bode well to see you trying to seduce someone the same age as your daughter," replied Ozpin.

Raven gave him a dirty look before smiling. She couldn't deny that she did do that.

"And... if you ever decide to leave your clan. Know that you will always have a place in Beacon,"

Raven frowned, "Even though I'm the leader of a vicious bandit clan?"

Ozpin smiled, "A promise that I made with the leader of team STRQ. She told me that someday, you would come back. She wanted to make sure that you had a place to come home to."

Raven turned around so as to not let Ozpin see her face. As she entered her portal, a lone tear could be seen dropping from her face.

'You always did care for me, Summer. My partner.' thought Raven as she left.

* * *

Salem was looking at the footage, along with her members Arthur Watts, Tyrian Callows, and Hazel Rainart at her castle. Grimm were easily seen everywhere, and the land seemed corrupted by darkness.

"Interesting," said Salem, watching the angel wipe out the Grimm.

"Hmph. I suppose Cinder does have some semblance of a brain to call for help," said Arthur, aka Doctor.

"She will need some help for sure," grunted Hazel in his low voice, "This is no small obstacle that she can just ignore."

"Ooh, I want to go there. Can I? Can I pleasseee? It would be so much fun to kill an angel," grinned Tyrian maniacally.

"I will decide on that later," stated Salem, "For now, continue on with what you were doing. I will contact one of you to help Cinder after I have thought about it. Dismissed."

The others nodded and walked away.

"So," murmured Salem to herself, "Did the older brother, the god of light, create something to combat Grimm without the notice of the younger one, the god of darkness? If so, then it may pose some problem. However, it that was true, then these angels would be more in numbers. Not to mention, there was Cinder saying something about trying to find a devil. Perhaps another legend lost in the past? No matter. We will prevail."

With that in mind, she started to make plans on what to do. Unfortunately for her, since she had not been there to sense that it was the dragons that had caused this, she continued her plans. If she had known, she might've just thrown the plan out of the window start making plans for her own survival.

* * *

 **Hohoho! Cinder is gonna get some extra reinforcements! What will happen next? As I said, the next few chapters will not go into Volume 3 directly. Instead, I'm going to go into Volume 2.5! Reason for this is that I feel like the from vol 2 to vol 3, it went from the beginning of the semester to near the end of the semester. In my calculations/theory, that's a good 3 to 4 months away, which I can use to write about something! Hope you've enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Also, potentially I might need to make this rated M for my future battle/relationship stuff. That, or Just create another story continuing it with that one rated M while this one rated T. Prob won't do that though. Man, what was I thinking, writing a Harem story while keeping it T?**

 **Also, a potential delay in next chapter, as tests comes up once again. I hate tests!**


	19. Chapter 19 R&R before Next Mission

**Finished with Tests! Hated them as usual! Here's a new chapter that's longer than my usual writing. Introducing a new team into the fold, thank my Betareader TheMischievousPuppy for this one. He wrote it out and designed it, and I plan to implement the team in a few ways that some won't expect. And an idea from Jauneforever about some roadblocks. Enough talk, let's GO!**

* * *

A few days later, team NDGO came back from their mission and quickly met up with JNPR and RWBY. They all met up at a Juniors to hold a party for their first successful mission.

"I saw that footage. I know that was you, Jaune, right?" Dew questioned with a smile.

"Can't deny that," smirked Jaune.

"Excellent work, young master!" Junior hollered with a smile as he brought out some drinks for them.

"Thanks, Junior," Jaune replied giving his own smile towards him.

They were sitting on the second floor, watching over the dance floor to see Junior's men working out. Junior had declared that his men stop being cannon fodder and start being slightly more useful. Melanie and Militia were kicking their asses into shape, and at least have better aim than the White Fang members. They wanted to help, but they would need training in order to actually help somewhat. Still, having a nice information network always helped.

"Got something for you, Jaune," Junior began, as he showed Jaune his scroll "There's been information about some sort of activity going on the Emerald Forest. Whatever it is, it's attracting Grimm."

"Hmm. I remember Professor Port asking for a team to check it out," Jaune began. "Mentioned something about the security network there not working."

"Whatever it is, it might be bad news," Junior stated, "Also, word on the street is that Roman may not have been working alone like he says he was."

"You think it might be linked?" asked Blake.

"Maybe," Junior guessed as he rubbed his beard, "could be just a coincidence."

"I think we should check it out," suggested Pyrrha.

"Yaa! Another adventure! Maybe we can find a sloth!" Nora gleefully shouted

"Well, we do have some time until the Vytal Festival Tournament," Ren began, "It's the middle of the second semester, and we do have 3 months left. I hear Ozpin will announce which teams will be chosen to represent Beacon in 2 months."

"It'll be us for sure!" cheered Yang.

"There are other people who are older and stronger than us, including the upperclassmen," reminded Weiss, "Still, I do think we have a chance."

"I heard that most of the upperclassmen will be busy with missions thanks to the Breach incident," said Gwen, "Although that's not stopping team ARLN from participating in the tournament. Says he needs to 'defend his title'. "

"Psh, we all know that title would have gone to Winter if it wasn't for that time," said Octavia, hugging Ren.

"Yea, but he thinks he could've taken Winter. In fact, he stated that Winter got scared of him and injured herself on purpose," stated Nebula.

"What!?" shouted Weiss, "My sister would never do that! That jerk! I'll kill him!" The heiress would have gone and left to confront the ignorant little shit if it weren't for what Blake had said next

"Calm down, Weiss. It's just him bragging," said Blake.

"You know what would make you feel better? A good old round of breaking his legs," Nora happily said with a grin bringing magnhild out of nowhere

"Still, it's worth investigating," said Ruby, trying to return back to the original subject of missions.

"Well, we had our break, and we're caught up on our classes," said Weiss.

"Then team RWBY is on the case!" shouted Ruby, "You guys want to come with?"

Jaune shook his head, "We're going to the village that Ren and Nora wanted to go to, to shadow the sheriff."

"We get to be deputies!" cheered Nora.

"It's near Emerald Forest, so we might see each other still," said Pyrrha.

"We're headed towards the city to help out some guy," stated Nebula.

"All right then. Guess we're splitting off on missions. Hopefully, our next one won't be as exciting," said Jaune.

"Yea, but first, there's something important we have to do!" shouted Yang. Everyone looked at her while she stood up on the table, raising her drink to the sky.

"We need to hit the beach this weekend!" commanded Yang, "Summers almost gone, and we haven't gone there yet! We won't have a chance after our next missions!'

"Yeaa!" shouted NDGO, Ruby, and Nora.

"That sounds grand!" smiled Pyrrha.

"If it's a beach you want, I know an area," announced Junior, "It's a good place away from all the tourist. Kinda private. Let's you guys get the peace and quiet you want."

"Sweet," thanked Jaune. They all had plans ready, and Jaune even invited team SSSN to come through his Scroll. Only Sun wanted to come, though. Neptune was all ready to hang out with the hottest girls he had seen until they told him they were headed to the beach. Then he made up some excuse, saying he forgot he had a dentist appointment he really needed to go to. Sage and Scarlet had other priorities to deal with.

* * *

They were all laughing and were eating the night away until the Malachite twins trapped Ren in between them.

"Are you sure," began Melanie.

"That you don't want," continued Miltia.

"To date us?"

"We'll give you,"

"The ride of your."

"Life," finished both of them with a seductive tone.

"Back off!" yelled Nora.

"Mmm don't be like that," said Melanie.

"It's hard to find a good guy. Jaune's already taken with six women. Ren still only has two, making enough room for us," purred Miltia.

"Plus, I'm sure it's every man's dream to do twins," smirked Melanie, "We do share everything. That includes boyfriends and our senses."

They both grabbed Ren's hands before placing them on their breast. One on the right one of Melanie and the other one on the left one of Miltia, causing Ren to blush.

"Mmm I can feel your real hand on my breast, and a phantom warmth on the other one," purred Militia.

"It feels good," said Melanie, "Imagine what it feels when you're doing us. You'll be satisfying both of us even if you're only doing one of us. Of course, we'll want the real thing. After all, only phantom pleasure is such a tease."

Ren was trying his best to sink into the floor while Nora and Octavia were getting fired up.

"I don't know whether I should be mad, sorry, or proud at Ren for somehow attracting my nieces," sighed Junior.

The party came to an end when Nora grabbed her weapon, intent on breaking some legs.

* * *

A few days later, they discovered that Ruby had a problem. It started one day while in the library. RWBY, JNPR, and SSSSN were studying when Neptune had raised his hands towards Ruby, intending on grabbing a book in front of her. Ruby's eyes suddenly widened as she had a flashback about the lecherous Faunus whose hand had also strayed towards her. She screamed in terror, flipping the whole table into Neptune's face.

"Why?" cried Neptune as the table slammed his face.

"Ruby? What's wrong?" asked Yang in deep concern while Sun tended to his partner. Noticing that it would be a private conversation, he quickly led his team out.

"I… I…," sniffed Ruby, "I dunno. When I saw Neptune's hand, I was suddenly reminded of back in the cave. While I was still captured. One of the White Fang tried to grope me. Surprisingly, Torchwick stopped him from doing that. But seeing a hand going towards me scared me so much!"

"Ruby," comforted Weiss as she surprisingly gave her a hug

Jaune was pissed off. It took a lot of self-control just to fly out and try to find the guy who tried to molest one of his mates, especially the younger one.

"I fear Ruby might have a bit of PTSD," explained Ren, "We can't forget that Ruby is younger than us, and such an event could affect her more than the rest of us."

"But she seemed fine earlier?" cried Yang, "She didn't flinch when she was with Jaune. She even cuddled with him!"

"Jaune is someone Ruby is already familiar with, but it might affect her now that Neptune accidently triggered it," replied Blake.

"Then what can we do?" asked Nora.

Jaune slowly raised his hand towards Ruby, who began to flinch again before remembering it was Jaune. That Jaune would never do anything towards her. As he slowly reached for Ruby's face, she began to shake. Upon skin contact, Jaune could feel Ruby quivering and try her best to stop it. It broke his heart, and he immediately hugged her, to remind her that she was safe.

Ruby panicked and struggled a little before he felt Jaune's warmth and Aura, calming her down. Jaune had linked up with Andusk to calm her down, considering Andusk was the one responsible for the silver eye warriors. With that, Ruby could feel that she was safe. But it didn't stop her from shaking a little.

"I'm sorry," sniffed Ruby, "I know that you're here to help, but I can't stop my body."

"No worries," whispered Jaune, "I'll always be there for you, just like your team will also be there for you too. We'll help you out of this. We promise."

Ruby looked to see her team and friends all nod in agreement.

For the next few days, Ruby cuddled with Yang so she could feel safe. She skipped her turn with Jaune as she still wasn't over it. They even took her to a private counselor who specialized in this type of stress. Slowly but surely, she started her road to recovery, but it would take awhile. For the time being, Jaune and Ruby agreed not to cuddle or go on date nights for a little bit.

* * *

It was late Friday night, around 8 pm, tomorrow was the day Jaune and the gang would be going to the beach to have some relaxation and fun before heading off to their respective missions. However, even though Ruby was getting better from her PTSD, Jaune still get his mind off of wanting to hunt down the bastard who nearly groped her. Deciding it was best to vent his anger on some training droids in one of the training simulator rooms within the arena, Jaune began his walk towards there.

Upon entering, however, he was greeted with the sight of four people exiting out of the locker room. Thank the dragons it wasn't Team BYDD, but instead it was a team he never seen before. One of the members however stuck out the most considering the facts that for one, he was the tallest in the group, about Yatsuhashi's height if not taller. There was the height, but also his hair! On top of the man's head was a gigantic brown afro far larger than the man's skull, and here he thought Yangs hair was the hardest to maintain!

" _ **Wow. That's a very large… afro,"**_ commented Othim, _**"Wonder how he manages that at all."**_

" _ **Yang takes a long time to wash her hair, if I recall,"**_ mused Alaerth, _**"Maybe he takes longer, or there's some sort of spray to manage it."**_

Back in Vale, a certain shopkeeper was restocking a hair spray with the word _Remnant's finest Insta-Spray Afro. Guaranteed Afro within 20 seconds!_

Back to the group, the man with the giant Afro was currently walking backward in a cha cha type of rhythm with what looks to be lions tail happily swaying along to the dance. Just by looking at him you could tell he loves the color yellow considering the yellow jacket he was wearing with the matching leather pants and boots. On the back of the jacket must have been his emblem seeing how it was the face of a lion giving off a toothy grin while wearing sunglasses and it's mane styled to have its own Afro up above its head.

The man would have continued walking backward if not for the man wearing a black hoodie on top of his silver hair stopped him by saying something. Luckily with Jaunes enhanced hearing he was able to pick up what the man said

"Hey Dandy, looks like we got company," the man spoke to the now known Dandy. Dandy stopped his dancing for the moment and turned around, revealing that he was wearing sunglasses the same brand that Coco would be wearing, the jacket having an opening just like Sun's to show off his abs, and finally the belt buckle in the shape of a lion. Dandy lifted his hands up and tilted his glasses down a bit to show Amber eyes with slit irises stare right at Jaune. His nose twitched a bit as he stared at Jaune for a bit which was kind of awkward, yet slightly worrying to both parties. Considering the fact that Jaune didn't know who this man was, and why he was just staring at him in a stand still motion. He could be a white fang member for all he knew. But the word Dandy did kind of ring a bell in his mind. He felt like Nora had mentioned him once or something.

'Eh,' thought Jaune, 'Probably nothing important.'

Before any of the three members behind Dandy could ask him why he was staring for so long, Dandy's serious mood changed back to his usual self and literally danced walked right over to Jaune. "Mah sincere apologies friend for starin! Just that you kind of seemed familiar tah me is all. Names Dandy, Dandy Lion, team leader of the GROOOOVIEST team around, Team DSCO of Atlas!" With that Dandy struck a disco pose by having one hand on his hip while the other pointed to the sky. Behind him and perhaps Jaune, couldn't help but sweatdrop by Dandy's display.

Getting out of his pose and began to do a side step dance, Dandy looked over Jaunes features "May I ask of your name friend?"

"Jaune Ryu-Long, leader of team JNPR of Beacon" replied Jaune.

" _ **Wow. For some reason, he reminds of a certain eccentric man from long ago,"**_ mused Andusk.

" _ **You mean the guy that wore that hideous green tight leotard with a bowl head and extremely hairy eyebrows?"**_ replied Fafnir, _**"That man would not shut up, even if he was strong from normal standards."**_

"It's ah pleasure to meet yah Jaune! These are my teammates-" turning around Dandy pointed in the respective order "my partner, second in command and finally rocker of our team Soul!-"

Soul was around the same height as Jaune, wearing a black leather jacket with a hoodie over his head covering his silver spikes hair with a silver necklace dangling from his neck which had a cross with a laughing skull on the top side. One of the hairs covered his right eye, concealing the mismatched eye that was red instead of grey like left eye. Wrapped around his arms were metal chains then went all the way up his shoulders and disappeared inside holes that were made for the chains to enter. Wearing also black combat boots and pants, Soul extended out his right hand to show he was wearing dark red fingerless gloves as he gave a firm handshake to Jaune. "Soul Silver, nice combat clothes you got bud."

"Next is our third in command, and mystery man of the hour, Coral-" having a bright in between Yang and Blake, taller than Blake but shorter than Yang by a few inches, Corals type of clothing was quite unique, considering the fact that his clothing was a mixture of blue, orange and black. He wore a light darkish blue striped shirt with the sleeve stripes being orange. While his pants were blue on the top but began getting darker until at the bottom it was black. The most noticing thing about his appearance was his head considering the fact that he had a futuristic mask concealing his entire face and hair all except the mouth part. The visor had a holographic visor that would blink automatically depending on if the user wearing the mask blinked or depending on the mood change to different eye emojis. Also extending his hand he shocked not only Jaune but also the dragons by what he said next….in the exact same voice as Jaune!

"Jaune Ryu-long, leader of team-" he would have continued if it weren't for a smack to the back of his head by Soul. Which caused the holographic eyes to change to two X's

"Coral, knock it off dude, I know you like to joke around with that semblance of yours but the joke gets old bud." Soul stated giving a light glare towards his team mate.

" _ **That is…. surprising,"**_ muttered Aryz, _**"For somebody to be able to mimic a voice easily. He would be great for infiltration missions."**_

" _ **That, or a great singer,"**_ commented Ryo-Wo.

Coral rubbing the back of his head looked towards Soul, the holographic eyes glowing a dark red and giving its own type of glare, the voice however changed to that of someone with a robotic voice to hide the voice "Fine, fine, you ruin all my fun." Turning his head back to Jaune the holo-eyes changed to two upward triangles only without the bottom line "Coral Scream, and you my friend just witnessed a part of my semblance, vocal manipulation, I can-" suddenly Souls hand clamped onto Corals mouth.

"Hey, don't go revealing your semblance, he is of another team after all, can't give anyone the advantage against us now can we?" Soul stated as he gave another glare towards Coral, who sheepishly began rubbing the back of his head.

Dandy who couldn't help but let out a chuckle from his two teammates antics turned his introduction to their final teammate. "Last but not least, are old oldies Dj master, walking music sheet and beats player, Onyx!"

Onyx was the last male of the group, his height was just under Yatushashi, and the second tallest of the group. If Roman had a brother in fashion this would be him, only difference is, he would be a cross between Roman, a knight in shining armor and finally a pianist. Onyx wore a pianist tuxedo, one with the two extra spikes that went beyond the waist connected to the tux shirt, complete with black dress shoes, a top hat and a black bowtie. The only difference from it being regular dress clothing is that the suit was not made of cloth, but instead metal! He was literally wearing the most fanciest suite of armor anyone would wear! His pitch black hair that was tied in a pony tail that stretched to his upper wack was shaved on the right side of his head. Taking a guess why, it must be something that has to do with a metal rectangular plating that was on the side of his head. Taking a guess on why he had it, it may have something to do with the faded three claw scars he had starting from where the metal plates were covering, all the way to where it nearly reached the right eye from Jaune's perspective.

Currently Onyx was bouncing his head up and down, with closed eyes almost as if he was listening to some music right now. Dandy taking notice of this let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry about this, he's not actually rude, just that new music he likes to call Electric Swing, which is also the name of his semblance, tends to show up every now and then and he takes a high interest in what these new beats are. A sort of side effect of his semblance but he doesn't mind, helped his popularity grow in the DJ industry really." Dandy stated before tapping Onyx's arm, which made the man open his eyes, showing of brown irises.

"Oh sorry about that," Onyx began in the same accent Velvet has, as he turned his attention to Jaune, "Names Onyx, Onyx Beats, hey think you can take out your scroll real quick, I need your thoughts on this new track that came to me," Onyx asked as he waited for Jaunes response as he held out his hand showing off white metallic gloves.

"Ummm, sure?" sweatdropped Jaune. Taking out his scroll with a bit of hesitation he handed it to Onyx.

"Thanks, mate," lifting up his free hand Onyx lifted his hand towards one of the metal plates, to which a scroll plug of some kind popped out after a piece of the meta playing moved aside to reveal it. Taking the plug away from the metal plate, it was revealed that instead of a metal cord was connected to the plug, it was a physical manifestation of Aura shining in different areas of color. Now normally Aura was of just one color, but it seems whatever his semblance was must have something to do with the Auras color. Plugging the plug into Jaunes Scroll, Jaune could see tiny music notes come from the source of the Aura cord all the way down to Jaunes scroll.

The screen on his scroll showed a downloading emblem, only instead of the usual download arrow, it was a picture of a shield with something round in the middle and a top hat hanging on the top right corner of the shield. Once the shield was filled up by the musical notes, the emblem bounced once before heading straight into Jaunes music app.

Taking the plug out and back into his head, Onyx placed the plug back where it belonged and Jaunes scroll back to Jaune. "Here ya go mate, give the song a play, should have my emblem in the picture area next to the title of the song. Give it a play!~"

Jaune unsure about this all went to the music app and found the song Onyx was talking about, to which he pressed the play button next to it. He listened to it for a bit before commenting on how catchy it was.

With a small tip of his top hat, Onyx have Jaune a smile "Why thank ya mate, I think I'll call this beat **Posin'** , considering the lyrics in it and all."

With introductions done, Dandy looked up to noticed the time which his eyes widened when he saw the time "Oh that is SO not groovy, guys we gotta skiddadle before Goodwitch shows up and sees that room! Oum knows she is far worse than Winter when it comes to disciplinary!" Dandy stated towards his teammates to which they nodded quickly with wide eyes before running out of the room. Dandy would have followed them if he didn't pause to yell, "Ah'm sorry for the inconvenience my friend, as much as ah would love to stick around and chit chat, mah team really gots to go! Hope what eva training yah doing ah hope it goes well! Peace my friend and don't use **A** rena **113**!"

With that Dandy ran after his team. Jaune wasn't exactly sure what to make of this, though they seemed harmless and friendly.

" _ **Well they sure were an...interesting team"**_ _commented Aryz_

" _ **Yeah…, but I don't like how he was staring at Jaune. It's like he knew something. Be cautious around him Jaune, we don't know what his intentions are,**_ **"** Stated Lung Wang ,to which Jaune gave a nod in response before heading to the training room. Though upon passing Arena 113, curiosity did get the better of him and upon looking inside he was greeted to the sight of craters the size of a mini wrecking ball, that and lots of scorch marks that would look to be from something electrical. Bots were scattered everywhere. Glynda was not going to like repairing this.

"Woah….may Oum help them from her wrath" Jaune sweat dropped as he closed the door and went into another training arena.

* * *

Meanwhile with Team DSCO, Dandy had caught up with his team. With Soul seeing his partner next to him, he began to ask "Hey Dandy why were you staring at Jaune anyway? You know him or something?"

The glasses on Dandy tilted down to show a concerned eye expression "Nah, nah, but his scent..it smelled..,familiar to me"

"Woah Dandy, didn't know yah "Swinged" that way mate!" Onyx joked only to get a hateful glare from their leader

"No, just no Onyx! Ah do not go that way nor was that pun necessary! Ah mean, I smelled his scent somewhere before that had an important meaning to the item that had his scent, Ah think I might know where but I need to get the item to clarify if the scents match! Anyway let's just hurry up before-" upon turning the corner of the hallway Dandy was greeted to the sight of Miss Goodwitch with her arms crossed and a stern look towards the team which brought Dandy and the rest of DSCO to a screeching stop.

"Ahem.." Glynda began as she tapped her foot on the ground, her eyes twitching. There was a muscle mark on her forehead. Team DSCO gulped at this. Glynda had gone through the security footage.

Seeing no way out of this, and knowing they were all screwed, Coral changed his voice and said the most well-known line from one of his favorite web series in the voice of the guy with the sniper "Son of ah-"

* * *

The weekend arrived, and team RWBY, JNPR, NDGO, Zwei, and Sun took a bullhead to the place where Junior had recommended. The Malachite twins wanted to come, but Junior reigned them in, saying he needed them for their usual shifts. Ruby was slowly recovering from her flinching due to therapy. Sun, Jaune, and Ren were all setting up basically everything, from a bonfire to the poles and net for beach volleyball. They had already switched into swim trunks. Sun was wearing yellow swim trunks, Jaune with blue swim trunks, and Ren with... pink swim trunks. When they asked why that color, he just shrugged and said he didn't mind the color. That, and Nora had been the one to choose for him.

They were just about done setting up everything when they received quite a view. Ruby was charging forward first, wearing a frilly red one piece swimsuit that just suited her, with Zwei barking right behind her. Weiss came next with a rather elegant white two piece strapless bikini and skirtkini while carrying an umbrella. Blake had dropped the bow, revealing her cat ears while wearing a black flounce bikini with a halter top. She was also carrying a knife and a fork, with a rather dazed look on her face. She kept repeating that she wanted all the fish. Yang finished up team RWBY's entrance with a yellow microkini, just barely having enough fabric to cover her rather sizable assets. Before Jaune could stop his nosebleed, Pyrrha walked in with a rather daring red slingkini and a red sarong. Ending Jaune's little harem was Dew wearing a forest green string bikini. The rest of NDGO were also wearing string bikinis of lavender, black & purple, and brick red. Nora came charging out with a tube on her waist, wearing a pink high neck bikini.

"Dude," stared Sun, "Thanks for inviting me to see this."

"Uh huh," replied Ren and Jaune, unable to take their eyes off their respective girlfriends.

Back in the girl's locker room, Pyrrha had first been thinking about wearing a high neck bikini when she saw Yang put on her microkini.

"Yang! That barely covers anything!" gasped Weiss.

"I know," grinned Yang, "I'm just letting Jaune know what he can expect when it's time."

Weiss looked at Yang's body, seeing her killer curves and bust while looking back down at her own body. She was quite slender as usual, but her bust size wasn't something to brag about. She sulked in misery, saying she was still beautiful. Pyrrha looked at Yang and admitted that she would definitely attract a lot of attention. Luckily, they were at a private part of the beach, so no ogling stares from strangers nor paparazzi. With that in mind, she switched off to the slingkini her mother had given her before she left to Beacon. She had been so embarrassed when her mother gave her that swimsuit. Watching Jaune unable to take his eyes off all of them, she was glad of the choice. Although she had to admit, her mother had been careful with choosing that swimwear. Unlike other slingkinis, hers was adjusted so she wouldn't suffer any 'accidents' easily while playing in the water or sand.

As the boys finally shook off the shock, they started to enjoy the day. The first thing Yang did was tease Jaune, asking him to help her put sunscreen on her back and front. Needless to say, the other girls except for Ruby and Weiss made the same offers. Weiss merely wanted help with her back, while Ruby was still flinching from any wandering hands from males. Jaune had to go cool down in the ocean after putting sunblock on their back. They made sand castles, though when Weiss tried to cheat using her glyphs to create some towers for her castle, Jaune responded by linking up with Fafnir and stomping the ground before lifting his hands, as if he was lifting something heavy. The ground shifted, the sand coalesced to form something. As soon as Jaune was done, he had created a 10 feet tall sandcastle with intricate designs. Everyone immediately gave up, stating that Jaune won. Then they had fun destroying it. Nora had grabbed _Magnihild_ from somewhere and started to smash the walls. The others shrugged and joined in on the destruction of Jaune's sand castle. Zwei finished it up when Nora hammered him into the castle door and through the whole thing.

After that, they began to swim in the water. Blake and Weiss had declined, saying they wanted to just relax under the umbrella. The real reason was one of them didn't really like getting wet too much, while the other just wanted to work on a slight tan. She felt too pale. While in the water, Jaune linked up with Ryo-Wo and began swimming around at high speed. He dived and grabbed a few fishes, chucking them over to a freezer they had brought with them. Blake was drooling when she saw the fishes slowly start to stack up. As soon as Ruby saw how fast Jaune could swim, she begged him to let her ride him while he swam, to which he complied. She still quivered upon skin contact, but she forgot about it as soon as Jaune began to swim. After giving Ruby, Dew, Yang, and Pyrrha a ride, they finally came back to dry land. Nebula had returned with Gwen and Sun, stating that they had explored a little to see what else there was around the beach.

They quickly started to grill the fish using the bonfire and grill gate Junior had given them. The cooking was handed to Ren, Dew, and Nebula. Jaune, for all his wilderness training, only knew how to add salt to his food for some extra taste, as well as make sure he ate anything from the wild that would keep him healthy. He had tried to make a fancy dish once and ended up with goop somehow. Blake ate the most fish, going through them as soon as they were laid out ready for consumption. They had also brought a few other finger foods such as hot dogs and hamburgers.

After finishing on eating the food and taking the time to just rest and tan, they started a beach volleyball tournament. Sun, being the lone man out, agreed to be the referee for their matches while Zwei acted as a second. Everybody else agreed to pair up with who their partners were for initiation. No Semblances were allowed. That made Ruby pout as she wanted to use her speed to be able to get the ball, and Yang wanted to use the extra firepower for her spikes.

The tournament started, and the first teams to be eliminated was Ruby and Weiss, Pyrrha and Nora, Octavia and Gwen. Ruby was still clumsy while trying to run on sand, Nora had no concept of holding back, resulting her hits to always be out of bounds, and the last two lost to a fair match against Blake and Yang. The tournament ended with those two winning.

During the match of Yang and Blake against Jaune and Ren, Yang decided to use her body to their advantage. Yang had distracted Jaune quite a bit by emphasizing her bust size and always making sure she was in front of him when she jumped, letting him see in full definition just how they moved as she landed. When she received the ball, she made sure that her arms squeezed her girls. It didn't help Jaune that Blake decided to tease him and do the same thing. At one point Jaune swore he saw her parts start to harden, which also caused a sudden uprising in his trousers. He could barely move properly the rest of the game.

" _ **You should just claim her here and now,"**_ teased Othim, _**"You know she wants it. Just take her to a private place, have Fafnir make a wall to prevent others from seeing, and bang her until her eyes roll up."**_

Jaune ignored Othim's advice, although he couldn't stop himself from storing that tidbit for a much later time. It was just so tempting. After that match was Dew and Nebula against Yang and Blake. It was a hard battle, but Yang managed to finish it with a killer cross spike. Everyone went into the ocean after to cool off while Zwei napped on a towel.

As the sun started to set, they all just stared off into the distance, watching and admiring the view as the sun had just touched the water from the distance. It was quite a view. As they watched the sun slowly start to disappear, they packed up and head back to Beacon.

"That was fun," commented Ruby, rubbing her eyes in tiredness.

"We should do this again sometime," agreed Weiss, "But we have our next mission soon."

"Where you going?" asked Yang to JNPR and Sun.

"My team is heading to the northern quadrant of Vale to check out some rumors," shrugged Nebula.

"We're still helping out with the Vale police department," answered Sun, "With the amount of tourists pouring in, they need all the help they can get. Too many people trying to smuggle illegal goods during the preparation of the Vytal Festival."

"Alright. We'll see you after our missions," waved Jaune. Everyone headed back to their respective dorms except for Dew. It was her turn to snuggle with Jaune.

* * *

"Whew. I don't think we've been this far in the forest," Ruby said as she was leading her team through the Emerald Forest. They killed a few Creepers and Beowolves as they continued forward on their path. They had Professor Port on speed dial in case they needed anything. They finally reached their destination, a cave, where a control center that acted as the power and communications center for the security network in the forest. It was what allowed Beacon to have cameras in the forest to monitor students taking their initiation.

As they drew closer, they noticed that something was attached to the control center. They quickly took a few photos and sent it to Port.

"Hmm some sort of foreign object," mused Port out loud over the Scroll, "I feel like I've seen that symbol before. Never mind that. Attach a Scroll to the Control Center. Defend it while I undo the damage. Make sure your weapons are loaded and your mustache waxes stowed!"

RWBY all looked at each other at that last comment before shrugging. Professor Port was just weird like that.

As Port was trying to figure out what was wrong, he saw that the Control Center had been reprogrammed to suit hacker's needs. Its purpose was to attract as many Grimm to its location. But for what reason? Suddenly, he accidentally activated the program, causing the Control Center to start ringing.

"Oh. Whoops," said Port, "Students, you may have some Grimm coming to your location."

Yang and Ruby look happy at some excitement while Blake and Weiss merely frowned, but got ready. Soon, they had waves of Grimm coming at their location. However, they were easily dealt with, as it was only Creepers and Beowolves. A few Alphas showed up, but Yang took care of them with a wicked uppercut, followed by a slam to the ground, upheaving the ground below them. Blake went with swift strikes, cutting them in half. Weiss channeled her glyphs to shoot beams of energy at her opponent. Ruby sliced her enemies in half with her scythe. Blake stunned the last Alpha, and Yang came up and finished it with a huge right straight into its stomach, blowing it away.

Soon enough, the Control Center stopped ringing and attracting Grimm.

"Good job team!" congratulated Port, "The Security Network in this region is in ship-shape condition once again. I'll see if I can't get some of our staff to see if they can find anything about that mysterious symbol.

Meanwhile, with team JNPR, they were shadowing the sheriff of a nearby village, near the Emerald Forest. The Sheriff told them that recently, they had been dealing with quite a bit of Grimm lately. It was if they were all gathering at one spot, and their village just so happens to be near it. JNPR decided to check it out. They met a few Boarbatusks on the way, and Jaune finally got to see Nora slam her hammer into one that was spinning, sending it flying into another Boartusk. Not to be outdone, Jaune loaded his leg with Aura while linking with Fafnir before kicking one into the sky, hitting a stray Nevermore.

"I win this one," smiled Jaune while Nora pouted. Ren merely smiled while Pyrrha giggled.

They saw an ancient bridge that would have required them to activate the drawbridge and most likely draw in more Grimm, but Jaune decided to just fly his team over. Soon, they were looking at a Control Center with cages all around.

"What is this?" Asked Nora, inspecting the cages.

"It's definitely made to capture something strong. But what? Grimm?" Ren wondered as he inspected the cages.

"Let's take some photos for now," Jaune stated as he grabbed his Scroll. He sent the photos to Ozpin. The rest of them merely inspected the area. Soon, he got a call from Port.

"Jaune, my boy! Where did you find these symbols?" asked Port.

"We're at some Control Center," replied Jaune, "We were investigating why the village was having an unusual amount of Grimm attack, and this place was the source."

"Ah, more sabotage from the friend with the symbol," said Port.

"Ren thinks that these cages were meant to capture Grimm," added Jaune.

"Hmm. They certainly look strong enough to hold them. But what for? I don't like the look of this," murmured Port, "For now, let's focus on the objective. Put the Scroll into the Control Center. I need to undo any damages our friend has done to it."

Jaune nodded and put it in.

Port immediately started going through the programs when it suddenly activated the same trap.

"What the.. I didn't activate it this time. Somebody must've noticed and did it themselves. Team! Prepare for an attack!" shouted Port.

JNPR nodded and quickly drew their weapons out. They were assaulted with Creepers, Beowolves, and Boarbatusks.

"Hmm. I think it's time we field tested our triple combo move," said Jaune as he grabbed his shield _Dragonscales,_ and reinforced himself against the Control Center with Ren and Pyrrha near him.

"You serious?" asked Nora with glee.

Jaune nodded before shouting out, "Hidden Whirlwind!"

At this, Nora charged up before spinning in a circle wildly with her hammer. Pyrrha used her Semblance to keep her rotating, and Ren used his Semblance to keep Nora from being seen by Grimm. Since Pyrrha was the one guiding the attack, it did not break Ren's Semblance. If Ren attacked during his Semblance, it would automatically turn off. The same was for others when he hid them. The end result was that the Grimm had no idea a whirling hammer of death was upon them, sending them flying. After wiping out 3/4ths of the Grimm, they stopped. Nora was feeling dizzy.

"We'll take care of the rest," said Jaune, drawing out his sword. An Alpha came, but it was easily dealt with by a cut through its neck, followed by Ren smashing his palm at its body. As it was sent flying back, it suddenly exploded, sending its spines into stray Grimm.

"Whoa. When did you learn that?" asked Pyrrha.

"Learned it from Fox when I saw him do it. It looked interesting, but it takes a lot of Aura," said Ren, "I think he can do it much easier. Might be something to do with his Semblance. I usually release my Aura on impact when I attack. What he does is insert his Aura into the Grimm before forcibly making it expand. And since Grimm has no Aura, it can't run through its system. With nothing in its body to use it, it just expands until it blows up. Doesn't work on humans, as they just take the Aura for themselves."

Jaune nodded as he sliced another Beowolf in half. The alarm stopped ringing, and Port managed to get through it.

"Good show, team! I just received a report," said Port, scrolling through what the security staff had just sent him from team RWBY. His eyes widened as he remembered the symbol.

"That's right! The symbol we've been seeing belongs to Merlot Industries. It's an old Research and Development Corporation far before your time. The company was crippled by the collapse of when Mountain Glenn fell, where they lost their primary research facility and chief staff members. They never recovered from the incident, and eventually shut down," exclaimed Port.

"Ok, but why is it popping up now?" asked Jaune.

"Hmm. I can't say. I'll have to pass this one to Professor Oobleck for more information," said Port. From a distance, JNPR could hear Oobleck yelling at Port that it was Doctor.

"Well, least we solved this area's problem," said Jaune, "Let's head back."

"That sounds grand," smiled Pyrrha.

They quickly ran back to the village, telling the sheriff that the village shouldn't have to worry about any more Grimm attack for awhile.

* * *

Professor Port passed the details to Doctor Oobleck, who was studying the report. Afterward, he sighed out loud, "I'm going to need a team to head over to Mt. Glenn to check up on the old Merlot lab, to see if we can't get anything more."

Port nodded, "What about team RWBY? They found it, have them continue with the investigation."

"I don't want to burden the girls after their last trip there," replied Oobleck, "Plus, we might need a upperclassmen team to for this job."

Port thought about it for a second before suggesting team CFVY, team FIRE, or team PRPL. Oobleck thought about it and agreed.

"All right. Let's see if they are agreeable to that. They may have something else planned, though."

Glynda walked into their conversation, bringing them news that all those upperclassmen were actually busy with another mission, and that CFVY was trying to prepare for the Vytal Festival Tournament, considering their last mission had its deadline extended.

"Damn," cursed Oobleck, "What other team is available right now. How about CRDL and BLUE together?"

"Both are also busy," replied Glynda.

Oobleck sighed, "I'm guessing team RWBY is our only choice?"

Glynda nodded. "Also, Ozpin suggested it," added Glynda.

Both Port and Oobleck raised their eyebrows at this but decided to obey. Ozpin hadn't led them wrong before.

* * *

"Great. Mountain Glenn.. again," deadpanned Blake.

"Aww I thought we were done with Mountain Glenn," moaned Ruby, remembering the last time they had been here.

Team RWBY found themselves continuing the mission to investigate the recent sabotages at Mountain Glenn. They had returned back to Beacon to rest for a day while restocking on whatever they needed before flying out.

"Professor Port has informed me that you found some of their old technology interfering with our security system. It might be nothing... OR IT MIGHT BE EVERYTHING!" shouted Oobleck, "Either way, I believe it's worth investigating the Merlot Industries building in Mountain Glenn."

"All right then. Gooo TEAM RWBY!" shouted Ruby.

"If my old maps are still accurate, it should be located somewhere in the center of town. Just do your best and not end up like the brilliant men and women who worked there.." warned Oobleck.

"Don't worry, we got this Doc," said Yang.

They quickly traveled through the city, taking out random Grimm. Soon, they found that the bridge that led to the city had been blocked off.

"Well, that's an issue. According to my map, you should be able to take a detour through the city's old waterway system," advised Oobleck.

"Eww," said Weiss, uncomfortable with going through dirty mucky water.

"Just pretend it's a day in the water park," suggested Ruby.

"I've never been to one," replied Weiss.

"Uhhh..." hummed Ruby, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, _Water_ we waiting for? Let's go," grinned Yang, causing her whole team to groan.

Blake also didn't seem to like going through that way either and was thankful to see it was mostly dried up. They soon encountered a lock at a gate. Ruby was all for activating it and just waiting, but Yang punched the edge of the lock a few times with Weiss freezing it. Soon enough, it fell off, opening the gate. Just as they were about to go through, an Alpha Ursa came to attack them.

"Burning Rose!" shouted Ruby as she and her sister ran forward. Yang attacked high while Ruby attacked low. The Ursa roared and swiped its claws forward. Yang punched it away while Ruby slammed her weapon down on its shoulder before firing, leaving a gash on its shoulder. Weiss charged in, stabbing it multiple times on its body before doing a somersault kick on its head. Blake finished it with 5 successive slashes at its stomach.

"Let's keep moving," said Yang after reloading her gauntlets. Finally, they arrived to see a tall building they had not noticed the first time they were here.

"There! That's the facility," said Oobleck, "Go inside and see what you can find. And girls... Be careful. Although it looks stable, it has been many years since it was built."

RWBY nodded and went inside, taking photos of anything that seemed useful. Ruby had an idea and put her Scroll into a computer that seemed to still be working. She could hear it working, just not the monitor. After having Yang call Oobleck to link into her Scroll, Oobleck was scrolling through the information.

"I can't believe how all this data has withstood the years," said Oobleck in amazement, "Even after the fall. Still, its very like Dr. Merlot to not let something like this hinder his progress."

Suddenly, the building started to blow up.

"What's happening!?" shouted Weiss.

"The building has a self-destruct function!?" shouted Blake.

Soon, team RWBY found themselves running for their lives out of the building. They didn't make it out, and the building blew a hole into the ground, sending everything inside into the hole. Including team RWBY.

"Team? TEAM!? TEAM RWBY, RESPOND!" shouted Oobleck. He slammed his fist onto the table, feeling helpless. This was supposed to be a simple investigation mission, not a search and destroy! He was worried for the girls when all he heard was radio static

Suddenly, he heard coughing noises from the other line.

"Team RWBY, are you alright?" asked Oobleck.

"Yea, we're all here," coughed out Ruby making a head count, "And I don't think anyone's hurt. We might have to hold our position for the while to recover."

"A good idea," said Oobleck, "Take this chance to get a breather, but try to find a way out. I'll have a Bullhead on standby to pick you up. Your mission now is to just get home safely."

"Roger that," said Yang.

Team RWBY took the time to rest up before heading off to find a way out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Team JNPR had returned back from their mission.

"Welcome back," said Glynda, "I hope you aren't too tired right now."

"What's wrong?" asked Pyrrha.

"We need a team to investigate Forever Falls," said Glynda, "The Merlot insignia that your team and RWBY sent to use has Ozpin worried. He's noticed something is wrong there and wants any available team to check it out. If you accept, then you'll be heading out tomorrow with team CFVY"

Jaune looked to his team, who nodded back at him.

"We'll do it," said Jaune.

"Excellent. Go get some rest now," said Glynda. As they left, Jaune paused for a second before asking, "Is team RWBY back?"

"They encountered some trouble at Mountain Glenn, but rest assured, they are safe," answered Glynda.

Jaune nodded before walking back to the JNPR dorms. Inside, though, he was worried.

'Should I just fly out there to check if they're all right?' thought Jaune.

" _ **They should be fine,"**_ said Lung Wang, _**"Have trust in your future potential mates."**_

" _ **It will do you no good to keep worrying about them,"**_ advised Ryo-Wo.

Ren, as if sensing what Jaune was feeling, turned around to speak.

"Team RWBY has always performed exceptionally on the field. Not to mention all that extra training we've crammed in with them."

"Yea.. You're right," said Jaune, brushing his hair back, "Just a bit concerned. Let's get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

That night, Dew had come into their room to snuggle with Jaune. She was quite jealous to hear the other girls snuggle with Jaune during sleeping time. They had a whole semester to do so while she was at Shade dealing with an annoying Arc. So she took this time to snuggle with Jaune even though it wasn't her turn. Pyrrha glared at Dew for a bit before jumping into the bed with Jaune. They ended up sleeping together, with Jaune in the middle while has arms were stuck in the clutches of girls on either side. He didn't terribly mind it, though.

* * *

Team RWBY had eaten and rested for a bit before continuing on to find a way out of what seemed to be the sewer system. As they were walking, they saw the weirdest Creeper ever. Instead of the usual black and white design, this one had sickly colored green spikes on it and was much larger than normal. But yet, it didn't seem to be an Alpha Creeper.

"What is that?" asked Blake.

"A new Grimm? Let's kill it!" said Ruby, jumping in with her scythe.

"Ruby wait!" shouted Yang, but Ruby had already charged in.

She sliced the Grimm in half before turning around, "See. No big deal."

Weiss then noticed that the Grimm, instead of dissolving, seemed to be expanding instead. Her eyes widened, and she quickly made a movement glyph, sending Ruby towards her.

"Hey, why-," started Ruby, but never finished her sentence as the body of the green Grimm exploded. If Ruby had still been there, most likely her Aura would've been destroyed, and potentially hurting or killing her.

"What was that?" shouted Ruby.

"I dunno. But I see a few more of them up ahead," said Blake, taking out her Scroll. She snapped a few photos before writing in some key details and sent it to Port. If it had to do with Grimm, then Port would be the one with answers, no matter how long or boring his stories were.

They continued ahead, noting that the green Creeper, or Mutant Creeper, weren't as abundant, but still very dangerous. They soon got a call from Port.

"Hello, students. I've just seen the pictures you've sent me and the details. Unfortunately, I don't know what it is. I've never seen it. Oobleck theorizes that it's a Grimm but heavily mutated. I would say capture one for further study, but based on your description, that would be dangerous. For now, just gather data about these new Grimm, and find a way out. I suggest using your ranged weapons on killing these green Grimm, so you're safe from the explosion."

"Well, that was informative," grumbled Weiss.

Walking forward to any path available, they encountered a mix of both Grimm. It seemed like the green Grimm and the regular Grimm had no problems with each other, making them think that it was indeed a Grimm creature. They found themselves staring at a huge door that was blocking their way.

"You should be almost to the exit," said Oobleck,

"Just plug your Scroll into any available port, and I'll be able to open the door for you."

Weiss put hers in, and the doors opened, revealing a path with a railroad system... and a bomb that was ticking in front of them. It started as soon as the door opened.

"Umm, Professor?" said Weiss.

"Doctor!" replied Oobleck.

"We have a problem," Blake continued

"What's wrong? Is the path blocked?" asked Oobleck. Weiss turned the Scroll to video and showed Oobleck the cart with a ticking time bomb.

"Oh dear... That is a bomb. And a very large bomb at that. Who would booby trap this place?"

"Not another bomb!" cried Ruby.

"Give me a moment to analyze that bomb," said Oobleck, looking at the picture. He then declared that it was impossible to move the bomb or tamper with it and that their only chance was to use and Dust engine crystals to keep the cart moving into a deep chasm and underground river that was just ahead.

"Remember, time is of the essence, but remain calm," said Oobleck, until RWBY and Oobleck heard Grimm howling in the distance, "Right. Forget being calm. JUST HURRY!"

Ruby and Blake were in charge of finding Dust Crystals, which were thankfully laying around the cave. Yang and Weiss were dealing with the Grimm that was charging towards them. The cart was slowly moving, but time was ticking, as could be seen on the bomb.

"Go go go!" shouted Yang, as if trying to make the cart hurry up.

"Ladybug!" shouted Ruby, as she and Blake dealt with an Ursa blocking their way. Weiss finished it with a stab upwards into the air before diving back down, stabbing it in the head.

Time seemed to extend forever when it was only 2 minutes and 30 seconds. With 30 seconds left on the clock, the cart finally reached the end of the track and fell down. It exploded upon impact, but luckily, none of them were in danger.

"Urg, can't wait to get to the showers," said Weiss.

"No complaints here," said Yang, "I need to get all this dust and water off my hair."

"Just call the Bullhead, Ruby," sighed Blake.

Ruby called Oobleck in for a ride, to which he made a huge sigh of relief.

"Good job students. I'm glad you were able to keep your cool... and not explode... that would've made for an uncomfortable parent/teacher conference. Still, all of these signs are quite worrying. Team JNPR and CFVY are at Forever Fall right now, checking some things out. Just get back here, and you'll rendezvous with them later."

"Copy that," Ruby replied before putting her Scroll away.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed it. Team DSCO moving in with their groove on! Also, buncha easter eggs in that. Team DSCO is a team that TheMischieviousPuppy designed all by himself, with me giving some but minimal advice on it. Read and Review! Almost hitting that 1k mark! That's my next goal! That, and surpassing the review count on my other story.**

 **And so this time's arc is the RWBY game Grimm Eclipse! Otherwise could be known as vol 2.5, as it does take place in between vol 2 and 3.**


	20. Chapter 20 Mysterious Signal and Island

**Sweet, finally hit the 1000k mark on favorites. Celebrating it with a new chapter! This one's a bit short, but hey, short notice. The next chapter will be the end of the this Arc from the looks of it.**

 **Just gonna put a notice, Team DSCO is not going to be another one that serves the Dragon Clan. I only put them in because I felt like it and had my beta help out. Team DSCO is more of a team that'll appear on and off. Like I said, they'll play something in the tournament but not on something you'd expect.  
Also, for all those who caught the Easter Eggs, Congratz!**

* * *

Team JNPR and CFVY were at Forever Fall, looking around for any hints of sabotage. So far, they hadn't found much, except wiping out a few Grimm.

"Hmm," thought Yatsuhashi out loud.

"What's wrong, big guy?" asked Coco as she looked up towards her teammate.

"Something feels... wrong," admitted Yatsuhashi.

"Really? I don't hear anything off," said Velvet.

"I don't know what's wrong," said Yatsuhashi, "But it feels like a storm is closing."

Fox closed his eyes before nodding in agreement. Velvet and Coco looked at each other. When Yatsuhashi had these gut feelings, they were usually right.

"JNPR!" yelled Coco, "Get over here. We're going to proceed with a bit more caution."

JNPR nodded, walking closer to the group. Jaune also had the same feeling as Yatsuhashi.

"So, any idea where to go?" asked Jaune as he began walking alongside the leader of team CFVY

Coco shrugged, "So far, there hasn't been anything off."

Jaune sighed, thinking this was going to be a long day until his Scroll suddenly rang. He picked it up to see it was Junior calling him.

"What's up, Junior?" asked Jaune.

"Jaune. I recently got word on the street that something fishy is happening at the edge of Forever Falls, near the shore. Just follow the train tracks that's near you, and there should be a make-shift dock there. Word is that it's being used now. Back in the past when I was still in some unsavory business, I used to have some of my shipments come from there, but it should've closed down, as too many Grimm were in the way," stated Junior.

"Got it. Gonna go check it out," acknowledged Jaune.

"Good hunting, my lord. If you need help, I'll have my men ready to back you up,"

"Not necessary, but thanks for the offer," grinned Jaune, "Jaune out."

Jaune hung up the call before telling them about the information he just received. They all agreed to check it out. A dock that was suddenly in use was something suspicious.

"Soo, who's your contact?" asked Coco, interested.

She had initially been surprised to see Jaune had been accepted to Beacon but didn't question it. After the Velvet incident, she personally went to Jaune to thank him. She repaid him by dragging him out on a shopping trip to buy the necessary clothes to look fashionable. Jaune was lucky that he didn't mention how much Lien he had, otherwise, he would've been stuck at the mall for the next two days.

"Just a friend," said Jaune, not willing to say anything more. Junior was now trying his best to have most, if not all, of his businesses to be legal. Jaune had given him some Lien to help out, to which Junior was very grateful. He promised to earn as much Lien with the money that Jaune had entrusted him with.

Before Coco could question Jaune further, they noticed Grimm incoming. However, these Grimm were not their usual Grimm. They were the Mutant Grimm Creepers, but team CFVY and JNPR didn't know about that.

" _ **Interesting. They seem like Grimm, but at the same time, they aren't. It's like they've been... modified. And not by nature, but by artificial ways,"**_ said Lung Wang.

" _ **Who would be insane enough to do such a thing?"**_ asked Aryz.

" _ **Let's see if they still remember to fear us,"**_ grinned Othim.

"What are these things?" asked Velvet in horror.

"Don't care, just open fire!" shouted Coco as she unleashed her machine gun and fired. JNPR quickly obeyed and fired. They were all surprised to see them all suddenly explode. No doubt that if they had engaged in close combat, it would've been dangerous.

"They explode!" shouted Nora with a certain glee. She was already thinking of how to use these new Grimm as make-shift grenades.

The Grimm were wiped out, but Coco decided to make a quick call to Port, wanting a Grimm expert on this.

"Ah, I see you've met the Grimm Mutant Creepers. Team RWBY already sent word of encountering some back at Mt. Glenn. However, the fact that you found some of these Grimm at Forever Fall is concerning. See if you can't find out where they're coming from," commanded Port.

Coco nodded before hanging up. She turned to them, announcing that their new objective was to find out where these new Grimm were coming from and destroy the source of it.

Jaune whispered to Ren, "Hey. Does your Semblance still work on them as Grimm, or are they something else?"

Ren concentrated for a bit before replying, "Don't know. They're definitely Grimm, but based on heavily modified they are, it's hard to tell."

Jaune nodded, "Then don't risk using your Semblance to find out. That's an order."

Ren nodded as the two continued walking forward.

* * *

The group walked through the forest, dealing with both regular Grimm and the Mutant Creepers. They were all about to enter a cave when a Beowolf attacked them. However, this Beowolf was just as mutated as those Creepers. Sickly green spikes could be seen all over its back.

"Mutant Beowolf!" shouted Pyrrha, drawing her weapon.

"Port would want to study it, but I say kill it!" shouted Coco. Everyone opened fire. Nobody could disagree with her on that. They soon found out this Beowolf was much stronger than it's counterparts and didn't even flinch under a stream of constant fire from Coco. Fox attempted to insert his Aura into the Mutant Grimm to blow it up, only to find his Aura repulsed, and his hand burning from contact. He quickly jumped back before finding his hand in intense pain.

"Fox!" shouted Velvet when she saw him on his knees, clutching his fist in pain. The Beowolf charged at Velvet, who dodged its claw before kicking it in the face. Using the recoil, she jumped back away from the Grimm. Suddenly, the Grimm slammed the floor, and green spikes came from the ground, going to where Velvet would land. Yatsuhashi saw this and pushed Velvet out of the way before putting his sword in front of him to protect himself. The green spikes slammed into his sword, sending him flying. As he landed, his body glowed before it shattered, showing his Aura barrier was down.

'That's it!' growled Jaune as he linked up with Lung Wang. Lung Wang was excited that he would finally be used in combat.

Jaune ran forward, dodging the Mutant Beowolf's claws, before lighting his sword on fire with his Aura. He began slashing at the Mutant Grimm, which roared in pain. It didn't seem to even recognize that a Dragon was fighting it. Truly, it lost its base instinct.

Jaune swiped its feet, taking its ground from under it. Nora was already in the air, her hammer swinging down into the Beowolf's head.

"BOOP!" shouted Nora as she crushed its head. Nora lifted her hammer before smashing it two more times to make sure it was dead before leaping back. Luckily, it seemed like this mutant variety didn't explode.

"Whew. That was close," said Jaune, "Is everyone alright?"

"My team might be outta commission," admitted Coco, "Fox's hands seem burnt and numb, while Yatsuhashi took a big hit, draining his Aura reserves. Seems like those spikes have some sort of poison in them, as he says his arm feels numb."

"All right, let's call a Bullhead over. Team RWBY is supposed to rendezvous with us. We can have your team head back while they come here," said Jaune, "We stop for the night."

Everyone agreed, and a campfire was set up. Fox and Yatsuhashi had their wounds carefully cleaned and bandaged just in case of further infection.

* * *

The next day, the Bullhead arrived with team RWBY and some supplies, while team CFVY took the ride back.

"Guess we're back on another adventure," grinned Jaune.

"It'll end in a Yang," grinned Yang, pounding her fists together. To which everyone groaned once again

"Let's just get this over with before we have to hear more puns," groaned Weiss.

They went ahead into the cave, dealing with even more mutant Grimm. Luckily, after learning from the CFVY fight, they had a better understanding of the mutant Beowolf and how to deal with it. They finally reached the shore that Junior had told Jaune when they saw a ship coming in with the Merlot insignia on it. They quickly took a video of it and showed it to Oobleck, who was temporarily in charge of their operation.

"Team! That is an active Merlot Industries ship! But Dr. Merlot hasn't been heard or seen in ages... I must inform Ozpin at once! This is worst than I feared," said Oobleck. Before he left, he gave one last command, "Investigate the ship, but keep a safe distance."

With that, Oobleck hurried off to find Ozpin, giving Glynda command for now.

As the two teams went further, trying to get nearer to the ship, they found a temple that was serving as a temporary storage for Grimm. Feeling it was safer, they eliminated all the Grimm inside before proceeding on. As they were about to leave the temple, a mutant Ursa appeared before them, with its many green spikes on its back and claws. The mask itself was highlighted in green marks.

"That's not normal," said Ren as everyone got ready for a tough fight.

"Take it down!" shouted Jaune, imbuing Fire Aura into his shots.

"Freezerburn!" shouted Ruby. Weiss quickly made an ice floor as everybody else leaped away. Yang punched the ice floor, causing the mist to rise and blind the Grimm. The Ursa looked around, trying to find its enemies. Frustrated, the mutant Ursa roared before smashing the ground, causing green spikes to burst from the ground all around it. Luckily, nobody was hit, but it gave them an opening.

"Napalm!" shouted Jaune. Yang and Nora came in smashing to stun the Grimm. Ren followed up with a spinning attack, hitting it several times before jumping up into the air. The Grimm looked up, distracted by this move.

"Scarlet Fever!" shouted Ruby as she dashed in with Pyrrha. Both of them slashed as fast as they could, Pyrrha wielding dual xiphos. At their last attack, Ruby spun as fast as she could to strike the Grimm, and Pyrrha followed the same move, but at the other side. Both attacks cut through the Grimm flesh, causing it to roar in pain and yet it was still standing. It was truly tougher than its original model.

"Shadow Storm!" called out Jaune. Blake had leaped into the air, next to Ren. She quickly made a shadow, letting both of them use it as a foothold before jumping straight down at the mutant Ursa. With their weapons, they slashed the Grimm's shoulders. The mutant Ursa was now really roaring in pain.

Jaune suddenly appeared in front of it, his sword blazing with fire. Weiss had a glyph beneath Jaune and activated the time dilation glyph.

"Flash Fire," grinned Jaune before rapidly slashing the Grimm, hacking it into pieces, With the last slash, Jaune roared and brought it down, directly bisecting the Grimm and incinerating anything behind it until it hit a wall.

"Whew, took me awhile to get the blade beam move down," said Jaune as he wiped off some sweat.

"We should rest a little before we go on," suggested Pyrrha.

"Na, we're almost there. We're just observing," said Nora.

"It might be better if we rest, Nora. If there is any trouble while we were observing, it would not do us well if we are tired," said Ren.

Nora pouted but agreed.

"Students, do be careful now," said Glynda in a worried tone when Jaune updated her on the situation, "It would not bode well if we lose our top 2 teams of freshmen year."

They all acknowledged and began to relax on some trees nearby.

* * *

They took an hour to rest before going nearer to the ship. There, they saw shipments being loaded into the ships, and androids that were loading them in.

"Good job, students," said Oobleck, as he had returned from his report, "Get in a little closer. I may need to see what type of cargo their holding. Be careful of security."

They nodded, taking random photos of what seemed to be important. Ruby found an open container and went in to find some chemicals and other stuff. Quickly taking those photos, the team tried another container, only to find it empty. Before they could go out, they heard the androids approaching. Seeing no other place to hide, they hide inside the container. Unfortunately, it was a mistake. The android closed the door and locked them inside. They were about to attempt an escape when they felt their cargo being lifted into the ship. Pyrrha quickly tried to open the front door, only to see another Cargo was blocking the door from opening. Still, at least they would have air. The ship's horn sounded, and it took off, taking RWBY and JNPR with them.

"Team? Where are you? Report in Students! Please!" yelled Oobleck into his Scroll, trying to get a connection. None of them were picking up for some reason.

"Oh dear, Ozpin's not going to be happy about this," sighed Oobleck, already imagining the pay deduction he was going to get. This would severely affect his coffee supplies.

"Well, we're stuck here for awhile," said Jaune as the ship set sail. "Let's just use this time to rest before continuing on. We can contact Beacon after we find out where we land." In reality, Jaune could've just sliced the plating, making a hole, but they decided to see where the ship took them.

"Sounds like a plan," said Ruby, starting to relax on a wall.

It was uncomfortable until Jaune drew out some futons from the depths of his bag. Eager for something soft, the teams quickly helped Jaune lay it down. They were soon all lying down on something that wasn't as hard as the cold metal plating. They began to take turns to nap, as they would need the energy to do so when they had the chance to escape.

During this time, Jaune decided to sit down next to Weiss and ask how her glyphs were going. She had mentioned about trying to summon, but had no real success with it, delaying her training with it and focusing on other aspects. Yang and Ruby were cuddled together napping, Nora's head was on Ren's lap sleeping. Blake and Pyrrha stood watch for the while.

"It's just not suited for me," said Weiss with a bitter voice as they started the conversation.

"Don't say that," said Jaune, "Just relax and think about what your sister said about summoning. What you're feeling when you're summoning."

"I've tried. I can't summon any stupid Grimm that I've defeated," said Weiss bitterly, "Not even a Creeper. My sister can do it easily."

"Does it have to be a Grimm?" asked Jaune.

Weiss opened her mouth for a second, then closed it. She opened it again and was surprised she had no real answer. At this, Jaune chuckled before putting his hand on her face, making her blush. He moved some hair to touch the scar on Weiss's face. She slightly flinched at this but allowed Jaune to continue.

"I never got to ask. Who or what gave you this scar?" asked Jaune tenderly, "I'm sure it wasn't there when I was at Atlas watching your amazing singing."

Weiss blushed and sighed before explaining how during training, she had been forced to fight a giant suit of armor. It was a specialized robot that Atlas had been developing to see if it could be on par with training Huntsmen. She had made a deal with her father when fighting it. If she won, she got to go to any Huntsmen Academy she wants to while keeping the Heiress position. If she lost, she would be forced to stay at home and work for the company if she wanted to keep the Heiress position. They already had one Huntress in the family, and Jacques Schnee didn't really think they needed another.

"That's just harsh," whispered Jaune, rubbing her cheeks. Weiss found that she really like the warmth of Jaune's hand, and leaned in closer to it.

"Do you talk with your father at all, now that you're here?" asked Jaune.

"No," admitted Weiss, "I've been ignoring his calls. I want to show him that I can do this."

Jaune raised an eyebrow at this, "Weiss... It's not my place to say, but I think you should at least say hi once. Hear me out. He's probably calling you just to check on how you're doing. It would ease his mind if he just saw your face or even heard your voice."

Weiss huffed at this, not wanting to admit that Jaune was right. Seeing that Weiss didn't want to talk about her family anymore, Jaune switched subjects.

"So, does that mean you can summon the giant suit of armor? Because I'll be honest, that would seem much more impressive," said Jaune. "Shame you can't summon some dragons."

Weiss chuckled before saying she would give it some thought.

"Just remember, Weiss. You and your sister are different. It doesn't mean you both will summon the same things," advised Jaune. Weiss nodded in reply before putting her head on his shoulder to take a nap. Jaune soon fell asleep, putting his head on hers.

* * *

The ship stopped, and a horn could be heard. Soon enough, the cargos were being picked up by a crane to be put on a truck. As soon as they had the chance, they busted out of the cargo they were in, quickly making it on land.

"This place... It looks... so very unfamiliar," stated Jaune, causing his team to snicker a little. Jaune couldn't help but grin back, glad to see some nervousness and tension was gone by his joke.

Jaune picked up his Scroll, dialing to Oobleck. All he got was radio static and mumbled noise.

"Dam, no signal." said Jaune.

"Look, a radio tower," said Yang, pointing into the distance. They all saw the tower.

"Maybe we can get our Scrolls working again if we head to the tower," suggested Pyrrha.

Everyone nodded, but before they even took three steps, they found themselves surrounded by what seemed to be red robots with glowing green double sided spears. They seemed much taller and bulkier than the Atlesian Knights.

"Oooh, robots," said Ruby, admiring their weapons and mechanics.

"This is no time to be distracted," scolded Weiss.

"Let's crush these buckets of bolts!" yelled Yang.

They all charged to attack. Upon fighting, they discovered that these robots were much more skilled and advanced than the Atlesian Knights.

"How!? The Atlesian Knights are supposed to be the best robotic forces! The pinnacle of Atlesian robotics!" yelled Weiss as she dodged a double thrust from the robot.

"Just smash them to pieces!" yelled Nora, swinging her hammer into one that Jaune had stunned with his shield.

"Lotus Spear!" shouted Jaune. Pyrrha and Ren nodded, getting into position. Jaune quickly channeled his Aura into his sword while linking with Fafnir. He stabbed the ground as hard as he could, upsetting the balance of the robots around him.

"Nordic Winter!" yelled Ruby. Weiss and Nora teamed up, with Weiss enchanting all of Nora's shot to give off ice explosions. The robots found themselves frozen. Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Jaune quickly hit them, slamming them and forcing them all in a straight line, just for Pyrrha and Ren.

Pyrrha threw _Milo_ in its javelin form. Just as she threw it, Ren, who was behind her, punched the end of her javelin with an Aura burst, sending the spear flying right through the robots' head. Pyrrha quickly recalled her weapon with her Semblance before putting away, as did everyone else.

"Who made these?" asked Blake as she closely examined the destroyed robots. She saw no White Fang mark and was relieved, but couldn't help but shiver if they did manage to get their hands on it.

"Ooh! I wanna see how they're made!" shouted Ruby, before examining the robot parts and the weapons they used.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" screamed Weiss as she started to drag her away from the robots much to Ruby's dismay.

"Whoever it is, doesn't want us getting closer to the towers," said Jaune, "We should see if we can't get in contact with someone to pick us up when we head to the tower."

Everyone nodded before running towards the tower.

* * *

After killing a few more robots and mutated Grimm, they found themselves at the tower, but still without any signal.

"Drat," sighed Nora, sitting on the control panel without care.

"Nora, please get off that," said Ren.

"Don't wanna," said Nora childishly, her legs in the air swinging as she childishly pounded the control panel with her hands. She accidentally activated it with her random button pressing.

"Nora!"

"Oops, my bad, hehe," Nora apologized as she rubbed the back of her head

"Wait, I'm getting a better signal now that the tower's working!" Yang shouted as she quickly dialed Oobleck's number, and finally heard his voice, although it was still garbled.

"Team... Whatever yo... id... Keep doing that! The radio... somewh... e island. You must...nd then... Understood? Do a... ncted."

"Anyone get that?" asked Ruby. Everyone shook their head.

"I think the towers can help boost the signal to our Scrolls," summarized Ren, "Activate the towers, and we'll have a better chance of contacting Beacon and getting a ride back."

"Sounds like a plan," said Jaune, quickly sprouting red scaled wings before flying up to the sky. He spotted another two in the distance before diving back down.

"I saw two more," he told them, "Not too far from each other. Activate those, and we should have contact back to Beacon."

As they went off to go to action gate the towers, they didn't know that they were being watched. A bird was sitting on a tree, tilting its head, looking all natural. Upon closer inspection, there were lenses for eyes that was zooming in on all of them.

* * *

A shadowy figure was looking into his security cameras to see 8 people on his private island. He was surprised to see them and sent his droids to take care of them. He was pleasantly pleased to see them actually be able to defeat his droids. Perhaps these people would be the perfect test subject for his newest creations. He was shocked when he saw Jaune suddenly sprout wings and fly up into the air, but he chalked it up as a Semblance or an undiscovered Faunus. His mouth slightly drooled at that and resolved to capture him. The rest could be eliminated without care. Jaune, however, was to be captured so he could experiment on him. Once he was done, he would throw Jaune away and commence to experiment on other Faunus, to see if he could transfer wings to others.

The group quickly made their way to the two other towers, quickly activating them. With the second tower down, they could hear Oobleck much clearer, but there was still some feedback. Though they did hear him say they would die if they couldn't get a clearer signal for them to send a Bullhead.

"Did he really have to add that?" sighed Weiss.

"He's only being realistic," said Blake, "Even if it's really blunt."

The third tower was also quickly activated, and Yang was about to call Oobleck one more time when her Scroll rang instead. Picking up, thinking it was Oobleck, she quickly told him that the signal should be good now. However, who she got wasn't Oobleck.

"Ahh. That's better," said a mysterious yet malicious voice, "Sorry, but reception there is always so bad all the way out there. I hope you're enjoying your stay on the island. You're the first visitors since...Well, you are the first." Everyone jumped back in surprise at this new voice. Yang immediately turned off her Scroll, but Merlot's voice went through the speakerphones that were located on the tower.

"Who is that?" asked Ruby surprised by the sudden call.

"How'd you get this number?" yelled Yang into the air.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Merlot," said the voice. Apparently, he also had visual and audio recption of them all aright now. "You don't know me, but I most certainly know who you are."

"Eww, creeper much?" said Nora.

"Wait. Dr. Merlot? As in the head scientist who led Merlot Industries back at Mt. Glenn? The one that's supposed to be dead?" asked Weiss.

"I know each and every one of you," continued Merlot, ignoring Nora's comment, "After all, I have security cameras all over this place to observe you. And I must say, you might exactly what I need for an... important experiment. I see the 'Goddess of Victory' is even with you."

The team looked at each, shrugging off the doctor's creepy comments.

"Well, let's see how you do," said Merlot. Suddenly, robots of the same model and robots in white carrying machine guns with grenade launchers came forward, way bulkier than the red robots.

"Kill them. But leave the blonde boy and maybe the red headed one alive. I'm interested in them," said Merlot whimsically.

The robots opened fire at them, sending a stream of bullets. Jaune quickly linked with Fafnir and punched the ground to form walls to protect them. They didn't last long, as the guns broke them into pieces. But it was enough for team RWBY and JNPR. They had jumped to the top of the wall and were now shooting them as they were landing close to them.

"Arkos!" shouted Jaune to Pyrrha as he expanded his wings, grabbing Pyrrha. They swiftly dived in before Jaune spun. Both of them threw their shield in different directions, letting it bounce off robots, stunning them. While the shields were ricocheting off the robots, Jaune and Pyrrha were swiftly attacking the stunned robots. Pyrrha turned and controlled the shields to come back to them. Both of them caught their shields and put it forward to block a stream of bullets incoming.

"Crimson Lotus!" shouted Ruby as she grabbed Ren. She sped off, with Ren holding on to her for his life. She began spinning before tossing Ren towards the robots with Ren was also spinning. He became a green whirlwind that was shooting bullets all over the place. Since he had been thrown into a crowd of the enemy, there was little chance of friendly fire. He had loaded his bullets with specially made Dust explosive bullets, bought with Jaune's discount. Soon, there was just a wreckage of robotic parts laying about.

"You're such terrific students. Surely this was an easy test?" mocked Merlot as he opened a gate to reveal more Grimm spilling in.

Then, Jaune's scroll rang. He picked it up, listening to it before putting in on speaker for them all to hear while they all fought the Grimm wave.

"So, we meet again, Dr. Merlot," announced Ozpin from Jaune's scroll.

"Ozpin! Or should I call you Oz like old times, chum?" greeted Merlot.

"I thought you perished in the Mountain Glenn disaster, a tragedy you played no small part in," said Ozpin in disgust.

Merlot scoffed as he explained that it was mere speed bumps on his research and that he was onto something much bigger. Ozpin replied that the world would be much safer with him dead. The team cringed at that, as they had never thought Ozpin to have such a thought like that.

" _ **It merely shows that your headmaster has gone through a lot more than you have, Jaune,"**_ explained Lung Wang, _**"He is willing to do what is necessary, and yet will only do it if he truly requires it. To have him admit that Merlot truly has done something horrible. Perhaps he will explain more about this 'disaster'."**_

"Trying to make the world a better place is wrong?" scoffed Merlot. "It doesn't change the fact you're powerless to stop me."

He signed off as more Grimm struck, this time with Alpha varieties. At this, Ren punched the ground and activated his Semblance, disguising all of them from the Grimm. They quickly ran past the Grimm until they were at a safe distance.

* * *

"What was that about, Professor Ozpin?" asked Jaune when he had the chance, "What did Merlot do?"

Ozpin sighed as he leaned back in his chair, "Dr. Merlot was a brilliant scientist, and one of my oldest friends who would sometimes teach at Beacon. He wanted to make the world a safer place, but he was also greedy. He was experimenting on Grimm back at Mountain Glenn, trying to find better ways to kill them, and even learn how they reproduced. However, he kept running out of specimens. So instead of hiring Huntsmen to trap Grimm, he lured Grimm into the city, so he wouldn't have to pay any Huntsmen to do the job. However, he couldn't control the amount Grimm he was luring in. And you know the rest. Grimm overran Mt. Glenn. Merlot went missing during the fall. It seems even today, he thinks his research will lead Remnant to the future."

"You mean, he condemned all those people just for the sake of his research?" gasped Pyrrha.

"That monster!" shouted Yang as her eyes turned a deep scarlet, showing off how pissed she was hearing this.

"We'll stop him," assured Ruby placing a hand on her sister's shoulder to help calm her down.

"That, I hope you can do. But we still have a problem," Ozpin began, "We've been trying to locate Merlot's island, but we've yet to obtain the coordinates. Explore his island some more. Find evidence about his whereabouts, and contact me once you have it. I'll be able to have my staff pinpoint your location and send a Bullhead to you. But please, do be careful. Don't rush this."

"Roger that, you can count on us Ozpin," said Jaune as he put his scroll away, "You heard him. We need to continue exploring. Let's find a place to rest for now before exploring some more."

They all agreed, especially Ren, and continued to explore the island. Ren had to be carried by Nora and Pyrrha, as he had used a lot of Aura to disguise 8 people at once and sustaining it. It was easier if they had all held hands when he did so, but they had no time, so Ren had to use the ground as the intermediate to connect to them all. Blake found a cave for them, and after having Pyrrha sweep the cave of any electronics, they went in. Jaune used Lung-Wang to start a fire, and they all hovered over it quickly. Jaune quickly created a wall over the mouth of the cave, leaving only some of the sides open so air could still get in. After that, he pulled out some food from his bag, giving everyone something to eat and drink. They all huddled together for warmth to get through the night. Jaune had pulled out the futons, but the howling night winds could be heard. They were lucky that they had a fire and a wall blocking the cave entrance, otherwise, it might've been colder.

Merlot was sitting in his chair, frowning. He didn't expect them to be able to pass through the Grimm so easily without fighting at all. He didn't expect Pyrrha to be able to detect and wipe out the cameras in the cave and near it.

"Perhaps they will be of more use to me after all. They will help see if my ultimate creation is... truly perfect." With that a malicious grin formed over the doctor's face.

* * *

 **Andd Cliffhanger. Hope you've enjoyed this new chapter. Remember to read and review!**


	21. Chapter 21 Grimm Eclipse Finale!

**Last chapter of the Grimm Eclipse Arc! Next up, volume 3 is incoming! In my calculations, there is still a good month left before the Vytal Festival Tournament. The tournament is held during the Autumn season. Which means clearly near the end of the school year, which would make sense. Why have a tournament that might disrupt the Huntsmen and Huntresses schoolwork, right? Hope you enjoy it. Thanks to my beta readers as usual. The MischieviousPuppy actually wrote out the scene for DSCO only, considering it's his characters. They'll still play a small role in the future chapters, but that's about it. Lots of Easter eggs in them, he likes it. Enough talk though, let's get going!**

* * *

It was early morning when they woke up, feeling a bit better. Quickly, they left the cave to explore the huge island. After fighting through some more Grimm, it was almost night time when they found finally found an old factory still working, and on the ground was some type of green ooze.

"What's this funky looking stuff?" asked Nora, prodding it with her hammer. She was about to touch it when Ren caught her hand.

"Nora, please don't touch anything you don't know. You don't even know where that's been," said Ren to which Nora giggled before apologizing.

"Perhaps this might be some use to Professor Ozpin," suggested Blake.

They took some photos and quickly sent it to Ozpin. He looked quite worried when he saw the ooze. It looked like Merlot had been here for some time now.

"Just focus on getting yourself out of there, team," began Ozpin, "We'll deal with Merlot ourselves when the time comes."

They continued down the path, fighting off Grimm, robots, and more mutant Grimm. Finally, they made it to a steel door that led to the entrance.

"Na ah ah," taunted Merlot, "You won't get in so easily. Deal with my toys, and maybe I'll consider letting you in."

Jaune was tired of being on this island, so he nodded towards Pyrrha. Pyrrha grinned, focusing her Aura before activating her Semblance. The doors glowed black and soon were creaking opening.

"What!?" shouted Merlot in surprise. They all quickly made it through, with Jaune carrying Pyrrha so she could focus on the door. After they made it in, she let it go, and the doors slammed shut.

"Well... I certainly wasn't expecting the 'Goddess of Victory' to have a Semblance that was polarity. I'll have to be careful when sending my robots, won't I?" said Merlot with a hint of displeasure yet slight interest.

They ignored his comments as they continued deeper into the lab, where they found tanks full of the ooze.

"Ah, I see you found my stage 2 processing tanks," said Merlot with pride. They saw Grimm Creepers just walking before going near the container. They took a sip of the ooze, and transformed into their mutant versions.

"Destroy the tanks, and kill off the Grimm!" shouted Jaune. Everyone nodded, and soon, there were only destroyed tanks with no Grimm.

"Now that wasn't very nice," said Merlot, "Guess I'll have my security force stop you."

The said security force was composed of the robots and two Grimm mutant Beowolves. Jaune channeled electricity into his sword before tapping Nora with it. Getting the boost, Nora grinned before charging in.

"Valkos!" shouted Jaune. Pyrrha nodded before using her semblance on the robots, gathering them all into a ball before sending it to Nora. Nora took a huge swing and sent the ball flying right into the mutant Beowolves. She then proceeded to unload her grenades into the pile of enemies, destroying them all.

Merlot sighed with irritation at the speed they had destroyed his forces. "I wish you wouldn't break all my things," Merlot said in a bored tone, "But I can build them in no time. This way please."

At this, a door opened up for them.

"This feels like an elaborate setup," commented Ren.

"There's no choice but to go forward," reminded Blake.

"We'll be able to handle it," cheered Ruby.

They continued forward, fighting off any enemies until they reached the engineering department. It seemed like Merlot had gotten too cocky, as Ruby suddenly rushed past the enemies into a terminal and inserted her Scroll in, allowing Beacon to have access to Merlot's computer. Merlot cursed at his lack of sight before ordering all his units to converge in. JNPRWBY were busy keeping any enemies off Ruby's back while she was typing in some commands to help Beacon out. Androids jumped down to fight them while tubes opened to have Grimm spill in to attack them.

* * *

Ozpin was having his team of technical support working as fast as they could. Behind him were Glynda and Ironwood. Ironwood had supplied a team of his best workers to help out Ozpin.

"So... Dr. Merlot huh," began Ironwood seeming to be quite disappointed about the news in all this, "A pity he went rogue. He would've been useful. Especially with that secret of ours,"

"Dr. Merlot made his choice when he decided to have Grimm attack innocent civilians," scoffed Glynda.

"Yea, but all that technology could help us. Not to mention, according to them, his robot army could be stronger than ours!" explained Ironwood.

"Of course you want his technology to build an even more powerful army," said Glynda as she rolled her eyes.

"If it's to protect the people, then yes!" replied Ironwood hotly.

"Enough. Our top priority should be rescuing our two teams," said Ozpin.

"I have my best pilots ready to go," Ironwood began as he went over to the window to look down upon the hull head docks. "My school's top second-year team is also ready to head out."

"Good. We're going to need them," sighed Ozpin.

"Which team are you sending?" asked Glynda curiously.

Ironwood remained silent until Glynda prodded him to answer. "It's…"

* * *

LET'S GET A GROOVE ON TEAM! We got ah team to save!" Shouted none other than Dandy, pointing his right gloved hand in the air while holding a rather long cane with a gigantic disco ball on top, the size of a 300-pound weight.

Behind him the rest of team DSCO seemed quite tired, well mainly the Soul and the Coral of the team, considering how early it was, but also how the fatigue they had from Glynda's punishment which was to write a 2,000-word essay on not making a big mess in the training hall. Which both Soul and Coral barely finished this afternoon.

Soul looked the most tired considering he had bags under his eyes. Strapped around his shoulder was a double neck electric "axe" guitar, judging how there was a handle grip on the outside on the upper necks. The tips of the heads seemed quite sharp as they pointed on the inner side of the necks instead of outward almost like they acted like a blade. At the bottom of the body were 4 dials, three were colored one red, one blue, and finally one yellow. The fourth however had a dial where it had three small pictures next to them, one was showing three bullets one consumed in fire, one ice and finally one covered in electricity. The next picture was that of an axe, and finally the last looked to be that of a strange looking sword with a hole and handle grip at the bottom. Only that the guitar he had did have the hole near the bottom, there was no handle grip. Only the axe sharpness that was around the outside of the body.

"Why are we doing this again?...," Soul asked as he really wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone's shit. Especially after bumping into Boyd Arc. The dude really gets on his nerves with his constant bragging.

Next to him was Coral, who was currently carrying a giant speaker of some kind with a mic cord wrapped around his shoulder with the mic in a holster. The holographic eyes seemed quite tired judging by the lowercase **e's** floating where his eyes would be.

"To do this rescue mission of shorts, something to do with that Jaune fella we met a while back. It's his team and another," Coral replied as he hefted the heavy speaker up a bit more to keep it from falling to the ground.

Onyx their last teammate didn't seem that tired like Dandy, unlike Soul and Coral, both he and Dandy finished that essay after that detention they received. They weren't slackers like the S and C of their team. Strapped on his back like a wearable turtle shell was a shield the size of one of the cafeteria tables inside the dining hall of the academy, its height was a bit taller than Dandy without his fro, and width was as big as Jaune's Shield length. In the middle of the shield was a large speaker of some kind built in the middle.

"That, and Dandy here wants to see if that item he showed us really does belong to that mate," Onyx stated to which Soul just groaned

"I hope we finish this fast, I just want to relax…" Soul grumbled before Dandy turned to look at his partner

"You can get some sleep on the bullhead Soul, and trust me, we will. Ah got plans to do later tonight." Dandy said as they all entered the bullhead waiting for it to take off. Taking out a small piece of cloth from the right opening on his vest, Dandy looked down as he opened the cloth revealing something white glowing.

"Ah hope I'm right about you…"

* * *

"You sent them?!" shouted Glynda.

"I assure you, despite their… eccentric behavior, they are one of the best teams at Atlas. They can get your two teams safely."

"Safely if you mean in pieces!" screeched Glynda, causing Ironwood to cringe, "Their last 'training' session involved escorting someone, and they decided it would be easier to trash everything in their way! I had to spend an hour fixing Arena 113 because of them!" Ironwood was about to retort that they did succeed in escorting the training bot for their session before one of the techs shouted.

"Sir! All data from Merlot industry has successfully been transferred over. Coordinates have been locked!"

"Excellent! Send it to my scroll," said Ozpin, quickly sitting down. He opened the file to study them before frowning.

"It's as I feared. He has been experimenting to create stronger Grimm. But why, is what I don't understand."

"You may never know. He was always a weird one," replied Glynda.

"Ironwood, I want the Bullhead headed towards those coordinates now!" shouted Ozpin. Ironwood nodded before calling his pilot to start flying. Coordinates would be sent to the pilot's scroll.

* * *

The team was running a bit ragged, sweating as they finished off the last of the robots. Ruby had joined them once she knew she had done all she could. Only Jaune seemed even remotely fine.

"Almost out of here guys," panted Jaune.

"So... tired...," cried Nora.

"Should we give coffee to Nora to keep her active?" asked Ruby.

"No," replied Ren with a serious face, "Not unless you want her to somehow travel through multiple parallel dimensions."

RWBY laughed at this but stopped when they saw JPR were quite serious, and gulped.

"I have some energy bars left, but that's all," said Jaune grabbing the last of his supplies, making a quick note to go shopping again.

It tasted nasty, but it did give them the energy to keep moving. They passed by a power station, and couldn't resist but to completely destroy it to halt Merlot's research. Merlot growled in anger but held it. Soon, his ultimate specimen would deal with these intruders. They kept running, destroying anything that seemed useful to him, including his latest batch of the serum. They were soon on some sort of testing grounds. Suddenly, a screen appeared before them, and they saw an image of the famous doctor himself. His left eye had been replaced with a cybernetic implant, and his right hand was completely robotic with red highlights. A fitting image of a mad scientist.

"So, it's come to this... Meet my ultimate creation!" shouted Merlot maniacally.

A Death Stalker the same size as the one they had fought back at initiation popped up from the ground. Yet, this Death Stalker was completely mutated. All of the original red markings and red eyes were completely green. It's orange stinger now glowed with sickly green light.

"That's a big Death Stalker," commented Ren, eyeing it with concern.

"Let's take care of it," grinned Ruby.

"Now, now, don't be shy students," said Merlot patronizingly in the speakers, "You could learn a lot from this enhanced specimen. They won't teach you a thing about this back at Beacon. Nature couldn't make a beast this deadly, so I DID!"

The team opened fire upon the mutated Grimm, just to find out its carapace was thicker, if not stronger than the original one. Not only that, it could shoot out spikes from a distance, leaving ranged combat to be less than ideal.

The side doors opened, and more robots and mutated Grimm spilled into the room. No regular Grimms came in, but Jaune shrugged at that, thankful that there was less. Looking at the situation, Jaune made his decision.

"Ruby! Take Pyrrha, Ren, and Weiss to take care of the small guys. I'm taking Yang, Nora, and Blake for the big guy. Back us up when you're done destroying them all."

"Ok!" Shouted back Ruby, leading her new team to fight the reinforcements.

Jaune took a deep breath, linking up with Lung Wang. He sprouted red scaled wings, and his sword glowed red, as if it was hot.

"Let's go!" shouted Jaune, charging forward. The Death Stalker tried to stab Jaune, but he dodged it before hacking at the stinger. He wasn't able to cut it off, but there were scorch marks on the stinger, and the Death Stalker didn't seem to like that. It swung its pincer at Jaune, to which he blocked it. He was sent flying back for a bit before he spread his wings to stop. Blake charged forward, dodging a pincer with her Semblance before jumping on it's head and stabbing its eyes. Yet, even with all her strength, she was barely able to even hurt it before the Death Stalker spun in a circle, forcing her off. Yang and Nora, who had been charging in, were also sent flying back. The Death Stalker then sent dozens of spikes towards them, with Merlot commentating how they would all die.

"Knightshade!" shouted Jaune. Blake nodded, quickly channeling her Aura into her sword while Jaune did the same. They both swung their blades at the spikes, creating an Aura blade beam to fly into the spikes. With a huge explosion, the spikes were rendered useless.

"They need help!" shouted Ruby, "Me and Pyrrha can finish these small ones off. Go help them. Use White Lotus!"

Ren and Weiss nodded and ran towards the Death Stalker. Weiss used her dust and glyphs to enchant Ren's weapons while he fired his dual automatic pistols, creating dozens of ice patches on the Death Stalker's feet. It jerked upwards, irritated at the distraction before turning its sights on them. Jaune flew up into the air, carrying Yang with her while the Blake and Nora joined them in distracting the Death Stalker. Seeing as it wasn't looking up, Jaune dived bombed with Yang as his payload. As he was getting nearer, he tossed Yang as hard as he could down towards it.

"Sunfire!" shouted Jaune as Yang punched the Deathstalker's head as hard as she could.

The Death Stalker sunk into the ground from the impact. Blake quickly threw her weapon wrapping it around Yang and pulling her off as fast as she could. It was a good call, as the Death Stalker retaliated by trying to plunge its stinger into Yang, getting it to stab its own head. The Death Stalker howled in pain before quickly burying itself into the ground.

"Now what?" asked Weiss in exasperation.

The Death Stalker then started to move, upheaving the ground as it traveled underground, right towards Nora. Jaune quickly flew in and grabbed her out of the way just as it broke the surface, intent on grabbing its victim.

"Damn. Going to have to fully link up with my dragons," cursed Jaune softly. "Buy me some time!"

He dropped Nora off before landing, closing his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he let the dragon's power wash over him.

"Thunder Cat!" yelled out Ruby. Blake and Nora nodded and charged in. Blake distracted it enough to let Nora slam her hammer on its head before firing upon impact. Blake threw her weapon, letting her ribbon wrap around Nora and pulled her back before the Death Stalker could try to stab Nora. The rest them continued attacking the Death Stalker, but it was much tougher than the original.

* * *

A few minutes later, Jaune's eyes sprang open, and instead of his usual eyes, they were now slitted pupils, like a dragon. The Death Stalker gave pause at this, completely confused at what it was facing before scuttling forward at Jaune. It raised it's stinger and stabbed towards him.

"Plunge that stinger, and don't let up!" shouted Merlot with glee as he saw this.

Jaune diverted its aim with his shield, parrying it towards the ground next to him. In the next second, his sword was wreathed in flames as he cut the stinger off from the Death Stalker.

The Death Stalker squealed in pain at this sudden move and scuttled back.

"No, no! My precious! Hang in there!" wailed Merlot as he tried to summon more robots. They were easily dismantled by Pyrrha, but she was getting tired from abusing her Semblance so much.

The Death Stalker, now very angry, shot out spikes everywhere. Everyone was dodging, parrying, and blocking as best as they could, but Yang, Nora, and Weiss got hit by some. The spikes had broken their Aura protection and were defenseless, so to speak. Ruby quickly asked them to stay back.

"No.. I can do one more attack!" shouted Weiss as she concentrated on her glyph she spawned in front of her. She was trying to summon. At first, she wanted to summon a Beowolf, a Boartusk, or even a Creeper, but none of it was working. Then, she remembered about Jaune's suggestion. Instead, she focused on the armored knight. The one that gave her the scar. The one that had truly pushed her limits. The one that allowed her to spread her wings and come to Beacon. She put as much Aura and feeling into this glyph. The glyph itself was different. Instead of the snowflakes, it portrayed four swords rotating in it.

As if to answer her call, a giant sword spawned forth in front of her. With a wave, the sword slashed at the Death Stalker, catching it in its eyes, blinding several of its eyes causing it to screech in pain.

"Now's our chance!" shouted Jaune, charging forward, "Bumblebee and Sugar Rush that stinger right into that Death Stalker. Ren set them up! Pyrrha, with me! Weiss, try to speed us up!"

It was very risky considering Weiss, Yang and Nora were out of Aura, but it was a risk they had to take! As he charged in with Pyrrha to distract it, the others quickly set up. Blake was rotating Yang as fast as she could. Yang's Semblance had activated after taking the hits from the spikes, leaving a trail of fire behind her. As soon as she was reaching maximum velocity, Blake shot her forward. Ruby grabbed Nora after she crushed a Lighting Dust crystal, infusing her with electricity, and shot forward as fast as she could with Nora before sending her flying forward.

Ren kicked the Stinger up, feeling a slight sting as he did. Luckily, he had infused his legs with Aura to protect him.

Both Nora and Yang slammed their weapons into the stinger, sending it flying towards the Death Stalker. Jaune quickly grabbed Pyrrha and flew up to dodge it, letting the stinger penetrate right through the Death Stalker's head.

"It's over!" shouted Jaune as he gathered the remainder of Aura into his mouth for one last attack. He grabbed a fire Dust crystal from his pocket before putting it in his mouth and chomping on it. It was a move he learned but didn't really like doing, as it was hell on his mouth and throat later, not to mention how much Aura it used. He was still practicing with it. But its power was undeniable. He roared towards the Death Stalker, and a stream of fire crashed into the Death Stalker that came from his mouth.

The Death Stalker gave a shriek of pain before falling over, dead and scorched.

"Noooo! My one of a kind specimen! This is inconceivable!" wailed Merlot as he slammed his hands into the table.

"We did it!" cheered Ruby as Jaune landed back down into the ground, though his breath was quite rugged, considering what he just used, as well as the fatigue he was experiencing from the attack.

"You ain't got nothing on us now!" said Yang.

"Ohh but there is something I can do," said Merlot with an evil chuckle. "I'll make sure you won't get away and end this with a bang!" With that he began typing on his computer before slamming one final button on the counsel before the screen that showed him turned off.

"You mean a _Yang_ ," teased Yang before the room started to flash red.

"Uhh, what did he just do?" asked Blake.

"I think he intends to blow up this place," remarked Ren.

"We gotta get out of here!" shouted Weiss.

"This way!" yelled Pyrrha, ripping a door open with her Semblance.

Only barely able to hold it open until her semblance gave out just as soon as they got through. She too was very low on Aura, hell everyone was at this point with Yang, Nora and Weiss completely out of Aura. Nora was currently being helped by Ren as a human crutch seeing how she was quite tired to walk by herself, that or she just wanted to snuggle up against Ren, who knows.

* * *

As soon as they ran out to seen an open-air dock, only to that there was no ship.

"Where's that ship!" shouted Jaune before clenching his throat and coughing. The effect of that roar was taking effect much sooner than expected.

Suddenly, Grimm started pouring out from the ceiling with the few remaining robots that were left completely surrounding them.

"Oh come on!" shouted Yang as everyone got ready to make one final stand. Yet every one of them was tired and extremely low on Aura.

The Grimm sensed a great opportunity on killing a dragon holder. The Grimm were able to sense this from the lingering dragon energy coming off of Jaune, probably from the last attack of his. An Alpha Beowolf stepping from the front, an Ursa Major stepping forward on their flank, a Boarbatusk on the left, and finally a mutated creeper which was pretty much a kamikaze and wanted to just kill, all charged towards the group.

Jaune and Pyrrha held up their shields, Jaune towards the Beowulf with Pyrrha towards the Creeper, Ruby and Blake were getting ready for the spinning Boarbatusk heading their way, and finally Ren shielding Nora from the charging Ursa. If this were their final moments together then so be it!

But just before the Grimm could get close enough, the unexpected happened.

CRASH!

CLANG

"YAAAAAAAH!"

"SQUEEEE!"

"Oum I hate pigs..both human and Grimm." standing up from a crouched position stood Soul as he held his weapon in his axe form with the necks of his guitar pressed together to form one neck. The Boarbatusk that was spinning its way towards them found a new target which was its own kind after getting a sideways slash from Soul's weapon not only making it crash right into the other Grimm but also severely damaging it.

"You can say that-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!...again!" Shouted Coral after having to blast the same creeper away only with a much more heavier scream with his Speaker, which this time had used the dust setting to blast not only the back, ut also set it on fire from the flaming sonic sound blast his speaker blasted out after he shouted into the mic. The blew right up into the crowd of enemies upon contact.

"I'll say, you mates alright back there?" Asked none other than Onyx looking behind towards a surprised Ren and Nora as he held his shield out blocking the furious Ursa who kept smacking at his Onyx's shield after being dazed for a bit from getting a shield smack to the face "OI! Ah'll get to yah in ah second Yogi!" Pressing a button on the handle grips of his Shield, the Ursa was suddenly blown back by what sounded like trumpets of some kind mixed with something else that was shot out from the middle of his shield, causing the Ursa to fall right on it back after being blown back by what seemed to be the ranged part of Onyx's weapon.

"Of course they are! They ain't GROOOOVY huntsmen and huntresses for nothin! Ain't that right Jaune!" Standing on top of the splattered skull of a once proud alpha Beowolf, stood Dandy within a small crater created by his weapon considering his feet were standing on the underside of the white disco ball like one would a pogo stick. Taking his feet off the ball part of his weapon, Dandy spun his weapon a couple of times before resting it on his.

With the two teams now fully registering the new arrival of the back up, they now took notice of the sound of a bull head floating up above.

"You guys and gal's done enough fighting for today, we'll keep em busy while you all get on the bull head! ALL RIGHT TEAM, LET'S GET GROOVY LIKE IN A113!" The Coral and Onyx gave out a proud battle cry while the Soul just gave a poor cheer do to how annoyed and tired he was.

Dandy leaped into the air and began spinning his weapon over his head numerous times before pressing two buttons on his cane. The first instantly changed the white disco ball into a glowing red ball of death, because as soon as Dandy swung his weapon downwards towards the group of enemies while still in the air, the second button must have been to activate the ranged part of his weapon seeing how the disco ball literally detached from his cane with a metal wire of sorts keeping it from being fully detached from Dandys weapon. It truly was a mini wrecking ball considering as soon as it made ground contact with the enemies a huge explosion happened while the cracks created by his weapon shot flames up from the ground!

Nora seeing this couldn't help but shout "DANDY SMASH!" Seeing how she was quite the fan of Dandy's weapon considering it was like hers only much more destructive.

Soul who had switched from axe form to its normal form began playing his guitar as fast as he could, each string he pulled fired from the inner part of the separated necks shot out energy blasts of yellow which as soon as they made contact with any of the Grimm or robots, both enemies began spazzing out from electricity shocking their entire body. Turning to face the teams they came to save, Soul's eyes actually changed from its lazy look to that showing great concern when he saw a Beowolf just under an alpha status heading straight towards Ruby who was running with everyone else towards the bull head. This actually pissed him off seeing how this Grimm thought it could get an easy picking, it thought wrong!

"Oh no you **DON'T!"** What could be described as a demon shouting out the last word. Souls face literally began to transform, going black until you couldn't see his face within his hood...that is until two glowing red eyes and what looked to be razor sharp teeth could be the only thing seen on his face. What ever was going on Soul had quite the disturbing look on his face before he quickly switched the dial on his guitar. Once he did, he twirled his arm around unwrapping the chain wrapped around his right arm in the process and threw the chain forward straight at the Beowolf.

The said Beowolf was about to pounce on Ruby before the chain Soul threw wrapped around it's waist " **GET OVER HERE!** " And with that the Beowolf was yanked back towards Soul. As it did, Souls weapon began to change form, and when it did, Soul tossed it in the air, in slow motion the two necks of his guitar switched sides with the inner side now the outer before both necks were slammed together. The half heads now making a full head with a very sharp tip. At the bottom the body spread apart a bit to reveal a handlebar right where the hole in his guitar was at. It kind of looked like a futuristic alien weapon sword of some kind

As soon as his weapon came back down, he gripped onto the handle and thrusted the blade into the back of the returning Beowolf before quickly turning around with the impaled Beowolf in hand and pressing a trigger near the handle bar. Suddenly the tip of the sword shot out a red energy blast igniting an incoming Beo who thought it could sneak up on him. After that was done, he tossed the Beowolf he impaled aside and began looking around. Whatever his semblance was, it definitely was giving off a ton of negative energy judging by how most of the Grimm went towards him.

" **YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?! THEN COME GET SOME!"** Soul, whose voice did represent that of a demon shouting, began his slasher spree by hacking and slashing any Grimm that got near, laughing maniacally, causing some concern for team RWBY and JNPR.

 _ **"I like him**_ , _ **"**_ laughed Lung Wang.

Meanwhile with Coral, he was literally blowing away any Grimm that got close to the teams who were currently helping one another get on the Bullhead by letting out a high pitch wail or scream of some kind into the mic by covering his hand around his mouth as he shouted into the mic. Each time he let out a different pitched scream, a different colored sonic blast was blasted out from the massive speaker that he had on the ground before picking it up by the cord connected to it, and swung his speaker into an incoming sword robot that was rushing in to slash at him. The robot was smashed to pieces upon the speaker coming down on it.

While that was done, Coral ran back towards his speaker, but not before pressing a button on his mic that made the mic look like a sickle after a blade shot out. Seems Coral had a chain and sickle going on, only the mic was the sickle and the speaker was the weight at the end only much larger. He proceeded to slash at any Grimm that tried getting close to him as he made his way back to the speaker to inflict more sonic blasts.

With the final member of DSCO, Onyx was currently holding back any Grimm that tried to get close to JNPR and RWBY. With the same Ursa now more pissed off, as it still kept trying to break through or tire Onyx out. Only to receive more shield bashes.

"Keep a Knockin but you won't get past mate!" Onyx shouted before pressing another button on the handles, before strangely enough music began blasting out of the middle of his shield which in turned also blew the Ursa away for the finally time seeing how the sound wave was much more stronger and continuities this time. What ever Grimm or robot stood behind the major also found their death when they were blasted off of the air docks edge. Onyx bounced his head to the music playing as he turned the shield around sending any Grimm or robot the shield was aimed either off the docks or away from the teams. Seems this song that was blasting the enemies way must have been made by his semblance Electric Swing a while back.

* * *

"Get in!" shouted the pilot, "Sorry I'm late!"

At that, team JNPR and RWBY quickly boarded the ship. Team DCO ran for the bullhead when they saw them board. Soul was still in a blood rage, hungry for more battles.

Dandy, Coral, and Onyx made it onto the bullhead and it began to take off, that is before Ruby shouted "What about Soul?!" There was no way they were going to leave behind their teammate, would they?

"Don't worry little red! He'll come, ain't that Onyx?" Dang said with glee before everyone turned towards Onyx only to see him lean out of the bull head, one hand gripping a handlebar, while the other sticking out of the bullhead, sure enough a metal chain wrapped around Onyx's arm to which he grabbed and with one hard tug from Onyx, Soul was brought right in. His clothes were ripped in some places, his breathing was quick and deep, and finally the **Disturbed** look he had going on, on his face was gone.

"They...are so damn lucky we had to leave, I-hah..hah..,could have taken them." Soul stated before making his way to an empty seat near Weiss and slumped down on it, his hood fell down only to show his messy spiked gray hair, and as soon as he sat down he knocked out and began snoring away, much to Weiss's disgust.

The bullhead then began to take off as fast as it could away from the island, and sure enough, the entire island began to detonate.

"That was close," said Ruby.

"Wonder how much explosives he had to use to blow up an island?" Wondered Nora as she watched the "fireworks" go off behind them

"Too much," sighed Ren.

"Um Ren…?"

"Yes Nora?"

"Why are there fireworks coming straight for us?"

Everyone's minus Soul's eyes widened upon hearing Nora say that "FIREWORKS?!" Nearly everyone looked back only to see, sure enough, missiles coming from the exploding island straight towards their bullhead. Judging how they were directly coming to them, the missiles were definitely heat-seeking air defense missiles. Evasive Maneuvers would not do them any good.

"Oh come on, can't we just go home already?!" Surprisingly it was Weiss who shouted this, Soul next to her just groaned and turned his back towards her really not needing her shouting.

"Flares going off!" shouted the pilot, activating the defense mechanism. Yet it wasn't enough to deter all the missiles as some made it through. The pilot began to try to dodge, but it wasn't working. The missiles were getting closer and closer.

Dandy seeing no other option turned towards Onyx and Coral "Coral ah know we haven't fully practiced and mastered this team move of ours but we gotta use it! BASE CANNON!" After hearing the team command, both Coral and Onyx nodded and began to set up for their team attack. Onyx flipped his shield to where the speaker was pointed to the ceiling, suddenly the handles on his shield shot downward now acting as a stand for the shield. Pressing a button under his shield, the speaker in the middle suddenly came out and revealed to be what looks to be the speaker of one of those old-time record players.

As Coral was placing his own speaker next to Onyx's weapon, Dandy quickly turned his attention towards the two teams.

"Are any of you a Faunus! Mainly those with good hearing! If you are ah need to know RIGHT NOW!" Dandy shouted as it showed that whatever this team attack was, he needed to know now.

Blake being the only other Faunas of the two teams, looked towards Jaune, a worried look in her eyes, Jaune seeing this, gave her a nod to show that it was alright.

Blake, taking a deep breath, reached up and undid her bow revealing her cat ears. Upon seeing this, Dandy's eyes widened as he quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out two small devices.

"Here, Put these in your Cat ears fast!" Dandy handing Blake the devices turned back around towards his team only to hand an arm placed on his shoulder turning him around to see a very concerned Jaune.

"Why does she need to if I may ask?" Jaune asked as he wanted to know of whatever Dandy was asking was safe. Sure his team saved them but he still cared very deeply for his mates.

Dandy seeing how they had no time for this simply said, "If you prefer your friend to have a possible hearing loss for the next week ah highly suggest she puts them on!"

Judging that what Dandy said was true or not, he let him go and nodded to Blake, to which she placed the devices in her ears.

Turning his attention towards Coral and Onyx, Dandy saw they were ready and looked towards the pilot "Pilot on my signal ah want you to turn the bullheads door toward them missiles! Ready.." Dandy waited for the right time, which was just when the missiles were just in the line of firing range "NOW! Show them why your last name is scream Coral, BASE CANON!"

As soon as the bullhead turned sideways it showed that Coral's and Onyx's were connected together by a single wire. Coral taking the deepest breath anyone ever could take was about to scream when Dandy happen to say "Cover your ears!" Right after taking off his glasses not risking his glasses breaking. Everybody else obeyed and covered their ears just in case, using their hands. Blake had both her cat ears and human ears covered.

"HaaaaaAAAAA **YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"**

What could be described as the loudest scream ever heard was shouted that day. As soon as the first sound of his scream hit his mic, both speakers shot out the biggest, loudest and strongest sonic wave ever to be seen. A mixture of different colors showing all kinds of dust waves could be seen. It was like we're going through a rainbow portal of shorts. The sonic waves made contact with the missiles and they instantly blew up! The sonic blast went as far as to the where the missiles first must have come from. After all the missiles were destroyed. Coral instantly stopped his scream and began coughing so badly, that blood came out of his mouth.

"Coral!" Dandy, Soul after being woken up by the scream with his ears slightly bleeding, and Onyx shouted as they rushed to their teammate.

"Coral are you alright?!" Dandy asked as Coral slowly looked up and gave a small grin with blood stained on his right lip.

"N-never..better.." Coral barely managed to say as his voice sounded very rasped, almost like he severely damaged his vocal cords.

"Coral you did a good job mate, I suggest not speaking for a while, you done enough "screaming" for today" Onyx suggested as he decided a little pun could lighten the mood a bit

"Ouch," said Nora as she uncovered her ears, as did the rest of his team, "That's one hell of an attack."

"Is he alright?" asked Ruby in concern after seeing Coral spit out blood.

"He'll be fine...although doesn't look like we'll be going on missions for a while, Coral can't do much without his voice. I rather have my teammate healthy then in pain trying to use his voice" Dandy said after standing back up rubbing the back of his neck.

"Guess Merlot's forces won't be 'screamin' for an en _coral_ ," grinned Yang.

Everyone except Onyx had to groan at Yang's infamous puns once again.

"Oum not another one" Soul groaned as he wanted to just go back to bed.

"So tell me Jaune…" turning around Dandy reached into his right vest and pulled out the cloth from earlier. "Mind telling me what's this is about?" Unwrapping the cloth it was revealed to be a white feather. It wasn't any feather though, as Jaune could feel trace amounts of his Aura in it. It was from the Breach of Beacon, where two of his feathers had dropped from his wings.

"Ah got this from mah little cousin Nala," explained Dandy, "She got it when that angel saved her life as well as her mother, my auntie. Ah can smell a bit of your scent on it. Care to explain?"

" _ **Well, there goes another one,"**_ grumbled Othim, _**"How do you wanna silence him?"**_

" _ **We are not killing a team that helped us,"**_ scolded Andusk, _**"But this will be hard to explain. Team DSCO is not a team we can trust yet."**_

Jaune, however, merely pointed to his throat before croaking out, "Hard so speak. Used an attack that's playing hell on my throat."

"Ah see," nodded Dandy, "Then can we do yes or no question?"

Jaune shrugged, agreeing with it for now.

"Alright, easy enough. First question. Are you the angel that saved my cousins and aunts life?"

When Jaune didn't answer, he looked around and saw Ren glaring at him before motioning him to keep it quiet. Understanding what Ren was looking for, he continued, " If you are...ah can assure you, we will keep your secret if that is what you wish."

Seeing as there was no harm in that, Jaune slowly nodded. It was at this Dandy smiled before asking "Final question...can ah have ah hug brother?" Dandy asked, without his glasses, you could clearly see tears of what could be guessed as joy form on the corner of Dandy's eyes as he held his arms out towards him.

Jaune looked at him questioningly before agreeing to his term, giving him a slight hug. Dandy returned it with a bear hug, a very strong one at that as tears of joy fell from his eyes "Ah can't thank you enough Jaune! Ah don't know what I'd do if ah lost mah little sunflower! Ah am completely indebted to you! If you ever need anything from me or team just ask! As long as it's in our power, we'll do it!" Dandy shouted as he continued to hug Jaune.

"Uh Dandy, as much as this is a heartwarming thing goin on, ah think you're making it hard to breath for him." Onyx said as what he said was true.

Dandy eyes widening at this quickly let go of Jaune "Ah am so sorry about that! Ah keep forgetting about my prosthetic arm at times!" Reaching to his right and only gloved hand, he took it off to reveal a robotic hand, seems to be the latest Atleasian model judging by how it looked.

"Oooh, shiny," drooled Ruby as she admired the arm.

"I see you have an eye for the fine stuff," laughed Onyx, "This baby lets Dandy carry that wrecking ball of his. Because of it, he tends to like coming in **like a wrecking ball**."

"Oh, now I remember!" began Ruby suddenly in realization, "I remember where I saw your name. It was on Dusttube, and I remember hearing some of your songs. They're pretty catchy."

"Ah glad you like it," grinned Dandy "We're hoping to become an official band while also being Huntsmen! The power of music will compel us to fight even better!"

"Speaking of songs, Weiss Schnee, we've heard your singing before. Interested in singing with us sometime?" asked Onyx.

"I'll see about it," smiled Weiss. It had been a while since she last sang, and she did quite enjoy it.

While everyone began chatting amongst themselves, suddenly Ozpin's voice came through the bullheads speakers "Well done, students! Once you arrive at Beacon, I already have the relaxation area reserved for your teams. You've definitely earned it. Food will also be ready for you at the area."

* * *

Dr. Merlot sighed as he was on his luxurious cruise ship on the water. Most of his research was now gone, but he still had some of the data with him. He always made sure to keep a backup. It wouldn't do for a scientist to lose all his data. Suddenly, he found his ship besieged by aquatic Grimm.

"What now!" shouted Merlot as he had his robots ready to fight. However, it interested him that none of the Grimm was attacking.

"Why, if it isn't the famous Dr. Merlot! A pleasure to meet you."

Merlot turned around to see a rather well-dressed man with a mustache.

"And you are...?"

"My apologies. I am Arthur Watts. I was sent here to retrieve you, as my mistress so dearly wishes to meet you," introduced the man as he bowed. Merlot noticed how they Grimm seemed to be obeying him.

"What would your mistress want of me?" Merlot asked still finding this to be a bit sketchy

"She has heard of your... experiments with the Grimm. She was not pleased to see her precious children be mutated, but at the same time, is very interested in your work. She offers you a seat in her inner circle, and guarantees a place for you in her world," began Watts, "And she will give you some Grimm to further your research, provided you let her oversee your work."

Merlot glared at him for a bit before considering the proposal. He really didn't have anything to lose now at this point. Not only that, but he said her children. Which meant this mistress of his was in charge of the Grimm, and was willing to provide him with test subjects without all the hassle.

"Alright, then. Take me to your mistress," Merlot said as a small smirk began to form

Watts grinned, "Salem will indeed be interested in your work in robotics and your studies in Grimm biology. I will guarantee your safety until we reach there."

With a snap of his finger, the Grimm swam up to the boat, gently guiding it to where Merlot needed to go.

"A pleasure that I hope to reciprocate," cackled Merlot, "In return, allow me to give you a recording of the people who destroyed my lab."

* * *

 **Dun Dun DUNNN! Merlot gets recruited into Salem's faction! Power up for them!**

 **Alright, chapters might be spitballing fast soon. Why? Because out of the whole story, I already had volume 3 created/written down in my head. After all, my oneshot did come from during volume 3. No promises, though.**

 **And I forgot to mention, the team attack names mentioned in the past 3 chapters are all pairings names. Someone even put an Excel sheet for a variety of pairing names for each character, though some are blank. The only ones I didn't use was the Blake &Ren, as they didn't have a pairing name that screamed attack.**

 **Hope you've enjoyed the chapter, read and review!**


	22. Chapter 22 Heritage Revealed!

**Yaa New Chapter! Managed to write this one out pretty fast! Almost got to 200k Views yaa! Read and Review if you can!**

 **Alright let's go!**

* * *

"We so needed this," moaned Weiss as she was relaxing at a spa, with a masseur massaging her back. The other were also in a similar treatment.

"You said it," yawned Yang, "Especially since I'm much more... blessed than you." Yang gained a slight smirk upon Weiss's reaction

"Hey!" shouted Weiss, getting up to look at Yang, insulted at that comment, "I'm slender and petite!"

Yang merely got up, waiving the masseur away, before giving Weiss a full view of her body, "And I'm sexy and hot~"

Weiss huffed at that and looked away, blushing at Yang's body. She could only look down on her own and feel depressed. She had hoped she would grow up with a body like her sister, but it seemed like she wasn't going to be given that blessing. Still, she had a few more years to hope for it, as Winter told her that her body didn't mature until later in her academies. It was partly true, she really did look more graceful and beautiful during her time in the academy. The only difference was that Winter's body was a bit more 'blessed' before she went there.

"Don't worry Weiss!" cheered Ruby, "I'm sure Jaune doesn't care about it either!"

Weiss had to blush at that before looking at Ruby's body and frowned. Ruby's body was also quite petite like hers, but there was one major difference between their body. Ruby had bigger breasts than her, sending Weiss into a spiraling pit of despair. She stormed off to the hot bath, muttering that Ruby was Yang's half sister, so of course, she would beat her in that department.

"We're lucky the boys aren't here, otherwise they might faint," said none other than Pyrrha as she was currently relaxing on a water jet bed.

Team RWBY, Pyrrha, and Nora were at a spa that Weiss and Jaune had reserved a week after the Merlot incident. Thanks to Ozpin, they were able to get a good deal at the earliest convenience so they could relax. The owners also respected privacy and would not discriminate, so Blake had taken off her ribbon on her head that hid her ears. The boys were taken to another room to relax.

"I don't mind showing Jaune these babies," said Yang, cupping her breasts and hefting them up and down just to spite everyone here

"Yang!" shouted Ruby in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, little sis. Yours will be like mine soon. We're sisters! Although I'll always win," bragged Yang as she patted Ruby's head, to which Ruby's face began to steam from a mixture of anger, embarrassment and finally blushing.

The sisters soon got into a little fight, letting Pyrrha, Blake, and Nora chuckle or giggle at their antics. Blake was relaxing on a massage chair, just enjoying the vibrations. Pyrrha was ready to head to the hot tub with Nora. Nora wanted to go with Ren, but Pyrrha dragged her away, stating that it was a time for partners to talk. After all, she was her partner while Ren was Jaune's.

* * *

" _ **Hey, Jaune. You should take a peek at the girls, get an early preview,"**_ suggested Othim as he had quite the toothy grin. Jaune promptly ignored his perverted antics again, taking this time to just relax into the bed with hot stones on his back, along with Ren.

"Feeling good?" Jaune asked. The reply was a slight grunt, followed by a small snore. Ren had fallen asleep from the treatment.

"I'll take that as a yes," chuckled Jaune before motioning the masseur to take the stones off them both. Jaune stood up to stretch for a bit before walking towards the hot tub in their room. As he sank in, he decided to talk with his dragons. It had been awhile since he had the time just to talk.

" _ **Enjoying your time at Beacon?"**_ asked Aryz.

" _ **The second semester is already halfway done, and the tournament is coming soon. Are you ready?"**_ asked Ryo-Wo.

'Yea,' thought back Jaune, 'And I'll enjoy pounding my half-brothers into the dirt.'

" _ **Excellent!"**_ approved Lung Wang following with a hearty laugh, _**"Show them what it means to try to steal your mates, and show your sperm donor what he failed to see."**_

" _ **Have you decided on who to use the Dragon Marks on?"**_ asked Alaerth, deciding to change the conversation.

'Some, but not a lot,' admitted Jaune, 'Lightning for Nora, that's a given. I might give Junior one, and I was debating on Sun. He's been a good friend, even though he has a slight crush on Blake. He's promised to do his best to look for somebody else. The only problem for him is that I don't know what to give him.'

" _ **If I may suggest,"**_ started Fafnir, _**"Let Sun have my Dragon's Mark. From what he told us, his Semblance is creating actual clones of himself, but he admits it does drain him. Having him with my mark might help stabilize his clones, using less of his Aura to create it. He could potentially create better clones of himself. Not to mention the old lores of the monkey legend. His name is the same thing."**_

'Uh, what?' asked Jaune.

" _ **It's not important,"**_ replied Fafnir, waving it off, _**"But I'd recommend that Sun should be given the Earth Dragon's Mark."**_

'I'll think about it,' said Jaune, 'That means fire, water, and wind is left. Fire would probably go well with Junior since he is quite passionate in helping me.'

" _ **What about the Malachite twins?"**_ asked Andusk, _**"Their fighting style might fit with it. Both have proven to be quite flexible and agile in fighting, something that matches those elements a bit."**_

'I want Ren to be alive, thank you,' deadpanned Jaune, causing the dragons to chuckle in agreement.

" _ **We can think about those two marks later, I suppose,"**_ announced Lung Wang, _**"There is still much more training to be done. You are able to link up with 5 of us simultaneously comfortably, 6 if you strain yourself. You must be able to link up with all of us at once. And finally, you are ready to take the first step of summoning."**_

'Wait, you mean like Weiss can?' asked Jaune.

" _ **Similar,"**_ replied Ryo-Wo, _**"We didn't tell you earlier because you weren't ready. In order to summon, you have to use both Aura and a small bit amount of your blood to summon a dragon to Remnant. They can be used to aid you. However, summoning can cost a lot of your Aura, and not all the dragons will listen to you. You have to prove that you are worthy and strong enough. We can't have you reliant on your summons. We'll give you the information on how to summon, but it'll be up to you to decide when to summon."**_

Jaune nodded before leaning back and sinking slowly into the tub. Ren was still asleep. He couldn't help but feel unease, not knowing if he would be strong enough to summon dragons.

* * *

Merlot was intrigued to the place where he had been brought to. The landscape was filled with dark colors, and Grimm could be seen everywhere. Here, he would never have to worry about a shortage of Grimm at all. There were even species he had never seen or heard before! When Merlot met Salem, his first thought was that this lady was a Grimm that evolved to look like a human. He was so tempted to perform experiments on her. He didn't ask, as he didn't want to offend her.

Salem, herself, was more interested in the footage that Merlot provided. She dismissed him, assigning a room for him and promising him a lab, materials, and specimens to experiment on.

"So, Ozpin. You've managed to recruit some sort of devil. But I wonder if you know that yourself," murmured Salem, looking at Jaune and his red scaled wings. She gently touched the screen, outlining Jaune's figure. "He could be just one of many. And who knows what legend he comes from. I can't tell from the photo alone. However, the other students I recognize. They are from Beacon, and two of them are ones Cinder have marked as potential threats."

"Hmm. I guess she's not too blind after all," scoffed Watts, "But for her to miss this one? Such an amateurish mistake."

"Do not be so quick to judge, doctor. He may have been hiding this power from everyone. But for what reason? Fear? An edge against the enemy? Arrogance? Or is it something else?' Salem.

She dismissed the other students, deeming them as a lower threat level than Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha, and quickly sent the video to Cinder. She trusted Cinder was right about her judgment. It was unfortunate for her that Merlot's camera was unable to capture Ruby's face clearly, for if she did, she would have had seen her silver eyes, and how they seemed to be glowing a little.

* * *

"Hmm... So the 'Goddess of Victory' has polarity as her semblance," murmured Cinder as she looked at the video Salem had sent her. Emerald and Mercury were with her at her room, Mercury doing push-ups while Emerald sat on his back. Mercury couldn't deny that he enjoyed the soft bumps on his back, but continued his exercise. Of course, if Cinder would join in, he would really enjoy the feeling of her rump on his back. Although she might burn him to a crisp afterward, it probably wasn't worth it.

"So that's the secret to her victory," said Emerald, filing her nails while checking her weapons, "She must use it to make slight adjustments on her opponent's weapon. Not enough to broadcast her powers, but enough to make her seem untouchable."

"And since most weapons, today have some sort of metal," grunted Mercury, "She can manipulate almost everyone's weapons."

"So in reality, she also takes fate into her own hands," thought Cinder carefully, "A good thing we have her on our list. However, I think one more addition may be needed."

She paused the video before turning her scroll to them, showing Jaune with his red scaled wings flying about. Mercury and Emerald widened their eyes in surprise as the video continued to play and showed Jaune shooting out fire from his mouth. Cinder was especially impressed to see another person be actually able to manipulate Dust in its raw form without the use of technology. Although eating it was new to her. Perhaps she could try it sometime, under controlled circumstances.

"Think he's in league with the angels and devils we've been hearing about?" asked Emerald.

"Could be. However, instead of a threat, perhaps he could be of great use to us," smiled Cinder.

"How so?" asked Mercury.

"He has power. Instead of taking it away from him, we might be able to use his powers to further our goals. If we can convince him to our side, it will be a great boon," explained Cinder, "I'll have our little friend try to find out more about him. There has to be something that we can use or find. Plus, it's easy to see the angels are not friends of Grimm. These devils, however, might be."

Cinder looked to the window, looking at the shattered moon, "If it comes to other methods, then we can always use blackmail... or seduction."

At this, she giggled a bit, "I'm sure that I can offer him more than his teammates ever could. And if needed, your Semblance, Emerald, could always be useful."

Emerald felt a little disgusted at the thought of using her Semblance as a way to fulfill some man's imagination, but swallowed it, "Yes ma'am."

"Hey, does that mean you can give old people wet daydreams and have them keel over in shock and die of happiness, with a bloody nose and a boner?" joked Mercury. Emerald responded by slapping his head, which promptly made him fall down into the ground.

Ozpin was going over some of Merlot's notes and was deeply concerned. Ironwood had taken Merlot's notes on robotics when Weiss mentioned how they seemed stronger than the latest batch of Atlesian Knights and sent them over to the Atlas technological department to see what they could learn and improve upon.

"Merlot, what were you thinking?" sighed Ozpin as he reminisced about who he thought was his old friend.

He knew that man was too stubborn and smart to commit suicide at his island. Which begged the question, where was he now? Ozpin leaned back into his seat as he swiveled his chair to look at the window. He knew it was merely a matter of time before Salem found him and brought him into her circle. Time was running out, and they needed to make a final decision on who to give Amber's remaining power to.

They couldn't heal her, as she needed the remaining half of her powers to make a full recovery. They tried to find some sort of substitute, but her body rejected it. All they could do was prolong her life as long as they could. It was thanks to Ironwood for that technology, and the ability to transfer the remaining power within Amber to somebody worthy. It wasn't perfected, but it was better than the assailant getting all that power. Especially since Qrow had told them that the assailant was most likely part of Salem's faction.

He already had one candidate in mind, but he didn't want to make the choice so soon. Heck, he didn't want to bring children into the war, not if he could avoid it. But there was little time, now. They would have to bring the candidate in and see if she would agree before the Vytal Festival Tournament was over. They also didn't know when the enemy would strike.

"I hope you're ready, Pyrrha Nikos. And I hope your family and team will forgive me for making you choose," murmured Ozpin.

* * *

A few weeks passed, and team JNPR and RWBY were getting back into their schedule now. They attended class and trained with each other whenever they had time. SSSN, NDGO, and even CRDL would join them sometimes. The upper division classmen like DSCO and CFVY, for example, didn't hang out with them too often, but they made time every now and then. The other missions they attended was nowhere as chaotic as before.

One day, there was an announcement to have all teams interested in attending the Vytal Festival Tournament to meet up in the auditorium. Soon, almost everyone still at Beacon and not on a mission was called to the auditorium.

"Welcome, everyone," said Glynda, "Today is the day that the teams who will be participating the Vytal Festival Tournament will be announced. Each school has already reviewed the latest batch of missions you have gone, and have made a decision based on past performances, whether it be at your school or at Beacon. Please look at the screen to see if your team has been chosen. Please remain if your team is listed on the list. If not, have a nice day, and try again next time or cheer for the ones that have made it."

The screen behind her flashed, and four columns with team names showed up. Each column belonged to a specific Academy to make searching easier. Each Academy had about 10-14 teams listed on it.

As students eagerly scanned the list, there were some cheers, some laughter, and some sobs. Those who didn't make it was disappointed, but promised to cheer their school on to show their spirit.

"Alright! Team RWBY is on the list!" cheered Ruby. She gave high fives to her teammates, who replied to the gesture with enthusiasm.

"Are we on the list?" asked Nora, trying to find their name.

"Yep, right there," pointed Pyrrha. Nora whooped before hugging Pyrrha, almost breaking ribs.

Out of Beacon, the most notable ones beside them were CFVY, CRDL, BLUE, and PRPL. However, Jaune noticed something.

"How come there are not that many 4th year teams?" asked Jaune. Surely students with 4 years of training would be on the list.

"It's because of the missions lately," came a voice all of em were familiar with, turning around it was revealed to be Coco of CFVY, "Grimm activity has been acting up lately, so most of the schools are having their 4th year students and even 3rd year students outside the Kingdom, helping as many people as they can. Of course, it's optional to do so, but most feel like it's their duty to help then to fight in a tournament for people to watch."

"Aurelian doesn't feel that way for certain," said Nebula, walking up to them, "Just saw his team's name on there with BYDD. How BYDD got in, I'll never know. Probably had his daddy bribe some people into it."

"Nebula! You know Shade Academy wouldn't do that! Especially with our headmistress and our culture. How we welcome mostly the strong," lectured Dew.

"Yea, you're right. Still, don't see how they made it in," said Nebula.

"Perhaps we can kick them out during the final decisions," suggested Gwen.

"Or hope they make it in so Ren can kick his ass in public," grinned Octavia as she latched onto Ren's arm. Not to be outdone, Nora latched his other arm.

"Sup!" said Sun as he joined their group, "My team's on the list. No surprise there. I know you guys have to be on there too."

"Good to see your still kicking," smiled Jaune as he gave him a fist bump.

"How droll. I see the plebeians have gathered," rang a voice.

They all turned while rolling their eyes to see team ARLN and BYDD, standing across from them.

"Hello Aurelian," said Pyrrha with a fake smile. It was only polite to greet someone.

"Pyrrha, a pleasure to see you," smiled Aurelian, "Tell me, have I convinced you to leave your pathetic team yet? Surely with you by my side, we'll be the most powerful couple in Remnant. Just come with me to Shade. I'm sure the Headmistress will allow you in on my team."

"Whoa, stealing someone's girl? Not cool, dude," said Neptune.

"Wow, you're desperate with that attitude, aren't you?" said Sun. He shook his head at what could've been him if he had tried to steal Blake from Jaune.

"Silence you fool and filthy Faunus," spat Aurelian.

Sage stepped forward, looking him dead in the eye, pounding his fist together while Scarlet held back Neptune and Sun from jumping him. Nobody insulted his leader and got away with it easily. CRDL seemed to have his back. Cardin, especially. His family was not in the best terms with the Arc family. DSCO were trying their hardest not to go over and beat Aurelian to a literal pulp, considering the racist comment Aurelian pulled, although it was clearly written on their faces towards how upset they were.

"That's enough," said Jaune, stopping them from a fight. He tilted his head, leading them away from ARLN and BYDD. "No point in fighting here."

"Running, you coward?" asked Boyd loudly trying to get Jaune to react.

Jaune stopped before looking him dead in the eye before replying, "Is your job devoted to spreading ignorance?"

Boyd sputtered out while the others laughed.

"Is that any way to speak to your **brother**? And you clearly show no respect for your **older brother,** " mocked Aurelian, the word brother seeped with venom from how he spoke them. Everyone froze as they turned around to him in shock.

"What?" asked Cardin.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself," said Aurelian, "I am Aurelian Arc, Jaune's older **half-brother**. His true name is Jaune Arc, although it should be Jaune No-name. Making up a last name to make yourself seem like someone, how childish. You were, are, and always will be just a pitiful fool who doesn't know his place."

"You may be related to me by blood, but we are not brothers," glared Jaune, "No more than the fact Vlad Arc is just someone who played a part in birth. As for my place, it's right here, at Beacon."

"As if we would want to be even seen related to you," scoffed Aurelian, "Father has been informed that you are here. It was quite a surprise to him that you were still alive after he sealed your Aura. Boyd sent him a photo of your team, as he wanted more information about you. Imagine our surprise that our weak brother was here, actually daring to glare at me. He's quite determined to **correct** that mistake. I expect you to be gone from Beacon within the week, and probably disappear from this world. Nobody will miss you. Your proper position in this world is underneath the ground, buried so nobody can find you."

He turned to the rest of them, "You can thank me for getting rid of the scum anytime. People like him deserve to be put out so their dirty genes don't pollute the pool. Only those worthy like myself and Pyrrha deserve to pass on greatness."

If Aurelian was expecting praise and thanks, and perhaps girls hanging on his side desperate for his blessings, he got something alright. He heard a gun cock and opened his eyes to see Coco's Gatling gun pointed right in his face, the barrel already spinning in motion. Though that wasn't the only spinning he was hearing, looking above he could see a dark red globe spinning at high speeds, Dandy stood behind him looking down, his yellow eyes glaring down at him, a finger ready to press a button on his cane, most likely the detachment button. Like Scarlet, Onyx and Coral were holding back Soul, who at this moment was thrashing around trying to get out of their grip, his weapon in its sword form, his semblance activated from pure anger as his eyes glowed with fury.

"I think we've had enough of your attitude," said Coco coolly.

"Ah second that, you best leave before ah give this floor ah new paint job." Stated Dandy as he really wanted to drop this ball on him. Aurelian knew he couldn't though because killing a student of an academy will lead to serious consequences, especially if they are harmed when not in the arena.

"Fine," smirked Aurelian, not even scared by both Coco's and Dandy's supposed bluff "Just don't expect the loser to be here any longer. As he was an Arc, Vlad has every right to recall him home. To hide the shame. To block out his existence, a mistake into the world. And nobody will deny father the right. Not your mother, not those bitches you call sisters, and certainly not Goodwitch."

"You'll find he has no right to do that," piped a voice from behind him. They turned around to see Cinder with her team, team CMSN (Crimson). Emerald and Mercury was there next to her. Their last team member, Noire, wasn't there.

"When a student enters a Huntsmen Academy, they are considered to be adults. And since Jaune _Ryu-Long_ was recognized by Ozpin himself to attend the academy, well, your father's request will most likely be denied," explained Cinder, "And I doubt your father is capable of changing Ozpin's mind." A small smirk forming on her face.

Aurelian looked like he swallowed a lemon before huffing and walking away, muttering curses. His team and BYDD quickly followed him.

* * *

"Emerald!" shouted Ruby.

"Hey there Ruby!" smiled Emerald as she conversed with team RWBY. Mercury inserted himself to talking with team CRDL.

"Thanks for that," said Jaune.

"No worries," said Cinder, raising her hand. At first, Jaune thought it was a handshake when he noticed the back of her hand was positioned upwards. Recognizing it as the old way of when a gentleman greeted a woman, he took it before kissing the back of her hand. Pyrrha and Dew slightly bristled at this, but held their anger back for now.

"I don't believe we've met in person," began Jaune, letting go of her hand, "Just merely heard about you from Mercury and Emerald."

Mercury and Emerald would show up from time to time to talk with RWBY and JNPR while they were at the library, and even eat lunch with them.

"I tend to be busy," said Cinder, "Although I was interested in meeting the famous team leader of Pyrrha Nikos. Perhaps we could get dinner together, as one leader to another?" At this, she secretly made a few seductive gestures, causing Pyrrha and Dew to be nearing eruption point.

"Say... tomorrow?" continued Cinder, ignoring the two girls.

"Sure. Though perhaps after the Festival. Gotta prepare for the tournament with my team," said Jaune.

"Mmm, a pity. If you can't find time, I suppose I can't fault you. But we must meet up sometime," Cinder said seductively before lifting her finger, gently tracing Jaune's jaws, "In private."

At that, Cinder left, calling Mercury and Emerald back to her side.

"So, how are the friends?" asked Mercury to Emerald when they were out of earshot range.

"Hate them," grumbled Emerald, "They're just so... stupid. I would think the dark one would be more realistic, but she's only just barely."

"Meh. I had an ok time with CRDL. Not much to talk about, though. Usual cannon fodder talk," Merc replied

"Relax," their leader began, "There's only a month left before we have to deal with that. I must say, though, my conversation with Jaune was... enlightening. I can tell that he cares deeply for his team. And that there are two girls that are dying for his attention. One of them happens to be Pyrrha Nikos."

"You don't say," said Mercury.

"Indeed. Just imagine taking her power and her love life away from her," shivered Cinder with sadistic glee, "Plus, it doesn't help that Jaune seems to be a fine specimen."

"You know, I don't think I've seen her before," piped up Sun, "They're Haven students, like us."

"Sun, you ditched class so many times, and ran off to see Beacon before anyone of us was supposed to go, it's no surprise you didn't see them," said Neptune.

"Like, I think they're two years above us," said Scarlet.

"Soo," started Cardin, "You're an Arc?" He asked crossing his arms

"Ex-Arc," replied Jaune with a tsk, "That man banished me from the family. I have no desire to call myself an Arc."

"Whatever," said Cardin, "My family isn't in good terms with the Arcs. If the Arcs are your enemy, then you're my ally. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"That's actually deep," began Ren, "When did you start reading old scriptures?"

"Since Oobleck made us read historical stories as part of my team's detention," admitted Cardin.

"It was horrifying when he would make us take quizzes while Port would talk about his stories," shuddered Russel.

"If we failed, we had to do it again with Port talking about another story," cringed Sky.

They couldn't talk anymore as Glynda started her announcements again, telling them where each Academy would meet to finalize who would be the four teams that represented an Academy.

" _ **Jaune?"**_ spoke Lung Wang in his mind.

'I know,' Jaune mentally replied, 'That Cinder girl isn't normal. I can feel something is wrong.'

" _ **Her power reeks of corruption, but there is something about it that seems familiar,"**_ said Andusk, _**"Something of the old legends of humans, with a hint of dragon. I can't seem to place it."**_

'Got it. I'll be careful of her,' thought Jaune.

* * *

The teams that were chosen by each Academy split off into different classrooms so they could discuss or arrange fights among themselves. As they split off, Sun quickly excused himself to go to the bathroom. As he got nearer, he saw Gwen. Gwen saw him too, looking around to see if anybody was close before quickly dashing to hug him.

"We don't have much time," whispered Gwen as she quickly kissed him.

"Just wanted to see you and wish you luck," whispered Sun, "Although I doubt you'll need it. I know your team will make it in. However, don't expect me or my team to go easy."

"I could say the same," smirked Gwen.

As they were about to come closer for another kiss, Jaune walked in on them. He had just come from the bathroom. He stared at them for a bit. They stared at him back for a bit. It was pretty much a stare off at this point until Jaune broke the silence

"Sooo….You guys are dating?" asked Jaune in surprise.

"Shhh!" They both hushed getting close to Jaunes face, "We're keeping it a secret for now."

"Fine, "But you have to tell me how you two wound up dating."

They confessed that they had met up after the Dance, and hit it off there. During the beach trip, they had snuck away from Nebula for a bit to make out. Sun admitted that her personality was similar to Blake and yet so different. Both had the whole dark colors working out for them, to which Sun said that it attracted him. The fact that Gwen didn't mind dating a Faunus clinched it for Sun. For Gwen, Sun was a bright sun in her dark colors. His carefree but caring attitude was something she could appreciate. Not to mention those nice abs was all hers now.

"Awesome," Jaune was happy Sun had found someone, "Though you do plan on telling your teams, right?"

They both scratched their head in embarrassment, unable to decide what or when to tell them. Seeing as they were out of time, the trio separated to head back to discuss with who was representing.

For Beacon, team CFVY, RWBY, and JNPR were chosen almost automatically. All of Beacon had heard about RWBY and JNPR crazy adventures and thought they would do well. Not to mention Pyrrha Nikos was on one of the team. CFVY was rated to be the number one team in the second year. The last few spots were to be fought over a small tournament.

For Atlas, FNKI, CPPR, and BLCK were voted in. The last spot was fought over using logistics, past data, and sound arguments. For some reason, one of them involved a dance off. Team DSCO had originally been voted in considering they were the top 2nd-year team with FNKI following right after, but they decided to decline, stating they had something better planned for the festival, that would represent Atlas.

For Shade, ARLN and NDGO were given a pass. ARLN because they were last years champions while NDGO showed great promise. Boyd almost whined when he learned his team would be fighting over the team spots in a grand battle royale, with each team choosing one person to represent them. The last 6 members out of 13 still standing would be granted the spot.

For Haven, CRMN, SSSN, and ABRN were given a pass. The rest was put up for discussion. Sun was getting bored, wishing to go out soon and perhaps sneak a date in with Gwen. Jaune could cover for them.

* * *

A few days later, Jaune decided to go training alone in the arena while everyone was discussing who would be going into the tournament, testing out his sword skill against 6 droids at once. However, lately, he hadn't been feeling confident and his moves seemed sluggish to him. He merely shrugged and thought it might've been nervousness. He defeated them with ease and was almost ready to call it a day when he bumped into Ozpin.

"Hello Professor Ozpin," greeted Jaune, "What brings you to the training area so late?"

"Just stretching my legs after all this paperwork for the Vytal Festival," groaned Ozpin, "It's the same every two years for any headmaster hosting the tournament. So much paperwork to go through. Thank Oum I only have to do it once every 8 years."

Jaune nodded in sympathy before getting ready to leave when Ozpin stopped him.

"You know, I haven't had time to train myself lately. Want to help me break off my rust?"

Jaune's eyes opened wide hearing Ozpin's proposal before nodding his head, getting back into the arena. After all, it wasn't often you got to spar with the Headmaster of an established Academy. Out of all the Headmasters of the four schools, rumor had it, Ozpin was the strongest of them all. Jaune was eager to prove himself.

As the two got into position, Jaune wondered how close he was to Ozpin. He asked Ozpin for a few minutes to wipe off the sweat from earlier and grab a quick drink, to which Ozpin complied. He quickly used full link with Fafnir before getting into position.

"So, are you ready? Have you fully prepared your Semblance?" asked Ozpin, surprising Jaune.

"You made good excuses, but I could tell you were using it to buy some time to prepare. I imagine you can use your Semblance on the go, but to fully tap into it, you need some time to prepare."

Jaune nodded, a bit stunned at such an astute observation.

" _ **Be careful,"**_ warned Lung Wang, _**"This man is powerful and observant. Two things that make anyone dangerous."**_

Jaune nodded and lifted _Dragonscales_ up in a defensive position, ready for any surprise. The timer counted down from 5, and when it hit 0, the match started. Jaune slowly moved forward, coming into Ozpin's range. He felt like he was close enough to attack and attempted to slash when his senses screamed at him to dodge. He leaned back just to see Ozpin's cane graze by him with a thrust. He jumped back, extremely nervous.

" _ **Jaune, you should-"**_ started Aryz, but Lung Wang and Ryo-Wo stopped her.

'Thanks, Aryz, but I want to do this on my own,' thought Jaune, 'I can't rely on all of your advice all the time. Can't be too dependent on you guys. I need this to grow up.'

" _ **Well spoken,"**_ spoke Ryo-Wo proudly, _**"But I suggest you dodge now."**_

Jaune's eyes widened at that statement, cursing before dodging a sideways slash from Ozpin. He rolled away from Ozpin before getting up and blocking another slash with his shield. Ozpin quickly thrust a few times into the shield before smacking it up, breaking through his defense. Jaune panicked and stomped the ground, causing a pillar to rise in between them. Ozpin stepped back to avoid it while Jaune quickly got ready again.

"Don't get distracted now, I'd feel bad if you were out for the count so soon," grinned Ozpin as he continued his barrage of attacks.

Jaune continued blocking them with his shield before sending a counter slash just for Ozpin to block it with his bare hands. Jaune was surprised, but saw a green glow around his hands, noticing a barrier. Ozpin had mastery over his Aura to make a barrier from wherever he wanted. This didn't deter Jaune as he sent a backflip kick towards Ozpin, forcing them to break before pointing his shield at him, switching to hand cannon mode and firing. Ozpin smacked all the bullets down before charging forward once again. Jaune roared, stomping the ground and kicking in the air, sending several stone plates flying, only for Ozpin to jump on them and use them as platforms before cleaving his cane down for an overhead strike. Jaune leaped up into the air to meet him with a roar and a swing.

A few minutes later, Jaune was on the floor, breathing heavily while Ozpin merely dusted off any dust on his clothes.

"Not bad for a first year I must say, it's no wonder why you got Qrow's and Leonidas's recommendation. I can see why they would do so."

"You're... crazy...strong...," panted Jaune. He hadn't been able to land a clean hit at all.

"Well, I am the headmaster," his headmaster smugly stated, "Otherwise, I'd be out of a job."

As Jaune slowly stood up, Ozpin helped him over to some seats, and they both sat down. They looked at the arena, which was honestly now a huge mess. One of the signs was creaking, hanging off by a nail before it fell off and crashed onto the floor.

"Best not to tell Glynda we were the ones who did this," gulped Ozpin, "It's a good thing I disabled the cameras. Definitely don't want us to get in trouble like DSCO did now do we?" It was there that he gave a small smile to Jaune.

Jaune nodded in reply. The two of them sat together for a bit, Jaune taking sips of his water while Ozpin held his mug in front of him. Finally, Ozpin spoke up.

"You've felt like you recently hit a wall, haven't you?"

Jaune was surprised at this accusation that he nodded, unable to reply.

"I suppose it's natural, given your state. You've never had a real master or tutor to help you. Instead, you traveled around Remnant, learning how to fight in the wild. I'm sure you've picked up some advice here and there, but now you're looking at a wall you don't know how to go through. I could feel it during our clashes. To be honest, I'd thought you'd hit it sooner with the lack of tutor."

Jaune looked at the professor in interest, wondering just where he was going with this. The headmaster placed his mug to the side after taking a quick sip of his drink.

"You've developed your strong points, and anyone around your strength or weaker poses little to no problem to you at all. However, once you're facing someone who has the experience that surpasses yours, you find yourself in a little trouble, like me. It doesn't matter if I was weaker or slower, you have trouble with any veterans. My advice to you is to stop training for just a bit, take a step back, and look around you."

Jaune looked confused, so Ozpin continued talking, "Your sword style. It's very powerful, but I can feel unease in your strikes. It seems to have come recently, am I right to assume that?" Jaune nodded in reply. Not knowing if he was strong enough to summon and combine the fact his heritage had been just revealed forcefully to his friends did shock him a bit. Even if they were ok with it, he was still afraid.

"Luckily, it's still early. From someone who has dabbled in swordplay a little and fought with and against sword users, these type of emotions can pile up, and cause your sword to waver. This can cause your sword itself to feel dull."

" _ **Damn, this man is sharp,"**_ complemented Lung Wang. The others nodded in reply. They had also felt Jaune hitting a wall, but instead of guiding him, they had wanted him to seek others for advice. To let him grow socially, making connections to others.

"So instead of charging forward and trying to break that wall, just take a few step backs. Look around you. The way of the sword is not determined by brute strength, just like many other weapons. What originally may seem slow and feeble may be something hidden from plain sight. I believe deep within some of those paths..."

A piece of paper seemed to drop down from the sky. Perhaps somebody's homework they left in the bleachers. The arena fans were turned on to get some fresh air in and blew the paper towards them. Ozpin had his eyes closed when he lifted his hand up, sticking two fingers out only. As the paper passed by them, he merely seemed to have touched the paper, tracing it upwards.

"There is something powerful inside."

The paper split into two just as he finished. Jaune could only stare in amazement at what just happened. Ozpin stood up, putting his hand forward.

"Come. We should get out of here for the day. Don't want to be caught now, do we?"

Jaune nodded once more, and together, they left the arena. They almost made it out when they heard the tapping of someone's foot. They both slowly turned around, and to their horror seen Glynda Goodwitch standing there, looking quite annoyed.

"Glynda," Ozpin began seeming quite nervously, "Jaune and I was merely taking a walk. Would you care to join us? Somewhere far away from the arena?"

"Of course, headmaster," Glynda began, stepping closer and closer to them, "Just as soon as you help me with the arena. Just because you disabled the cameras doesn't mean I know it wasn't you who just trashed an arena that I **just** fixed. The same goes for you Mr. Ryu-Long. You two are going to help me or there will be consequences, only **far** worse than what I normally give out."

The two men gulped in fear as they slowly walked back into the arena with Goodwitch. No man nor woman shall escape Goodwitch's wrath, no matter how hard they try, they shall feel her fury.

* * *

 **So close to tournament time! Jaune's heritage is revealed! Vlad Arc now knows of his existence! What will happen! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can do it!**

 **Be honest, who expected me to pair Sun and Gwen up? As for the reasons why I did this pairing, I thought it was appropriate. Gwen and Blake have some color similarities and personality similarities in this fanfic.**

 **Also, anyone care to guess where the Ozpin scene was inspired from?**


	23. Chapter 23 Approaching Vytal Tournament

**Yaa new chapter! Hope you enjoy this one. Now, new Dragon Marks incoming! Also, a brief... lime scene? Not very descriptive, as this story was supposed to be rated T. However, if I do somehow get flagged or people say that this should be rated M, I will bump it up, but I think it's still within the borders. I've seen a story that's more descriptive and it's still within the T-rating. Still planning on putting any 'lemon' scenes that might come up in future chapters as another story.**

 **If there's a double post on the e-mail about this chapter, sorry. Stupid fanfic when I posted it gave me an error message. And when I check the archives, it goes missing when it does that.**

* * *

"Cheers!" shouted Jaune. He was with his team, RWBY, CFVY, NDGO, and SSSN, all celebrating the fact they had been chosen to fight in the Vytal Festival Tournament. They had gathered at Junior's bar, where he was serving them prime steaks he recently bought. It had been hard, but he had managed to legalize almost all of his businesses, and by use of recommendations, such as having a photo of Pyrrha or Weiss with him at a business hanging off the wall, he was raking in a good amount of money.

"Cheers!" they all replied back before taking a good drink. Ruby had milk, as Yang wouldn't allow her to drink yet.

"You guys want something special?" asked Junior.

As requests went around, Pyrrha, who was not used to drinks, said "Umm.. I'll take a body shot?"

At once, they all stared at her, who was growing more and more confused. Ruby was still enjoying a fresh plate of cookies and milk Junior had brought out for her.

"What? Did I say something wrong? I remember my uncle telling me about a special drink I should get while Jaune was with me," said Pyrrha.

Yang quickly whispered into her ear, explaining what a body shot was. Pyrrha grew redder and redder until her face was basically matching the same color as her hair. Everyone was laughing, enjoying the festivity.

A couple minutes later, CRDL and DSCO joined them. DSCO had been working hard on their secret project, while CRDL was pumped up, ready to prove that they should be on the competition. The group all enjoyed their time together. Jaune and Dandy even got to a dance off which pretty much ended with a tie surprisingly Soon enough Sun, Nebula, Coco, and Cardin all joined in on the dancing.

Jaune, after contemplating and resting for a few minutes from the dance off, observed the area around him, most of team SSSN except for Sun, Neptune, Soul, and surprisingly Yatsuhashi were at the bar having a drinking contest, Scarlet was the first hit the bucket, followed by Sage, it was close that ended in a tie only because Yatsuhashi almost gave in to the drinks and Soul almost being completely drunk, sure he was laughing like a happy drunk, but what he heard from one of the group conversations, Soul was pretty much the angry drunk and would go full on demonic mode and might trash the place.

Dandy, Neptune, and Cardin were still on the dance floor, seems like the giant lion was giving the two guys a dance lesson of shorts considering Neptune still couldn't dance well and Cardin herd from Dandy that dancing was a great workout, especially since it works on the abs quite a bit.

Coco who went back to the table after the dance for a break herself, Velvet, Weiss, Ruby, Pyrrha, team NDGO except for the Gwen, and Onyx were all having a conversation amongst one another, taking notice of two particular people, Onyx and Velvet seem to be having quite the conversation with onyx showing some of the beats he had made in the past, and velvet showing off some of the photos she has taken as well.

Everyone else such as Yang, surprisingly Blake and Ren, Nora, Fox, Sun, Gwen, Coral and the rest of team CRDL, were all laughing do to what Coral was doing, by the looks of it, it seems he was doing impressions of some of the teachers from Beacon, Atlas, and other famous people, especially with his semblance, the impressions were quite funny. After seeing what everyone was up to, now was the best time on deciding who to give the Dragon Marks to.

Reaching into his pocket pulled out his scroll and sent a message to the respective recipients. "Ren, Nora, Hei Xiong, Sun. Follow me for a bit. Hei Xiong, get us a private room or lead us to your office,"

Ren, recognizing it as official Dragon business, quickly pulled a laughing Nora with him. Junior knew this was something serious for Jaune to his real name, and quickly cleared out his office to use. Sun, who was confused, just followed where Jaune was going. Soon, they were away from the rest of them, inside Junior's office. Junior had made sure there were no bugs in his office, sweeping through it at least three times a week, and whenever he knew Jaune was coming over.

"What's up?" asked Sun, confused at why he was here at all.

"Are you planning to tell him?" asked Ren.

"Tell me what?" Sun asked once more seeming even more confused than before.

"I think he's trustworthy enough. Provided he doesn't blab to everybody else," stated Jaune, looking at Sun.

"What? I can keep my mouth shut. Didn't tell anyone about Blake before she decided to take off her bow, not even my team... Except for Neptune, but forget that." stated Sun.

"If he tells, I can have my boys rough him up," said Junior with a sadistic smile.

"Let's not be too hasty," said Sun, putting his hands up.

"Alright, Sun. I'll tell you the reason why I have to date multiple girls. You know I'm dating Pyrrha and Blake, and probably Yang," said Jaune. Sun nodded at that. He had his suspicions about Yang.

Jaune went on to explain about his contracts, his past life, and everything that he told JNPR, NDGO, and RWBY. Then, he sprouted the white feather wings to emphasize his point.

"Whoa! You're the angel the city of Vale has been talking about!?" shouted Sun, "Wait, that means when you said you were escorting..."

"I escaped to hide my identity," finished Jaune, "I didn't want everyone to know about my power. Especially the Arc family. The only other team that knows about me being the Angel is DSCO, though Dandy assured they would keep my secret about being the angel, even from their own headmaster General Ironwood. They don't know about the dragons, though, just me being the Angel.

"No wonder you hate the Arcs," snorted Sun, "I can't blame you for all that crap he put you through."

"Well, I did meet my dragons and several people who I hold dear to my heart after I left," smiled Jaune.

"So you've told me your past, power, and conditions. Is there anything else? It can't be just for that," said Sun.

"This next part involves the three of you," said Jaune, pointing at Nora, Junior, and Sun, "I'm giving you all the Dragon's Mark. Ren already has two that I gave him. I trust you guys."

"COOL!" shouted Nora as she thrust her hands into the air.

"Are you serious?" asked Junior. When Jaune nodded, Junior went down on one knee before putting a palm over his fist, "I am honored to receive one."

"Wow. I'm actually honored by this," said Sun, "You sure you want to do this? Especially to me?"

Jaune nodded before explaining how he could respect and trust him as his actions showed someone who was honorable.

"Alright, just put your hands in front of you, stacked on top of each other," They quickly did so, and Jaune put his hand on top of theirs. The room's light dimmed as Ren purposely did so for dramatic effects.

" _In my hands, I trust you to with my blessing. To defend those who cannot do so, and to aid my clan. To be able to protect those worthy with your new power. Will you do so, Nora Valkyrie, Sun Wukong, and Hei Xiong of the Xiong Clan."_

"We will," they all replied as one.

" _Then by my power and contracts, I bless you a Dragon's Mark. Prove to me you are worthy of their mark. Nora Valkyrie, you will receive the blessing of Alaerth. Sun Wukong, the blessing of Fafnir. And Hei Xiong, the blessing of Lung Wang."'_

They all felt a burning sensation, but at different parts of their body. For Nora, it was in the middle of her chest, where she showed skin while wearing her combat uniform, where the chest hole would be. Sun felt it burn the skin right where his heart would be. Junior felt it on his right shoulder. They looked to see dragon claws on them now, all varying colors.

"Sweet," said Sun, "Though a little confused why you blessed me with Earth. Not that I'm complaining, but wouldn't, I dunno, light be better? For my clones?"

"I already gave light to Ren," said Jaune, "Plus, Fafnir suggested you for his mark. Something about old monkey legend."

"Huh. I had a dragon's recommendation. I guess I can't complain," said Sun in shock and awe.

"You still have two more, right?" asked Junior, "What about my nieces, Melanie and Miltia. They're loyal, and this mark could be a great boon for them."

"I want Ren to be alive, thank you," deadpanned Jaune, causing all of them to chuckle.

Ren looked a bit pale at the mention of the Malachite twins having the boons. He wouldn't be able to escape them at all. He was lucky that today they were out training some of the men in a village outside of Vale.

"Guess that'll be put on the back burner for now," chuckled Junior before turning to Ren, "I know you're very hesitant of having a growing harem like Jaune, but do consider my nieces. I honestly don't have anyone I can trust besides Jaune. And since your his team mate as well as an allied clan, I suppose you have some of my trust. But if you play with their feelings, I will hunt you down. It doesn't matter if you have two marks. I won't stop even if you beg, and I'm sure Jaune won't stop me from getting justice."

"I... will have to... think about it as well as... get permission from my current dates," said Ren hesitantly, looking at Nora. She was too busy trying to figure what had changed in her body.

"Ah right," whispered Junior, "Her. The leg crusher."

They quickly went to rejoin the party afterward.

* * *

They were back at their dorms around midnight, quickly showering and switching into their pajamas. As Jaune went to bed, Pyrrha quickly called him to speak to him privately at the RWBY room. Jaune shrugged before joining her. They were the only ones inside the room.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Jaune.

"I've been thinking... about our relationship," said Pyrrha.

Jaune froze up on that. 'Oh Oum, she's not going to break up with me, is she?' thought Jaune, 'Does she want somebody else? Aurelian?'

Seeing his pale face, Pyrrha quickly spoke up, "Oh no, I'm not thinking of breaking up at all!"

"Oh thank heavens," said Jaune, relaxing into a chair, "I don't think I could handle it if you broke up with me. Not after Weiss."

"It's.. just I know I have to share you with others, thanks to the dragons. I'm really happy that I met you three years ago, back at Mistral. When I heard your Aura was sealed, and your dreams of becoming a Huntsman disappearing, I was devastated. To see my father unable to do anything put me down even more. Then, when I unlocked it, I was happy. When my mother told us that some cultures would view us as married, I admit, I was guiltily ecstatic," said Pyrrha, drawing closer to Jaune.

She sat on his lap, legs astride and kissed him deeply. Not complaining, Jaune reciprocated the kiss. It was after a few minutes did they finally break apart. Pyrrha continued talking then.

"You don't know how hard it was when you left to continue your journey. Sure, I could talk to you through my uncle. But my heart always worried. What if you fell for somebody else? What if you died? When I finally saw you at Beacon, I could finally be in front of me, and you still remembered me. I felt like I was in heaven when you asked me on a date. Now, here we are, dating, though quite unexpectedly with other girls in a relationship with you, but I was still happy. It might take a bit to convince my parents, but I'm sure my uncle Hephaestus will be behind you, and the others will as well."

"Pyrrha?" asked Jaune, unsure where she was going with this. Pyrrha quickly stood back up, walking away a bit before turning around again.

"So, tonight, I want it to be something to remember. With all these crazy events happening, and our future as Huntresses and Huntsmen, I want to do this soon. Who knows when it'll be our last day? So tonight, I want to give you something valuable. Something that can only be given once. To the man I love," said Pyrrha as she slowly stripped her pajamas like a striptease.

As soon as her pajamas fell down it was revealed that all she was wearing was a sexy red lace bra that emphasized her bust and matching g-string underwear.

Jaune was having a bloody nose seeing this. Her slender body was also highly desirable. Her thin waist, her long legs, her perfect body in all. Her red hair laid down, without the circlet on her head.

" _ **HAHA! YOU BECOME A MAN TONIGHT!"**_ laughed Othim.

"For tonight, make me your woman forever," whispered Pyrrha as she approached the frozen Jaune. She smiled with lust descending down to placing her lips on his once more.

They kissed deeply and passionately on the chair, their hands roaming around each other's back for a bit. Pyrrha was slowly moving her hands down to Jaune's abs, relishing toned body. Jaune wasn't any better, as he was enjoying her touch. However, when they started to go down a bit further, Jaune was able to snap out of his hazy induced state.

'No. This isn't the right time or place,' thought Jaune before stopping her.

It took great efforts for Jaune to even move his hands to stop her from going forward.

"What's wrong?" asked Pyrrha huskily.

"We can't do this. Not now. In the future, yes. But now is not the right time or location," whispered Jaune softly.

"But." started Pyrrha, but Jaune put his finger on his lips.

"I know you love me. And I can tell you that I love you just as much. But we shouldn't do it here. I can't imagine what the rest of RWBY would say if they found out we had sex in their dorms, where everyone from both JNPR and RWBY study here," explained Jaune, "Plus, I want our first time to be in a special place."

Pyrrha slightly blushed at that process, "Then... will you at least Mate Mark me? To show the world I'm yours only?"

Jaune shook his head, "The Mate Mark is permanent, and we have to consummate within three days, like I said. Otherwise, it would fade away, and you would never be able to be marked by me again. And we're not doing it here, nor do I think we're ready now."

Pyrrha could only sigh but agree. She really did want the world to know she was his, and to get Aurelian off her back. She was really getting annoyed by him and was slightly scared he might try something drastic.

"Then can you mark me another way? One without using the Mate mark?" asked Pyrrha.

"What did you have in mind?" questioned Jaune, intrigued.

"I'm sure you can figure that out for yourself," purred Pyrrha lustfully as she went back to kissing him.

They ended up grabbing some futons that they had purposely kept inside RWBY room just in case and slept there for the night. As Jaune fell asleep, he was in his mindscape again with his dragons.

" _ **Tsk,"**_ began Othim, _**"You had the perfect chance to get laid, and your noble attitude stopped you."**_

" _ **OTHIM!"**_ shouted Aryz, her claws clenched into a fist as she punched Othim on the head, _**"What Jaune did was the proper thing. Stop having your mind in the damn gutter!"**_

" _ **Geez, no need for that,"**_ pouted Othim, his claws on his head to nurse the comical bump on his head.

" _ **You did deserve it this time,"**_ scoffed Andusk.

" _ **I'm quite surprised that you could even resist,"**_ said Lung Wang, causing Alaerth and Aryz to glare at him. _**"What? Don't look at me like that, Alearth, Aryz. He is a male. Just like most of us are. The desire to mate with your chosen one is very hard to resist."**_

Alaerth and Aryz could only sigh and nod.

" _ **Still, Jaune's mental fortitude to control himself is quite an achievement,"**_ added Ryo-Wo.

" _ **To be able to control himself when a mate basically throws herself onto you is not something easy to resist."**_ said Fafnir as he nodded in agreement, along with the rest of the male dragons. Alaerth and Aryz could only sigh once more.

'Thanks, I guess?' said Jaune before disappearing from the mindscape.

* * *

The next morning, the two woke up around a little later than Jaune's usual wake up time. He was naked from the torso up.

"Morning," yawned Jaune as he sat up to stretch.

"Mmmm," mumbled Pyrrha as she slowly got up too. The sheet fell down, revealing Pyrrha's naked breast. She was also basically naked. The only piece of clothing she still had on left was her underwear. The sun had shined onto Pyrrha just right, causing Jaune to stare at Pyrrha, as if she was a goddess.

"Jaune?" asked Pyrrha groggily, her mind not processing she was almost naked and giving Jaune the full view. 'Why does it feel a little chilly?" she thought.

"P-p-ppyrha?" stuttered Jaune, trying to stem his bloody nose, "You're not exactly... covered."

Pyrrha looked down for a second before yelping in surprise, grabbing the sheet to cover herself for a second. A second later, she smiled and let it go, allowing Jaune continue staring.

"I have nothing to hide, from you Jaune," whispered Pyrrha huskily before giving him a good morning kiss, "I've already shown you almost everything, so it doesn't matter."

Jaune had left several hickeys on Pyrrha while she did the same to him during their little session last night, but their Aura had healed most of it, leaving unblemished skin. Both were eager to give each other some more when they heard a voice yell out.

"Where's Jaune and Pyrrha? It looks like they never came to their bad last night," asked Ruby.

"Crap, clothes!" Jaune shouted in a hushed tone

Pyrrha quickly grabbed her clothes and putting them on while Jaune put on his shirt. A few seconds later, they heard the door click, and Ruby came swinging in.

"Found them!" shouted Ruby with a cheerful smile.

The rest of them poured into the room, looking at Jaune and Pyrrha, who were trying their best not to look suspicious.

"Where were you?" interrogated Weiss, her eyes narrowing.

"We ended up sleeping here," admitted Jaune, "Pyrrha had some questions, and we just felt too tired to head back to JNPR to sleep. Instead, we grabbed a futon and slept."

"And?" asked Yang.

"Nothing else!" said Pyrrha.

"What else would they do?" asked Ruby, "Kiss? Jaune does that with me sometimes on our dates."

"Nothing you should know for now," replied Yang before glaring at Jaune.

"Umm, guys?" said Blake, who was standing away from them.

They turned to her to see her lifting a red laced bra that had been draped on her chair for her desk. Jaune and Pyrrha turned red. They had forgotten about the bra! Pyrrha had tossed it during their session when Jaune had unclipped it.

"So, nothing else?" asked Blake, not believing them for a second. Inside her mind, though, she was already planning her chance with Jaune. If Pyrrha already did it, then it was only fair she gets to do it too.

"Ooh, nice color," said Ruby, looking at the bra. Weiss looked down at her chest before covering it, blushing and muttering a few curses about how she was still beautiful.

"Please, tell us what you did," smiled Yang creepily, slamming her fists together, "After all, this is the room we use to study. I think we should know what went on here."

* * *

"You're lying," said Dew as she joined in the conversation.

Pyrrha was on trial in a private section of the library. Her interrogators were team RWBY and Dew. Only members of Jaune's potential mates were allowed inside. Aurelian had seen them and tried to smooth his way in, only to be thrown out by Weiss' glyphs. Not even Jaune was allowed in, so he took this time to go hang out with SSSN, DSCO and CRDL at the gym. Ren was busy buying more supplies for pancakes. Apparently, Octavia also loved his pancakes, and so he needed to store more mix. Also, he needed some ingredients for his health drink. The rest of NGO were busy studying up some subjects.

"There's no way you guys did 'nothing'," accused Yang, slightly jealous that Pyrrha had gotten ahead. She would have to remedy that soon.

"Need us to remind you, that we found your bra flung across the room?" stated Blake.

Ruby, finally gotten the gist of what they were implying by an explanation from Weiss, was nodding her head before pointing at Pyrrha dramatically, "Confess! What did you do!?"

Pyrrha broke down and confessed that it had been her intention to have sex with Jaune. But she quickly added that they didn't do it, that she was still a virgin, and that Jaune portrayed more self-control than most males in his situation.

"So... he actually stopped you?" asked Dew, slightly shocked but not surprised that Jaune would be so noble.

"Well, at least we don't have to head into our study room knowing Jaune and Pyrrha were doing the horizontal dance," said Yang, "That would've been awkward."

"So you guys just made out and cuddled each other?" clarified Ruby.

"Well..." Pyrrha looked away.

"Share," they all said, crowding around Pyrrha.

"We... may have had done some... heavy petting," blushed Pyrrha.

"Like what?" asked Blake. There was a trickle of blood coming down her nose.

"Heavy petting?" asked Ruby, thinking about how she pets Zwei. Would it just be using more force? It sounded uncomfortable. Weiss had to whisper to her what they meant, causing Ruby to blush red.

"Mainly we stuck with everything above the torso, and we never took off our underwear," admitted Pyrrha, "While we were making out, he was touching everything and sensually massaging it, and even kissing/licking."

"By that you mean.." trailed off Yang before pointing to her own breasts.

"Everything," said Pyrrha, staring straight into Yang's eye.

"Damn, cereal girl," said Yang, "Didn't think you had it in you."

"How did it feel?" asked Dew curiously.

"Heavenly," grinned Pyrrha before being lost in her memory. She gave a sappy grin and was starting to drool.

"And we lost her. Nice going Dew," sighed Weiss.

"I call next!" shouted Dew.

"Wait your turn, it's my turn tonight" stated Blake, she really wanted to feel what Pyrrha felt last night.

"I can't believe you guys are thinking of doing the same thing," said Weiss with a tick mark on her forehead.

"Don't be like that," said Yang, "I'm sure you'd enjoy it too. Plus, I hear having someone you like massage that area makes them bigger." She puffed up and jutted out her chest, showing her assets.

"That's not even a fact!" shouted Weiss with a bigger tick mark. Her face, however, had a blush the same color as Ruby's cloak.

"Doesn't mean we can't enjoy it," replied Yang with a grin.

Back at each girl's home, their parents felt the urge to murder a blonde boy for some reason.

As for the girls... well since Pyrrha was the first to initiate it, the others followed up on it. By the end of the first week, Jaune had felt 4 of the 6 girls on their bare skins. Ruby was too shy to do it with Yang forbidding her to do so, and Weiss felt offended by it.

As the days passed, Jaune went out on a few more dates with his girlfriends, as did Ren with Nora and Octavia. Sun and Gwen went out on secret dates, careful not to let anyone know.

Jaune took Ruby on a trip to see new weaponry along with Ren and Nora, making it a double date. They spent most of the time dragging Nora and Ruby away from the explosive aisle.

Another double date was when they decided to go see a new movie with Dew and Octavia. Of course, halfway through the movie, the girls decided to use the rest of the time to do something more... 'productive' in their relationship. By the time they came out of the movie, all four of them were breathing rather heavily and blushing.

For Blake, they still kept their routine date at a private section of the library, but they had a tendency to go a bit further than their previous dates. One time, Blake had accidentally forgotten her bra in the stall. It took all her cunning and skills to sneak it back without anybody noticing.

Yang went shopping for some more clothes with Jaune and took him into an underwear store, where she bought a variety of lingerie to pose for Jaune. For him, he had a hard time trying to keep his nose from bleeding while crossing his legs to make sure something was noticeable. Yang smirked and bent down to tease him, giving him a good view of her chest.

Pyrrha was content for now, knowing she had been the first to initiate. They went on their usual dates at the rooftop, laying a soft blanket to lie on and cuddle while watching the stars. Pyrrha made sure the door was jammed shut so nobody could just walk in on them. On more than one occasion did they end up sleeping under the stars on the roof with another cozy blanket Jaune would pull out from his bag.

As for Weiss, this would be her first date since they had broken up for a bit. She was ecstatic to be back with Jaune that they went to eat at a fancy restaurant. Weiss was adamant about paying for it for once. Afterward, they took a nice walk at a local park, just enjoying each other's presence. At the end of the date, Weiss initiated the kiss. When it came to touching, Weiss didn't want Jaune to feel her breasts via skin contact, as she was embarrassed at her rather smaller bust size compared to the others. Instead, she opted to have her butt groped through her dress, and enjoyed it immensely, to her guilty pleasure.

* * *

Three weeks quickly passed by, with all of them now focused on training. CRDL had gotten a slot into the tournament. BYDD had also gotten in, much to the displeasure of Dew. Boyd was actually knocked out, putting him in 7th. However, an 'accident' occurred to the 6th place, allowing his team to represent instead. The city of Vale was finishing up their preparations. Atlas soldiers were patrolling the fairgrounds to show that they were here to provide security.

32 teams stood in the Amphitheater, all lined up. The leaders of each team stood in the front of their team. They were split into 8 teams each, all representing their own academy. Ozpin walked up to the stage to make his announcement.

"In one week," began Ozpin, "The Vytal Festival Tournament will begin. Each of you will be fighting to show what you can do. To win the tournament. To show that you all do not look at mediocrity, but to strive to be the best. But do not forget. We are all Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. We are all allies against the Grimm. Remember, all of this, the beginning of this tournament, started with war. But it is peace that has shepherded humanity to greatness. And we all have the responsibility to preserve this peace."

Each student looked to Ozpin in admiration. Well most of them. A few, like Aurelian and Boyd, chose to ignore Ozpin, yawning and hoping the old coot would dismiss them already. Ozpin saw these people and made mental notes, but continued on.

"Still, do show what you can do, and enjoy the local culture and whatever other things people may bring. "

At this note, he walked off. Glynda came in with her announcement.

"You will all be notified which team you will be fighting in six days. However, you will only know their names. You will not be given any information. It is up to you to find the information yourself through legal ways. This is to see how you prepare for a mission, or in this case, against your opponent. You may not threaten students to reveal their abilities, nor bribe. Any atrocious acts like these will see you not only banned from the tournament but possibly expelled from the Academy with a note on your profile of dishonorable discharge. Do not make that mistake. You will not be able to appeal it, or be even given a second chance."

She glared at the whole room, who stood up straighter than usual.

"That is all. You are excused from your classes to prepare for this tournament. However, it does not mean you can slack off from your studies!"

She slapped her crop down for emphasis before leaving.

"You guys ready?" asked Jaune to his team.

"You bet, fearless leader!" cheered Nora. The Dragon Mark could easily be seen on her chest, as she left a heart shape hole on her shirt as usual.

"It will be grand!" smiled Pyrrha.

Ren just smiled.

"Are your parents possibly coming?" asked Jaune. Pyrrha sadly shook her head, saying that they were too busy with their job. However, they promised to take time off to watch her matches on the television to cheer her on in spirit.

Each other team were just as excited for the tournament as well and were getting some last minute training in. Ruby, however, wanted to visit Patch again to see her mother's grave. To talk to her, even if it's just in spirit. She originally was going to take an airship to Patch when she remembered Jaune could fly.

"Jaune!" said Ruby, suddenly dashing towards him.

"What up?" asked Jaune as he turned around just to be hit with a speeding human projectile. Luckily, he was able to take it.

"Can you do me a favor?" asked Ruby with her cutest voice and puppy eye face, "Can you fly me over to Patch today?"

"Why do you need to do that?" asked Jaune. The others of team RWBY and JNPR were also interested, although Yang had a feeling she already knew what Ruby wanted.

"I... kinda want to visit my mother's grave. You know, tell her all the crazy things that have happened," said Ruby, looking down while twisting on her toe, "And also be able to see some of my old friends back at Signal Academy. It'll be for one day. You can sleep at my house, and then the next morning, you can fly us back to Beacon. Yang won't be coming because she said she has some more fine-tuning to do with her weapon."

Jaune couldn't say no to that request, so he obliged. Ruby cheered before rushing off to make a call to Taiyang to let him know they were coming.

Jaune was talking with some of his other friends when he heard someone call his name. He turned around again to see Cinder walking up to him, emphasizing her waist as she walked forward. Men were drooling or trying to show off as she walked forward. Boyd was doing his best to look cool, but rather looked like a fool.

"Hello, Cinder," smiled Jaune, though he was still watching Cinder with caution. Something about her just didn't feel right.

"It's been awhile since I've last seen you. I was hoping that we could have dinner someday soon," said Cinder, intentionally crossing her arms to emphasize her bust.

"Sorry, been busy lately. With all the tournament coming in," apologized Jaune. In reality, he did everything he could to avoid her. She didn't feel normal to him still. Like she had taken in something she had stolen from somebody, but it was all circumstantial. He had no proof.

"That's understandable," sighed Cinder, "Still, maybe we can get a cup of tea today at least?"

She was planning to use today to seduce Jaune, and then use Emerald to fulfill his little fantasy. After that, she would have him wrapped around her little pinky. She didn't try to broach any topics like his wings, as she learned that nobody in Beacon, not even the teachers, knew about it. If she did, then Jaune would get suspicious of her. Who knows, by the end of the day, she may take him to bed as a boy toy.

"Sorry. Promised Ruby I'd help her today," said Jaune, thankful that Ruby's plea actually helped him.

Cinder pouted but nodded in acceptance and left.

"Having trouble trying to seduce the man?" snickered Mercury.

"Mercury!" scolded Emerald.

"What? Just calling it out how I see it," said Mercury.

"Have no worries," said Cinder, "Whether Jaune Ryu-Long comes with us or not is no concern. Our plan can easily proceed without him."

They headed back to their dorms. On the way, Cinder smiled evilly and though, 'You can't escape me forever. One way or another, you will fall to me as your new mistress or die.'

* * *

After getting permission to leave Beacon for a short trip, Jaune took Ruby, who had Zwei in her backpack, to Vale to one of Junior's places. He linked up with Andusk and Alaerth before growing a white scaled wing and a yellow scaled wing. He lifted Ruby up bridal style before launching himself into the air, using Andusk to hide him in the morning light. As soon as he felt like it was safe, he flapped his wings, going in a straight line directly towards Patch.

Ruby was enjoying herself. She had always enjoyed her Semblance, and being in the air with her scythe was liberating. However, it couldn't compare to what Jaune was doing. He was actually flying without needing to worry about landing until later. She tucked her head in between the neck and the collar, enjoying the warmth her provided. All too soon, they were at Patch. Ruby gently directed him where to go, and they landed in front of her house. Jaune quickly dismissed his wings while Ruby knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Taiyang opened the door.

"Whoa," whistled Taiyang, "you weren't kidding when you said it would only be an hour after the call. How's my little Rosebud doing?"

"Dad!" giggled Ruby as Taiyang hugged and tickled her. Zwei popped out of her backpack to join the festivity.

Jaune merely chuckled while looking from the trees. His heart ached a little. He wished his father would've treated him like that. His mother, bless her, loved him, but even she didn't show as much affection as Taiyang did to Ruby due to Vlad. It was thanks to him that he didn't have a good childhood. But just because he didn't have a happy beginning, didn't make him who he was. It was the choices he made for the rest of his life that defined him.

Taiyang, noticing Jaune, quickly welcomed him in. Although he was still wary of him, he was slowly warming up to him. They had a quick lunch before heading off to Signal Academy first to let Ruby see some of her friends while Taiyang needed to drop some paperwork.

"Ruby!"

Some of Ruby's friends had heard she was coming to visit, and quickly all dog piled on her.

"Urgg.. Need to... breath!" grunted Ruby, as she had about 6 people on her. They finally relented, letting her up before they all gave her a quick hug. They were Jen, Brina, Chloe, Mindy, Altan and Odell.

"How's Beacon?" asked Jen.

"Good! We're fighting in the Vytal Festival Tournament!" exclaimed Ruby. They all squealed before begging Ruby to give them more information. One of them the noticed Jaune leaning against the wall.

"Oooh, who's he? He looks handsome," asked Chloe.

"Oh, almost forgot. Jaune come over here to meet my friends!" shouted Ruby, waving at him. Jaune pushed himself off before walking to them.

"Jaune, these are my friends, Jen, Brina, Chloe, Mindy, Altan and Odell. Guys, this is Jaune, my boyfriend! He's team leader of JNPR and is fighting in the tournament!" introduced Ruby.

The crew had stopped listening after the word boyfriend. Ruby Rose, the naive one of their group, had a boyfriend!?

The girls squealed in delight while the boys had to cover their ears.

"You have to tell us everything!" said Altan before dragging Ruby away from the guys.

The guys were left, clueless what to do.

"Soo... you guy's known Ruby for a while?" asked Jaune. They nodded their head, unable to find any other topic.

A tumbleweed tumbled past them. They looked at it fly past them.

"Umm..You're a team leader at Beacon, right?" asked Altan, "Is there anyone cool on your team?"

"All my teammates are cool," chuckled Jaune, "I have Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha as part of my team."

"Wait, Pyrrha? As in the Pyrrha Nikos?" asked Odell.

"Yea. She's a great fighter," said Jaune. Both boys had their eyes widening before begging Jaune to get them autographs from her.

Soon, they were leaving Signal. Ruby had been hammered with questions after questions, and she looked tired. Taiyang had dropped off his paperwork and was going to be working part time soon only. He would be leaving the island for some missions soon. They soon arrived at a white stone memorial. It was Summer Rose's gravestone, with the inscription _"Summer Rose- Thus I Kindly Scatter"._

Ruby walked up to the gravestone, wearing her hooded cloak up before giving a small prayer. Jaune, Taiyang, and Zwei stayed back to allow Ruby some alone time.

While Ruby was standing at the grave, talking to her mother, Jaune sadly looked out to the distance.

"So... I know this is personal, but how did Ruby's mom die?" asked Jaune.

Taiyang stiffened a bit, glaring down on the floor before replying, "Publicly, she was killed in the line of duty during her mission by Grimm. She was overwhelmed by the amount of Grimm, much more than the mission stated."

"Publicly?" asked Jaune.

Taiyang's hand curled into a fist, "There was no way Summer Rose would've died from Grimm. She was among the best Hunters, like my ex-wife Raven. In fact, she was her partner, and Raven, on rare occasions, would listen to her."

" _ **I was wondering about that,"**_ murmured Andusk, _**"The silver-eyed warriors can freeze Grimm with a glance, although training is needed. To die from Grimm is very unlikely."**_

"So you suspect..." trailed off Jaune.

Taiyang nodded, "Assassination. When her body was found, there were Grimm marks all over her, so the coroner declared it death by Grimm. However, in those rare moments, Raven brought me the news in the form of a mail that Summer was killed by some sort of poison. There was a stab wound on her body that turned some of her blood and skin purple. The coroner must have missed it as Grimm marks went over it."

"So it couldn't have been Death Stalker poison?" asked Jaune, knowing those breed had poison in their stinger. He would've guessed the mutant breeds.

"No," started Taiyang, "According to some rumor, there have been similar cases where the same poison was used. And from it, the poison apparently comes from a special Faunus that works as an assassin. It doesn't match the Grimm poisons. I don't know his name, but I'm willing to bet he or she, along with some of his or her associates, took her down after she finished her mission. They probably took her while she was tired."

"Do-," started Jaune, but Taiyang shook his head, shushing Jaune.

"I don't want them to know. I don't want their lives to be consumed for revenge. They're much too young to know about it. In fact, I'm not sure why I'm telling you. I guess... you seem trustworthy?"

Jaune looked at the man for a bit, before stating, "You're going out on missions to see if you can't gather more information about this assassin, aren't you?"

Taiyang sighed at this, "Yes. I couldn't do it earlier because I had my duties as a father. But now that my two daughters are at Beacon, where I know they're be safe with Ozpin there, I can finally follow some leads. Raven told me once that she promised to find the person if she crossed paths with some clue, but I can't just wait. I need to satisfy my thirst. To find out who did it."

He looked up to the shattered moon, "Jaune. I know Ozpin is there, but he can't always watch out for my daughters. As you're their boyfriend, promise me you'll watch over them?"

Jaune gazed into Taiyang's eyes fiercely, his own eyes starting to form slits like dragon eyes, "I wouldn't have it any other way. Nobody hurts my mates and gets away with it. I will protect them with my life."

"Good answer," chuckled Taiyang, "I won't be able to watch all their matches, but good luck to them and you. For a person dating multiple girls, you're not too bad. Still holding on to that promise though. We should get Ruby back home. You guys are staying for dinner, and tomorrow morning, you two need to head back."

He turned and called out Ruby, who called back and started to walk back, with her hood back on. Before she left, though, she turned back to the grave to deliver one final message, " It was good to talk,"

At that, Ruby jogged back to her family. As they were all walking back, Jaune stopped to turn around to the grave while the others walked forward. He bowed down in respect. "I promise, Ruby will be cared for. A promise as a Dragon Contractor, as well as holder of Andusk, the dragon of light, who originally blessed the silver-eye warriors, no harm shall befall her while I breath."

With that, he left to catch up. There was a glimpse of light, and a ghost of Summer Rose stood above her grave. Looking at their backs, she shyly smiled before saying, _"T_ _hank you._ _I know you will."_

Taiyang made some of Ruby's favorite food for the night, and when it was time to sleep, Jaune slept on the couch. Originally, Ruby wanted to cuddle with Jaune in her bed, but Taiyang forbade it, saying that it would just cause him to grow white hair if he knew that. It didn't stop Ruby from crawling into the couch with Jaune to cuddle for a bit while Taiyang was asleep. Ruby made sure to crawl back to her bed before he was suspicious of anything. The next morning, Jaune sprouted his wings and flew Ruby and Zwei back into Vale at one of Junior's shops, where they caught an airship to head over to Beacon. The next few days were a blur, with each team training alone.

* * *

 **Just a random shout, I made a one shot on Beauty and the Beast with an OC character. Some of you may be thinking, why would I make that story and waste time on it when I could be using it for this story? That's because the stupid idea wouldn't leave me alone while I was typing this story, so I made it so I could get it out of my head. Hell, I still got like 3-4 other stories I have thought about and already planned out. But since this story has my biggest attention, I put those ideas on the backburner for future projects, unless somebody wants to adopt my ideas.**

 **Hope you've enjoyed the story! Review if you can!**

 **Also, putting a shout out for a story I think deserves a little more attention. The story title is:**

 **RWBY: Destiny of Remnant** **by UGX7.**

 **The guy writes epic length chapters, getting an average of about 17.2k words per chapter, although his latter chapters are getting longer. Not a bad read, has its highs and lows. Some scenes he writes are pretty good, I admit. If your an Arkos Fan, you'll like it.**


	24. Chapter 24 Start of the Tournament!

**New chapter! Hope you enjoy this! Also, yaa, I surpassed my other story in review #s. Enjoy, for it's time to start the 3rd volume!**

* * *

It was tournament time! 32 teams, all fighting to be the winner of the tournament! Each team had received a message telling them who they were fighting, leaving them one day to prepare. When Sun found out his team was fighting NDGO, he slightly frowned, but after meeting his girlfriend in secret, he came out with a smile. Both had promised to fight each other without holding back. None of them had shared any information and both teams hadn't sparred with each other before, making it fair. RWBY was fighting ABRN of Haven, and JNPR vs. BRNZ of Shade. Jaune was slightly upset he wasn't fighting any Arcs. He would've relished on crushing them.

As each teams were doing last minute checkups on their weapons on the last day, Pyrrha received a surprise visitor.

"Did you miss me!" bellowed a man with a red beard and a beer belly.

"Uncle Hephaestus!" shouted Pyrrha, running to him to give him a hug.

"I came to see if you needed a professional to check up on your weapon," laughed Hephaestus, giving his niece a crushing hug. He saw Jaune and went over to hug him too.

"Did you miss your 'wife'?" Asked Hephaestus with a joking tone.

"It was good to see her, yes," replied Jaune. Then he frowned for a second. Since he was here, might as well get it off his chest.

"Hephaestus... There's something I need to tell you. It involves Pyrrha, and I do have to tell her parents about it, but I appreciate if I can tell it to you in private."

"Hmm? Well ok then," said Hephaestus, tilting his head in confusion before letting Jaune lead the way. Pyrrha went with him. Saying their goodbyes to Ren and Nora for a bit, they went to find a private room. On their way, they passed by team RWBY. Ruby gasped as her eyes turned to stars as she saw Hephaestus

"Oh my gosh! Is that...?" trailed off Ruby.

"Ruby, what's wrong?" asked Weiss.

"That's one of the legendary blacksmiths Hephaestus! His weapons and shields are one of the top tier works! I've always wanted to meet one of the legendary blacksmiths in person!" squealed Ruby, dashing off with a trail of rose petals. However, she was caught by Yang by the hood.

"Whoa, there, little sis. You can talk to him later. Jaune looks like he needs to have a private word with him. Might be about the harem he has to make," said Yang, lifting a chibi size Ruby.

"Aww.. fine. But I want to meet him after!" said Ruby with a puppy glare. "IwannaIwannaIwanna!" shouted Ruby while flailing her arms and legs.

Weiss was chuckling when she found her Scroll ringing. She looked at it to see it was her father calling her again. She was about to hang it up when she remembered Jaune's words. Sighing and knowing that he would just keep calling, she decided it was time to at least say hi. She excused herself from the group, taking a deep breath, and answered the call.

"Hello, father," said Weiss into her Scroll.

"..."

"Father? Hello?" asked Weiss, confused at the lack of words. She was wondering if her father had somehow pocket dialed her and was about to hang up when she finally heard words.

"You... actually answered," a shocked Jacques Schnee answered.

"You did call me, father," replied Weiss in an annoyed voice.

"I was actually expecting you to ignore my calls as usual," confessed Jacques, "Now this is just awkward, especially since I have a meeting in 3 minutes. I only called because I had some time, and didn't expect you to pick up."

Weiss had to roll her eyes at that, "You can thank Jaune Ryu-Long for that. He convinced me to at least give you a status update about my life here at Beacon."

"Ah, so Jaune is there too? I guess I don't have to worry too much with him there. Is he on your team? And have you decided if he is a potential suitor?" asked Jacques.

"Father!" yelled Weiss, embarrassed at that, "No, he's the leader on another team, but our teams do work closely with each other. And he is... kinda my boyfriend?"

"Explain," said Jacques immediately.

"We're testing the grounds, you could say" explained Weiss, "To see if it can become something else."

"Excellent!" beamed Jacques, "So I can expect him to be my son-in-law? You've chosen well."

"Is there anything else?" whispered Weiss in a mortified tone.

"There is more I want to ask, but I have to head off to my meeting. I was going to halt the flow of Lien into your account if you kept ignoring me, but there's no reason for that now. Especially since you need some of it to convince Jaune to be with you. Good bye, and perhaps we can talk a bit longer. Klein misses you, as well as Winter. I do as well."

"You're missing someone," said Weiss.

"Ah, well I'm sure Whitley does too, even if he hasn't vocally voiced it," admitted Jacques.

"Goodbye, father. It was... nice to talk to you. I've learned so much at Beacon than I thought possible," said Weiss.

"I was opposed to you heading to Beacon... but I can see you seem happy there. That, and by luck, you met Jaune again. Goodbye, and please answer my calls."

"I'll try to, but don't hold it against me if I don't. I might be busy," said Weiss.

Jacques grunted in agreement before hanging up. Weiss was feeling... a bit more refreshed after that conversation.

"It's going to be awkward when I tell him that Jaune's dating several other girls, too," grumbled Weiss, "Wait, did he say he had been planning to stop sending me Lien!?"

* * *

"Huh. That's... well I dunno what to say," said Hephaestus, rubbing his beard with his hand after Jaune confessed to him about dating several girls at once, and why. Pyrrha helped explain, saying that she was fine with it. "To be honest, I thought you called me here to tell me that you were dating Pyrrha, and were planning to marry her for real. That, or tell me you accidentally knocked her up."

"Uncle!" shouted Pyrrha with embarrassment.

"What?" said Hephaestus, "It was obvious you two were made for each other. I would've been able to play the angry uncle or the fun uncle while my brother plays the threatening father. We even had it planned out!"

"Umm. Thanks?" said Jaune, not sure what to say about that.

They continued on and told Hephaestus most of the Jaune's life. The dragons, the reason why, and even a little about Jaune's past.

"Wait, so you're saying you used to be an Arc?" asked Hephaestus, "And that your stupid man banished you without even attempting to unlock your Aura to train?"

"Yea," said Jaune.

"Hmm, going to need to make some calls," growled Hephaestus darkly as he rubbed his beard, "Perhaps putting his family name on the blacksmith association blacklist will take them down a notch."

"Thanks, but there's no point on that," said Jaune appreciating the gesture, "Both his sons are fighting in the tournament. It'll be fun to destroy them in a fight."

"That's the spirit, boy!" clapped Hephaestus as he patted Jaune on the back. "Let's get your weapons and shields checked out. I'll take care of any chips on them, and make sure they're in the best conditions for your fight. Lead me to a forge!"

As they walked out, Jaune whispered to Pyrrha, "I'm surprised your uncle is actually ok with this."

Pyrrha whispered back, "Well... his uncle, my grand uncle, Zeus, was a playboy. He loves his wife, Hera, but the man just couldn't keep his pants up when it came to woman. Almost every month, he was sleeping with someone besides Hera. In the end, she just accepted it but bought a special Dust belt that would shock him if he even attempted to pull his pants down. Only she could pull it down, even if he needed to use the deal became that Zeus was to be faithful on certain days, and if he wasn't, it would zap his manhood. Needless to say, he got the message."

They both giggled at that before catching up to Hephaestus. They introduced him to the rest of the team and RWBY. Ruby was going ecstatic, even to go so far as to get an autograph from Hephaestus. He chuckled with good nature and signed it, even agreeing to check over RWBY's weapons. He was quite impressed with Ruby's scythe.

* * *

As they were all walking to Beacon's forge room, someone called out to them. Or more specifically, to Jaune.

"So. It's true. My failure of a son is here."

They turned around to see Vlad Arc, along with his sons trailing behind him.

"I am no son of yours," retorted Jaune coldly, his fist clenching tightly.

"I admit, I am quite surprised to see you still alive, and with your Aura unlocked," said Vlad, "I was sure that you would die within a day. If it wasn't for that freak incident, I would've dropped you off at the nearest Grimm infested forest and wash you off my hands."

Jaune was having trouble controlling his temper, his instincts roaring, telling him to kill Vlad Arc, regardless of it being in public. Blake, noticing this, grabbed his hand. Jaune relaxed a little, but he was still tempted to do it. She had to have Yang back her up, and Yang grabbed his other hand to calm him down.

Vlad didn't notice it, but Aurelian did. He shelved that in his mind, thinking he finally had the edge to nab Pyrrha Nikos.

"Ah, master blacksmith Hephaestus! A pleasure to meet a legend," said Vlad with fake sincerity, "I didn't think you would be here today!"

"Came to visit my niece," replied Hephaestus, giving a fake smile.

"Ah, yes. The famous Pyrrha Nikos. The 'Goddess of Victory'. Why don't we get acquainted? You and your niece can come eat lunch with us, and my boys can get to know your niece. I have reservations at a nice place, where they serve the finest wine and fish," said Vlad.

"I'll be busy looking over my niece's weapons and her friends," returned Hephaestus, "After all, the tournament is coming. Have to make sure their weapons are in the best conditions."

"A shame," said Vlad. He looked like he was pondering about something when he continued, "How about looking over my son's weapons too? And I can take your niece out to a nice lunch with my boys as payment. Who knows, my son might be a good match with your niece. The winner of the 39th Vytal Festival Tournament and the Goddess of Victory, dating. It has a certain flair to it."

"Not gonna happen," growled Jaune, "I wouldn't trust Aurelian with Pyrrha at all. Nor would I trust you to try to help your son rape my teammate."

Aurelian looked angry, while Boyd was mad. Vlad, however, kept his cool. Inside, though, he was pissed. He had heard from his son that the boy had friends who already knew about his disgrace and yet stuck with him. How Pyrrha seemed to be under some sort of spell that she would choose Jaune over Aurelian. He had planned to use the excuse of a lunch to 'break' the spell. A drug to help Pyrrha see the light, perhaps.

"Pitiful, but you don't speak for the girl. Why don't you let her choose?" asked Vlad.

"Not interested," said Pyrrha flatly, "Nor will my uncle help maintain your weapon."

Aurelian glared at Pyrrha for a second, "Why? Just because you want to be with that... that failure? Who are you to him?"

"His wife," said Pyrrha flatly, surprising them all, "I was the one who unlocked his Aura 3 years ago, at my house. I was the one who took off that accursed lock Vlad Arc placed on him. My parents and my uncle were the witnesses."

While Boyd looked confused at what that meant, both Vlad and Aurelian narrowed their eyes.

"That old tradition," scoffed Vlad, "Only some cultures recognize it. The Arc family certainly does not, making your claims to be invalid.

Aurelian took a step forward towards Pyrrha, trying to use a different tactic with a sincere voice, "Don't you see his falsehood? You realize he is two timing you with those girls behind you! You must've not noticed, but allow me to comfort you at the grievous news. There is no point in binding yourself in a 'marriage' that he clearly doesn't show loyalty to you."

Aurelian tried to hug her, only to be met with a punch not from Jaune, not from Hephaestus, but rather from the silent one of the group. Ren had taken it up to protect Jaune's potential mate with a punch to his face.

"How dare you!" shouted Boyd, intent on showing Ren who was the better man.

"Stop," said Vlad, "There are better ways to show who is superior."

With practiced gesture and grin, he openly accused Ren of being violent, while displaying Jaune's past to the public, trying to humiliate both of them.

"Also, you're coming back with me, Jaune. I need to correct a mistake," ended Vlad, "And don't give me that bullcrap reason. I'm an Arc. I have the right to fix someone of my blood. Not even Ozpin can stop me from doing that. Bylaws of the family line pass through your so-called 'protection'. You have no choice. You're dropping out of this tournament and coming with back home right now."

* * *

"Actually, we do," interrupted another voice. Vlad turned to see Ozpin and someone who he dearly hated just as much, Henry Winchester, a man who was rather influential in the political field. Team CRDL had joined to see what was going on.

"Team JNPR is scheduled to fight in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Not only that, but Jaune is a Huntsman in training, no matter how much you try to deny it. And it is clear in the laws that you are not allowed to withdraw someone from any Academy if the person in question does not want to. And also, you relinquished all rights to Jaune _Ryu-Long_ when you banished him," stated Ozpin, a firm grip on his cane and a rather serious expression. His left hand was not carrying his usual mug on his hand.

"If you try to use your influence, know that the Winchester family will fight against you," declared Henry.

Seeing that he had no choice, for now, Vlad backed off, but not before declaring, "This isn't over, boy."

Ozpin watched Vlad walk off, and as soon as he went around the corner he turned towards the group "Enjoy the rest of the day. Don't let this ruin it." He left to deal with some other stuff, dispersing the crowd that had gathered.

"So, this is the boy who caved in my son's face," said Henry, looking at Jaune directly. Jaune gulped slightly but stood his ground.

"Dad, I told you it was my fault and I took full blame," said Cardin, a bit embarrassed.

"I know. But I still want to see the face of the man who helped my son realize his true self," grinned Henry.

"What?" asked Jaune.

"My boy Cardin," explained Henry, grabbing his son and giving him a noogie on the head embarrassing his son a bit more, "Can be difficult at times. I told him not to discriminate, but he still has the tendency to do so. I am to blame, but I am sometimes blind to my son's habit. It doesn't help that the cause of his mother's death was because of the White Fang. It has led him to hate Faunus more than usual."

JNPR and RWBY didn't really know what to say at that. Cardin was still struggling to get out of it.

"And so," continued Henry, finally letting go of his son, "I must say thank you. If you need political power against the Arc, you merely need to ask. The Winchester family name holds quite a bit of influence, especially in Vale."

At that, he left. Cardin apologized for the awkwardness and left to join his father. The rest of CRDL joined him.

"Well... That was a thing," said Yang in a daze.

"Who knew a former bully would help you," said Weiss.

"I guess Cardin does have his reason why he hates Faunus, even if it's not the best reason," sighed Blake. After hearing that his mother died because of the White Fang only made her wish to stop Adam and his madness stronger. To stop families from being separated. It was already bad enough with the Grimm.

"Come now," bellowed Hephaestus, "Let's get your weapons checked out for any flaws. The matches start tomorrow!"

"Yea!" shouted both Ruby and Nora.

"It would be good to get our weapons in the best of conditions and relax for the day," agreed Ren. With that in mind, both teams went to the forge. After declaring all their weapons to be fine, Hephaestus left to head back home. He had to get back to his forge, as he couldn't afford to close it for a long time but promised to watch their matches.

It was time for battle! The day had arrived! All 32 teams lined up in the arena, divided by academies into 4 sections, with the leader of each team in front of their team. In front of each section was a flag bearing the symbol of which academy they would represent. Ozpin himself was up on a podium with Glynda. Behind them was a curious looking box that was covered in curtains. The stadium was filled with people of all ages, excited for the tournament. As the time grew closer, Ozpin coughed into the mic, causing everyone to settle down to be quiet.

"Welcome…. to the 40th Vytal Festival Tournament!"

Everyone immediately cheered at that announcement, making Ozpin wait a few seconds before waving his hand to have everyone quiet down again.

"Today, we have 32 teams that have excelled among their peers to compete in the tournament. They will prove to you all today that as usual, Huntsmen and Huntresses, the ones who choose to guard humanity, will never settle for mediocrity. But to strive to be the best. We stand here in the Amity Colosseum today, the pinnacle of technology that combined all four kingdom's efforts to create this to show that we can all work together, no matter where we are."

Behind him, the screen flashed a symbol. It was the symbol of the Vytal Festival Tournament. All four symbols from each kingdom combined into one.

"For today, all these competitors will show you just how far they have gotten with their training. And how all of them will help protect and serve humanity. And to never give into the darkness. So please, let us have a moment of silence for all Huntsmen and Huntresses, past, present, future, living, retired, training, and dead."

Everyone bowed their head in respect as they remembered those who chose to protect humanity. About 30 seconds later, Ozpin tapped his mic, getting everyone's attention.

"And so, before we begin, for once in the tournament, we will be having a band to perform as an opening act."

He chuckled at this as he continued, "They managed to convince me after so many hours of pleading. And once they performed the song they had chosen and how it related to the tournament, I had no choice to agree. Who knows, I may just let them perform a bit more if the crowd likes what they hear. So without further ado everyone, please welcome from the kingdom of Atlas, team DSCO!"

Glynda waved her riding crop, and the curtains fell off, revealing team DSCO, all dressed up in their usual battle gear to sing and rock. Dandy had a bass guitar and was standing in the front, strangely with his weapon placed standing up in front of him.. Soul was next to him, hood down, mic of his own and his weapon in its standard form strapped over him connected to one of the speakers. Coral was in the back spinning his drumsticks with a mic attached to his face for he was the drummer of the group. Finally, Onyx also had the weapon set up to where it was in its stand from, piano keys were lined up before him for him to play. Dandy took a deep breath, before sporting a toothy grin, with a nod of his head to his team he began the first note of the song starting off what could be described as quite the hype starting song.

* * *

 _Uncontainable-Set It Off_

* * *

The song finished with everyone cheering wildly. The competitors felt the fires lit up under them as the song was indeed what could be described to each one of them.

As DSCO got off the stage, Dandy giving a wave, Soul giving a peace sign without turning towards the crowd, Coral giving fist pumps and finally Onyx giving a bow here and there as they all walked off stage, they soon passed by Jaune and his team.

"So that's what you guys were planning," whispered Jaune giving a bit of a smirk to the fellow team leader.

"Eeeyep," replied Dandy as he had quite the smile on his face, "Getting our name out there. If we somehow get famous as a band, you're more than welcome to come to our concerts, free of charge. Take it as thanks for saving my niece. But if you ever need anything else let us know, we'd be happy to help!"

And with that, DSCO left the arena to find some seats in the arena. The teams all left the arena to also take a seat in front row seats, reserved for competitors with exception to certain people.

RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, NDGO, and CRDL were all sitting in one area. Discreetly, Sun was sitting next to Gwen, holding her hand when nobody was looking. A few matches had gone by, and they were now watching team CFVY beating up an Atlas team.

"Damn. Now I'm glad you stopped me bullying Velvet!" exclaimed Cardin as he saw Yatsuhashi slam his blade on his opponent, sending him flying. The IFO (Identified Flying Object) was intercepted by an ax kick by Velvet, rocketing out of the arena. Coco was busy using her gun to occupy her opponent, who was using her shield to defend herself. "I don't fancy being Swiss cheese!"

Port and Oobleck were the announcers for the whole tournament. It was somehow fitting to see Port commentating. Apparently, his skills at telling stories helped maintain interest in the tournament and also guide those whose eyes weren't able to catch all of the action, including those who were content watching it on their Scroll or T.V. One match later, and it was team CRDL was actually going against team BYYD.

"Kick his butt!" cheered Ruby.

"Wipe that smug smile off his face!" screamed Dew.

"Do it, and I might give you a kiss Cardin!" shouted Nebula.

If the earlier encouragements didn't do it, this one put him into overdrive.

"All right! You heard her. We gotta win!" shouted Cardin, extremely enthusiastic.

"Of course that gets him hyped up," grumbled Sky, but agreed with him. They had been training for this and were not about to be kicked out in the first round.

" _And BEGIN!"_ shouted Port. The arena had transformed into savanna fields and urban setting.

"Show them what it means to be winners!" shouted Boyd as he charged in. Soon, it became individual fights. And Cardin was fighting Boyd.

"Winchester!" growled Boyd. Taking in the pride of Arc meant also taking in the grudge against the Winchester family. Both had their weapons in a gridlock.

"Heh, so you're Jaune's half-brother. Guess I'm glad he's not an Arc anymore, otherwise, I would never hear the end of it from my cousins. Being saved by an Arc," chuckled Cardin as he kicked Boyd's knee. Boyd fell down but managed to block the mace coming into his face with his buckler. Being tossed back, he shook his head before transforming his scimitar into a pulse rifle. Cardin deflected the shots with his mace before slamming it into the ground, activating his Semblance to form a destructive wave of continuous explosions towards Boyd. He leaped out of the way and charged forward, scimitar back in hand. Both clashed their weapons against each other. Soon, though, the Arc style was starting to shine as Cardin felt his hits being powered through. Then, Cardin saw him reach out with his left hand and managed to touch his face. Cardin tried to activate his Semblance, only to find it was gone.

"What!?" shouted Cardin surprised that he couldn't activate his semblance. Boyd smirked as he slammed his blade into the ground to form a destructive wave, just like Cardin. Cardin quickly dodged it but lost his weapon in the process.

"Like it?" asked Boyd with a cackle as he saw Cardin's confused face, "My brother can steal Aura, but I can steal some Semblances! Just a touch, and it's mine! Don't worry, it's temporary. But long enough to kick your URK!"

Cardin had punched him straight in his smug face. He followed up with a double hammer fist on top of Boyd's head. Followed by a drop kick, punting Boyd into the Savanna field.

"Just because you stole my Semblance and I lost my weapon doesn't mean I'm helpless," grunted Cardin as he picked up his trusty mace. "That much was drilled into me thanks to Port."

" _Glad to see young Cardin has taken my teaching to heart!"_ announced Port.

All of team CRDL had to resist a shudder at his teachings. Fighting Grimm with only their fists was not fun. Port even had them fight against an Ursa with just their fists. When they complained that it was impossible, Port proceeded to show them just how impossible it was by beating up an Alpha Ursa that had just shown up. The poor Ursa never stood a chance as Port had managed to get it on its last legs, its head trapped under Port's arms as he continued to punch it in the face until it disappeared.

Boyd got up, growling at this. Seeing as it was a perfect chance, Cardin yelled out for all his team to get out of the Savanna. They quickly obeyed, getting an idea what Cardin wanted. Russel grabbed his daggers and used the fire Dust in it, shooting out some fire. Sky followed up with a wind cyclone, using the wind Dust crystal in his halberd.

"Firestorm!" shouted Cardin. The attack promptly set the Savanna field on fire, with Boyd and one of his teammates in it. Panicking they quickly ran to the left. Just as they go tout, Cardin and Dove were waiting for them. Sky and Russel were busy distracting the other two. Cardin and Dove swung their weapon as hard as they could, sending Boyd and his teammate off the arena. Before they were disqualified, Boyd grabbed his teammate and used him as a foot stool to launch himself back into the arena.

" _Hmm. Interesting way of avoiding a ring out. However, I can't say I approve of it. Nor does it look like his teammate appreciates it either. Not to mention his teammate has more Aura than he does right now. It would've been a better choice if he threw his teammate back in,"_ commentated Oobleck.

" _Quite disgusting, in my opinion. But a legitimate strategy,"_ said Port.

Boyd huffed in anger. What did they know? Boyd roared and charged at Winchester and Dove, activating his Semblance to create another destructive wave. Dove and Cardin dodged it, but Dove suddenly dashed forward, pointing his weapon at Boyd and firing. Boyd blocked it with his shield and focused on Dove, who came in slashing. He was distracted, and Cardin took the chance to land a direct hit on Boyd's face. Upon impact, Cardin grinned and activated the fire Dust crystal on the center of his mace. The result was an explosion, sending Boyd off the arena once more. This time, Boyd was not getting up.

" _Oooh, a double humiliation. Boyd Arc is out by ring out and Aura level!"_ announced Port.

" _I think we need a medic over there. Boyd doesn't seem to be moving,"_ commented Oobleck, lifting his glasses to take a closer look at Boyd.

The rest of the match was pretty much over with a 2v4 situation. Pyrrha may be able to handle all 4 of them, but the opponent was not her level. Soon, CRDL was back heading back to the lockers to shower up. RWBY, JNPR, NDGO, CFVY, DSCO and SSSN met up with them after they came back out.

"Nice going!" congratulated Nora, "But you really should've tried breaking his legs."

"Perhaps next time," chuckled Dove.

"Here's your reward, big boy," smiled Nebula and kissed Cardin on the cheek. Cardin's face flushed red, and his mind was gone as he gave a goofy smile. Seeing as the rest of them didn't have their matches until tomorrow, they went to the fairgrounds to eat.

Slap

"How dare you lose!" shouted Vlad Arc to his son Boyd Arc.

Boyd was stewing from the humiliation of losing. Not only had he lost to Ren, he lost to a Winchester!

"Relax, dad," drolled Aurelian, "I'm still in the tournament. And I won't lose to anyone. You have to admit, you were focused more on training me to be the heir of the Arc family."

"He still has no excuse to lose," growled Vlad.

"Didn't say he did. It's just a fact. He should be punished, but not as much as you think," said Aurelian, "After all, he still showed more promise than him. Boyd still has his uses."

Vlad lowered his arm, "That's true. Boyd will be very useful, along with you, to wipe out a grievous error. One that should've never existed."

* * *

The next day rolled by fast. Team ARLN went first on the second day of the competition and decimated a Beacon team. After his team won, Aurelian looked straight at Jaune before putting his finger at his throat before dragging it across his neck and then pointed at Jaune. Jaune responded with the middle finger.

Soon, it was team RWBY's turn to fight against team ABRN, fighting in an ice and lava field. The fight started, and soon it was obvious that RWBY had better teamwork skills. However, ABRN was no pushover. Arslan, the leader of ABRN, was able to match Yang in hand to hand combat even while Yang was blasting away with her _Ember Celica_ , while Reese was keeping Blake occupied. The other two were busy trying to fend off Ruby and Weiss, with Nadir being less successful than Bolin.

" _Hello! It seems that we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?"_ announced Port.

Oobleck looked at Port, annoyed that he always got his title wrong, "Doctor," he grumbled before brightening up, _"And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say this match may be the closest we've seen of the four-on-four round of the tournament!"_

" _For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal_ _Festival Tournament, broadcasted live from the Amity Colosseum!"_ announced Port as he gestured to the general area.

From there, they decided a quick refresher was needed for any viewers

" _Now, let's get back to the match between Team RWBY of Beacon, and Team_ ABRN _, of Haven,"_ announced Port.

Reese was on her hoverboard before shooting it forward as a projectile towards Blake, who parried by slicing her weapon upwards. Reese grinned as it came back to her and punched it, sending it flying back at Blake. Blake kicked it away, but it came back to Reese, as if she was controlling it to make it come back. Seeing her chance, though, Blake charged in to launch a fury of attacks, using her Semblance to add more hits while duel wielding _G_ _ambit Shroud_ in katana mode and sheath. Reese blocked it with her hoverboard, using it as a shield before she twirled it around her body. She parried the first slash from Blake before overpowering her second slash, causing Blake to stumble back. Taking this chance, she did a few backflips before landing on her hoverboard. She hovered forward, intent on using her board to bash Blake. Blake, however, smirked as she prepared herself.

Reese jumped into the air with her board, doing an ollie and flipping and spinning her board like a dangerous helicopter. Blake, however, used her Semblance in conjunction with ice, creating an ice clone to take the hit. Just as Reese was about to land on her board, Blake struck with a double slash upwards with her weapons, causing Reese to fly back, her board split in half.

The audience gave a slight gasp, seeing Reese's weapon seeming cut in half until she surprised them when they transformed into dual revolvers. Showing her acrobatic skills and control of herself even when spinning in the air, she grabbed them and started firing at Blake, who blocked the shots, deterring her from following up with her attack. Unfortunately, Reese didn't plan out her landing strategy well enough. She forgot that she was fighting on an icy terrain. When she landed on her feet, she slipped and collided down onto the cold ground on her tailbone. She wasn't able to cancel the momentum, so she cringed in pain when it hit. Blake could only wince with sympathy at that landing before running up to Reese to attack. They were in a tournament, and any advantage they could take was always advised. Reese got up as fast as she could and started shooting with her dual pistols, hoping to keep Blake away.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt," said Jaune. The others could only agree with him.

Yang gave a battle cry as she jumped into the air to dive down at Arslan. She got in two good punches on her before trying to roundhouse kick her. Arslan ducked under it while trying to sweep kick Yang, but missed. Her technical skill, however, was nothing to scoff at. She was able to halt Yang's assault before landing a sickle punch downwards. Yang flinched before using that time to deliver a right straight. Arslan countered with a Seiken right punch. Both punches collided into each other, creating a shockwave of force from the impact. Both girls were thrown back afterward. Yang immediately tried to take advantage of this with a double spinning crescent kick in the air. Arslan dodged it before shooting her rope dart, latching on to Yang's foot. With it, she pulled, causing Yang to lose her balance. Taking advantage of this, Arslan landed a hook kick right into Yang's stomach. Gasping for air, Yang was shot from the lava terrain to the ice terrain. However, she managed to flip herself back on her feet, hands on the ground to help stabilize her. She looked up to see Arslan coming in with a right straight. Quickly, Yang crossed her arms together to form a cross guard, taking the hit. She flew slightly back but was still ready to fight. Her feet, however, were slipping a bit, as she was not used to the ice terrain just yet.

Nadir, who was standing on a platform of ice looking a bit clueless for some reason, turned around and was about to shoot Yang when the ice behind exploded, sending him forward a bit. He then looked down to see that he was stuck in a block of ice that went up to his thighs. Upon explosion, he had dropped his weapon. He whimpered as he knew he was screwed, as he was now the perfect punching bag. Before Yang could take advantage of it, Arslan came in, delivering a flurry of punches to prevent Yang from attacking Nadir.

Meanwhile _,_ Ruby, who was on the floor with her weapon in rifle mode, looked up from her scope, grinning. She had been the one to make the shot. Now Nadir was useless for the while, it was a 3v4.

"Got your back!" yelled Ruby.

"But who's got yours?" scoffed a voice behind her.

Ruby looked back to see Bolin twirling his staff, ready to attack Ruby. Strange how he seemed to want to taunt first before just attacking. Ruby frowned, knowing that she was in a bad pinch when a black snowflake glyph appeared on his left. He looked at it in surprise before Weiss kicked him through the glyph, sending him flying into a rock before tumbling behind it.

"My BFF!" cheered Ruby happy to see Weiss had saved her.

"No," deadpanned Weiss, but her small smile said otherwise before running off to deal with Bolin.

Ruby did a fist pump as she whispered to herself before running to take on Bolin with Weiss.

"Seriously, who actually taunts on a perfect opportunity?" scoffed Sun from the seats. Looking around, he saw Russel raise his hand in guilt.

"I'm trying to stop," whispered Russel quietly, "Port drove that message in during our detention."

Bolin was struggling to get back up, using his staff as support when he noticed a white glyph in front of him. Suddenly, Weiss dashed right passed him, landing a stab across his chest before jumping over Bolin to slash at his head. Bolin managed to block that hit before getting into a more defensive position. As Weiss landed, she already channeled another glyph behind her. Ruby came running in before being launched upwards by the glyph, spinning before slamming her weapon downwards at Bolin. Bolin blocked it with his staff, causing the ground below him to shake from the impact. Ruby gave a cute growl at him before pulling the trigger, catching Bolin off guard as the shot hit him in the face. He stumbled backward into the ground while Ruby landed on her feet, right next to Weiss.

Bolin got back up, taking a quick peek at his teammates. Ruby did the same, and Bolin took advantage of Ruby turning her head to dash forward. Weiss summoned ice shards to rain upon him, but Bolin did a dodge roll, going right past Weiss, seemingly aiming for Ruby. Ruby slashed forward, only for Bolin to actually jump and flip over Ruby herself, before continuing to run off in the direction he had been running

"Whaaat!?" thought Ruby out loud, surprised and not knowing what Bolin was doing.

She figured it out a second later when Bolin reached a fire Dust crystal deposit and sliced a piece off. He quickly yelled out Reese's name and threw it to her. Reese, who had managed to back off from Blake to get a breather, caught the crystal before slamming it into her hoverboard, causing the green glow to turn red.

Blake, who was gritting her teeth, looked at this new mode with interest. Reese winked at her before quickly hovering her board over the ice trap that Nadir was in, melting it instantly. He cheered, picking up his weapon to help before being attacked by Ruby.

Reese then jumped into the air with her board and slammed it on Blake, who blocked it. Blake was unprepared for a sudden explosion from the board, sending her flying through an ice pillar. Reese flipped onto the ground safely, grabbing her hoverboard and boarding it, trying to smash it into Blake's body. Blake quickly recovered to dodge it. Reese then jumped and spun with her board, seemingly hitting Blake only to discover that Blake had used a shadow to take the hit. Switching tactics, Blake threw _Gambol Shroud_ into a nearby glacier, using it to launch herself behind it. Reese quickly followed to see Blake standing beneath an arch, with her back turned. It looked like she had trapped herself. Reese grinned as she rode in to deliver a flaming spiral kick at Blake, just to find out she had been tricked again. This time, though, Blake threw her weapon into a glacier right after the shadow had been destroyed. In slow motion, Reese started to panic as she knew she had been tricked into a trap. It was too late, though. Blake pulled on the ribbon attached to her weapon, causing it to form a tripwire for Reese to fall into.

Reese's momentum was suddenly halted, causing her to be vulnerable in the air. Her board had continued forward without her, leaving her weaponless. Using this chance, Blake kicked Reese on her stomach, not letting her fall on the ground.

Reese was shot off out of the arena, into the stands, where she bounced off the energy shield with her weapon behind her. She heard the bell ring for ringout before another bell signifying Aura level out.

" _Ooh, a double whammy! Reese Chloris is eliminated by ringout and Aura level!"_ announced Port.

Reese looked at the screen to see that her Aura levels had dropped below 20%, disqualifying her from the rest of the fight. Not that it mattered, since she was also out of the ring, but she felt quite humiliated to be eliminated due to both reasons.

" _Oh, she really should've worn a helmet!"_ commented Oobleck.

"Oooh, double shot," winced Dew, "That's gotta suck."

"That was a good move from Blake, tricking her like that," observed Pyrrha, "Though I would've thought Reese to shoot first."

"Probably got cocky," commented Velvet.

Arslan was running from Yang, using her rope dart to help swing around corners. Yang was right behind, use the shotgun blasts to propel her forward.

Nadir dodged an attack Ruby, spinning in the air as he changed his sword back to an assault rifle. As he landed to shoot someone at least, Weiss launched Bolin right into him via glyph. Seeing her chance, Weiss summoned a black glyph under both boys, causing them to float in the air helplessly before causing them collide into each other hard. She quickly summoned a white glyph underneath them while they were still stunned, concentrating as hard as she could for this one, summoning as much Aura she could bring forth. A giant ice fist came straight up, grabbing Bolin and Nadir, trapping them from the chest down. The fist curled up into a ball, and sent the two helpless fighters rolling towards the edge of the arena for an easy ring out.

Arslan saw this, annoyed at the state of her team.

'The boys really can't do anything without me bailing them out,' thought Arslan as she rolled her eyes and changed directions, sliding right in front of the rolling ice sphere. Focusing her Aura into her fist, she slammed her foot down to stabilize herself while granting her more power into her posture. With a slight roar, she shattered the ice sphere with her punch, freeing her teammates.

Weiss had been closely watching this, and when she saw Arslan stopping in front of the ice sphere, she knew this was the perfect. She quickly called out to Yang as she used her glyphs to create a large frozen side ramp. Yang nodded as she started to propel herself with shotgun blasts into the ramp. Blake quickly threw her _Gambol Shroud_ towards Yang, who caught it. Blake quickly used her strength to propel Yang forward before jumping onto Ruby, who had been waiting in front of her. Blake got on her, and Ruby used the recoil from her sniper to push Blake forward, going past Yang. With the additional force, Blake was sent flying forward before pulling her ribbon attached to her weapon as hard as she could.

Arslan was busy trying to get her boys back up when she heard someone screaming, getting closer and closer to them. She turned around to see a flying Yang coming right towards them. She also noticed that her team was just in the perfect position for Yang to hit them all at once.

'Ah crap. We're screwed, and this is going to hurt. I blame the boys,' was Arslan last thoughts as she felt Yang punch her in the stomach with all her strength, sending the rest of team ABRN flying across the stage and into some boulders at the lava stage. The blow had been powerful enough that all three of them hit the Aura threshold, giving RWBY the victory.

* * *

Team RWBY were at the fairgrounds, starving. Even Blake's stomach let them all know that she was hungry. The other teams had gone to check out some other cultural events going on. For now, all the teams were on their lunch break, allowing them to get some food before resuming the tournament. Weiss then forgot that Ruby didn't understand sarcasm well as she made a sarcastic remark. When Weiss tried to explain herself, she forgot to use simple words. Ruby completely misunderstood what Weiss was trying to say. In the end, Yang was going to lead them to a place to eat. Weiss got a phone call from her father, but she hung up before sending a message to her father saying she was busy celebrating their victory with friends.

"Hey! Might be hard to eat without this," yelled a voice to Ruby.

Ruby turned around to see Emerald holding her wallet in her hand. Ruby frantically patted her outfit, panicking about. Emerald laughed before giving it to her. Ruby thanked her while putting her wallet in her bag.

"What's up, Em?" asked Yang.

"Just left the stadium after your amazing fight! You guys were awesome!" complemented Emerald with a smile. Ruby was blushing while muttering incoherent words.

Blake decided to ask how Emerald's team was doing, considering they rarely see them at all. Mercury was only one that they really saw. Cinder was barely seen, and their last member Noire they never even met.

"How'd they do in the fight?" asked Yang. They had missed it when they went to congratulate Cardin's team back on the first day.

Emerald tilted her head up in thought, remembering the fight. It had been against team BLCK of Atlas, and it was pretty much a massacre. One of them had been viciously curb stomped into the floor by Noire, who was really Neo after Cinder kicked him down.

"Really well," said Emerald, finishing her flashback.

Ruby suggested some victory food together, but Emerald kindly shot it down, saying that her teammates were all introverted. After excusing them from meeting RWBY, she decided to change the subject, asking who they were planning to send in. Ruby tried to look impressive, but Weiss put that down. In the end, they had voted Yang and Weiss to the doubles round. Emerald excused herself, saying she was going to watch a few more fights with her team. As they parted ways, Mercury was back at Emerald's side, teasing her how her new friends were. Emerald scowled before replying how she hated them for being so happy and naive, before telling Mercury it was the heiress and the bimbo, aka Weiss and Yang.

Yang ended up leading them to the Simple Wok, where the aged Shopkeeper had set up. Except for this time, it was much bigger than the original stall, and some of Junior's men were helping the shopkeeper with orders. When Jaune had mentioned about the shopkeeper's good food, Junior took it upon himself to invest in the shop, sending some of his men to help out while learning how to cook. According to Junior, it had been a good investment and was planning on also investing the remaining quadruplets in each major city.

Yang managed to snag some seats near the counter for them, as there were quite a few people also eating there. It had gotten quite famous. They got their orders pretty quickly, and Blake got a large heaping of fish on hers. She was drooling with stars in her eyes as soon as she saw this dish. Weiss paid for them all, saying it was thanks for sending her to the doubles round.

Jaune was with his team, trying out a Mistralian dish that Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha pushed him to try. He took a bite of it, enjoying the flavor before his face started to sweat and spat out fire, not because of his link with Lung Wang, but because that was how spicy the food was.

"Oh god, my tongue burns!" shouted Jaune, panting and grabbing a cup of water to drink. He found out his mistake as it spread.

" _ **Oh, don't complain. That tastes great. You should eat some more,"**_ cackled Lung Wang, enjoying the spiciness. He was the dragon of fire, after all.

Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were all laughing at this before grabbing a cup of milk for him to drink instead. Jaune gratefully took it, letting it sit on his tongue, feeling a bit better.

"What is that dish!?" asked Jaune, trying to air his tongue.

"A famous Mistralian dish that all citizens and newcomers have to try once," giggled Pyrrha. "Spicy Gumbo Delight!"

"It's deliciously spicy!" cackled Nora. "Out of all of us, Ren's the only one that can eat this without even changing his expression."

As if to show off, Ren took a spoonful to eat, chewing it and swallowing it without any changes in his face. The other two did, and their faces twitched, with Pyrrha's face turning slightly red.

"Urg, you guys are trying to kill me with your dishes," groaned Jaune.

As he continued eating, he suddenly felt an Aura that he hadn't felt in two years. Along that person was 7 others. Before Jaune could do anything, he heard his name screamed out, and then he was promptly dog piled by seven women.

"Jaune!"

"You're alive!"

"My baby brother!"

"Urg... Can't breathe.." moaned Jaune, as he was underneath seven grown women. On top of that, he was still recovering from the spicy gumbo.

When they finally got off, Jaune saw all seven of his sisters standing in front of him. Then, they parted way to let Yu come forward.

"My baby boy... What Ozpin said was true. You're alive!" cried Yu as she hugged her son.

"Hey mom," grinned Jaune, relishing the hug and hugging her back.

"Don't we get one?" teased Xanthe, the eldest of his siblings.

Jaune grinned as he greeted all his sisters with hugs. Apparently, they had all changed their last names to Romee. Out of all of them, the two of them had married. The other five were either dating or single.

Jaune quickly introduced his sisters and mother to his teammates. NPR was surprised to see Jaune even had twin sisters, while the others were barely a year apart. Pyrrha was impressed that a mom could have so many children.

"Jaune, how did you live?" asked Xanthe.

"We were surprised when Saffron told us that you healthy, and even kicking butt," said the second eldest sister named Peta.

"You're Aura shouldn't have been unlocked so easily," chimed the twins Orabella and Orabelle.

"Yea, and according to Saffron, you managed to land a hit on Raven Branwen of all people!" piped the youngest one Vanna.

"Well... guys? Meet Pyrrha Nikos, the one who happened to be the key to unlocking my Aura again," said Jaune, introducing Pyrrha to his family, "She was the one who did the ritual for unlocking my Aura when we were 14 while I was traveling through Remnant."

"Hello," waved Pyrrha nervously.

The seven sisters and Yu stared at Pyrrha for a bit. She was starting to get nervous when she was suddenly hugged by Yu.

"Welcome to the family!" cheered Yu. The other sisters were all cheering, congratulating Jaune for getting such a beautiful and famous woman as his wife.

Ren and Nora couldn't help but laugh as Jaune and Pyrrha sputtered, trying to explain to them they weren't married, that they had done the ritual without knowledge of this tradition. Jaune quickly looked at the time before telling them that they had to leave for the battlegrounds. As JNPR left, Jaune gave his family one last goodbye.

"We'll be cheering you on!" said Yu.

"Kick Aurelian's butt!" shouted Saffron.

"Just so you know, apparently Vlad's here too," said Jaune softly.

"Of course he is," sighed Xanthe, "Be careful, little brother. Mom and most of us can't stay for the rest of the tournament, but we'll be watching your first match live at least. After that, we have to get going back to our jobs. At most, only Saffron and I can stay for another day."

"Oh don't be like that," said Yu, "You two should stay here for the rest of the tournament. I've already asked Ozpin for help, and he's agreed to hire you two as extra security for the tournament."

"Well, guess that solves that problem," said Saffron.

"Good luck, brother," cheered the twins.

Jaune nodded and quickly left with his team. He felt much better now that he had finally seen his family. It had been seven years since he saw most of them. They had grown and changed so much.

"He's grown so much," smiled Yu softly, "And he looks so strong. With Pyrrha as his future wife, I don't have to worry about him so much anymore."

"Cmon, let's grab some seats! I wanna see him fight!" said Vanna.

As they all left for the stadium, they had the unpleasant time to run into the Vlad and his two sons. They stared at each other for a bit, glaring before just turning their heads to leave.

* * *

 **Next up, JNPR vs BRNZ and SSSN vs NDGO! Least that's the plan for the next chapter. Read and Review, and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. Team BYDD is out! I know some of you guys wanted me to have Jaune annihilate him, but I figured I'd spin the Winchester and Arc feud a bit. I didn't want to do Team BYDD vs Team JNPR, and then for the doubles or singles have Jaune fight Aurlian. Plus, I figured it was time for Cardin to have a bit of spotlight after having him undergo personal detention and training from Port.**


	25. Chapter 25 Tournament Part 1 Done

**New Chapter! Hope you enjoy this chapter, even if it's a bit shorter than the previous one. Anyone catch the connection I made with the Romee family? :)**

 **Alright On with the story!**

* * *

Team RWBY had finished up their food and was rushing to grab good seats to see team JNPR fight and support them. Team NDGO and SSSN were in the locker rooms getting ready, as their fights were next. They would be watching the television inside the locker rooms.

JNPR and BRNZ were at the center of the arena, facing each other and ready to fight.

Mercury and Emerald both found seats away from RWBY, with Mercury munching on a large tub of popcorn before asking sarcastically, "I wonder who's gonna win."

Emerald scoffed it off, saying it was already decided based on the teams that were fighting.

Cinder walked up from behind, wearing an orange jacket, tight gray jeans, and a sarashi bandage over her chest. She decided to wear this as her combat uniform instead of her usual red dress, as she was afraid she could be identified with it by Goodwitch. As she grabbed an unpopped kernel from Mercury's bucket, she chuckled, saying that even if they knew how it ended, it didn't make it any less fun to watch. Her hands glowed a bit before the kernel popped, to which she ate it as she sat down. Sure, JNPR would win, but she was interested in seeing team JNPR fight, especially Pyrrha and Jaune. There wasn't much to go off of, besides the video from Merlot. For Mercury, he was more interested in Ren and his hand to hand combat skills.

"Team JNPR of Beacon versus Team BRNZ of Shade!" announced Port. The crowds started cheering, a majority of them actually chanting Pyrrha's name, as she was famous. Around the two teams, a circle of holographic roulette appeared and spun frantically before stopping at two different symbols. They would be fighting in a forest and mountain setting. The ground shifted, and the fields were set in place.

" _ **I'm still quite amazed at how far humanity has gotten,"**_ said Alaerth.

" _ **To think they could simulate environments. It's very good for training and learning to fight in different areas,"**_ agreed Fafnir.

As Ruby cheered loudly for JNPR, the Romee family sat in the stadium, anxious to see how Jaune was now.

Port counted down and began the battle!

JNPR charged forward, as did BRN. May Zedong, the only female in the team BRNZ, was retreating backward with her axe. Jaune was immediately suspicious and decided that letting everyone know his 'earth' semblance wouldn't hurt. He stopped and stomped the ground with his right foot, forcing two tiles to rise before punching the air between them. Immediately, two tiles were sent flying towards May's unarmed back. Roy quickly reacted, sending his circular saws at the tiles. They cut through the first one, but the missed the second one.

"May! Watch your six!" shouted Brawnz.

May immediately swung her ax, destroying the other tile.

"That's going to be annoying," groaned Roy as his saws came back to him.

"Buy her some time then!" grunted Brawnz as he charged at Pyrrha. Roy and Nolan complied charging at the rest of JNPR.

"An Earth moving Semblance?" asked Emerald in surprise. She had been sure that the fire breath and wings were his Semblance.

"There is more than meets the eye," mused Cinder, "Perhaps the other abilities are part of something else."

"You could say the fire breath is him using Dust manipulation to another form, just like Cinder," said Mercury thoughtfully.

"We'll have to observe more," commented Cinder. She had attempted to do what Jaune did 3 weeks ago. That was a mistake, as it sent Mercury into a laughing fit when Cinder bit down on a small fire Dust crystal. She tried to manipulate it and managed to spit out a small flame out. However, her teeth felt cracked after biting down and her tongue was burnt. She decided to put that project on hold for now until she had more details about that attack.

Jaune shifted two more tiles towards May, but Roy took it upon himself to destroy them before moving in on Jaune, intent on stopping him. Jaune blocked his double saw slash before counterattacking.

'Why do I have to deal with two people?' thought Noland as he approached Nora and Ren. Still, he would rather take them on then Pyrrha freaking Nikos. Nora swung _Magnhild_ towards his head, to which he ducked before trying to slash with his cattle prod. Nora used the momentum of her swing to carry her out, making the hit miss. Ren came in, guns ablazing. Nolan crossed his arms to block most of the bullets.

May had gotten enough time to reach the trees before hooking onto the branch, landing on another one. She quickly transformed her weapon to a sniper rifle and took aim at Ren and fired. Ren had noticed a glint in the trees and quickly moved, dodging a bullet that came screaming through, almost hitting him in the chest. May quickly fired another one to Jaune this time, as he had been overpowering Roy, slashing and forcing him in the defensive.

"A sniper, huh," thought Jaune as he raised his shield to block the shot, "Guess I'll have to answer her challenge. Been awhile since I've had to use my sniper." He slashed at Roy, forcing him back.

Jaune stomped the ground before raising his hands, causing the ground to move and rise, lifting him up into the air before he jumped to get higher.

"Ren, take care of Roy," shouted Jaune as he shifted his shield to sniper mode.

'What is he doing?' thought May, 'Oh well, he's merely making himself an easy target for me, being stuck in the air.'

She looked through her scope just to see Jaune pointing his sniper rifle right at May and fired. May kept her cool and fired, too. Both bullets went flying and hit each other on the sides, causing the bullets to spiral out of control and miss. Jaune fired again, and May had to jump to another tree to dodge, losing this sniper battle. Jaune landed behind his jutting rock pillar before punching it, causing it to fly towards May was. She looked up and gulped before quickly jumping to another tree to dodge. The pillar took out the tree and the ones behind it until it landed at the end of the arena, into the barrier.

* * *

Brawnz was getting his butt handed to him, he had to admit. He had hope that close range combat would help him, but soon found out that Pyrrha had quite the upper hand on that. After receiving a kick to the face, Roy decided to try to help him by a sneak attack. He shot his saw at Ren, who dodged it, before firing one at Pyrrha's back. Pyrrha noticed and dodged it. Brawnz kneed the saw, causing it to fly back at Pyrrha. Pyrrha performed a spinning air dodge, letting the saw fly back at Roy, who had run from Ren to try to attack Pyrrha. Pyrrha threw her spear at Roy, catching him on the shoulder before backflipping on to her hands and launching herself to kick Brawnz in the face.

Nolan raised his prod into the air and slammed it down at Nora, who dodged it. She noticed electricity seemed to come off it before grinning evilly. She swung her hammer towards his head, who he ducked and jammed his prod onto Nora's stomach and turned up the voltage, hoping to knock her out. What he saw instead was a smiling and giggling Nora as the electricity seemed to do nothing. He peeked at the screen to see in his shock that Nora's Aura level wasn't even moving.

"Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her Semblance!" announced Port. Nolan looked quite panicked at this news, looking at the screen.

"Yes, Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles! This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!"

"What!?" shouted Nolan.

Nolan turned back to his opponent, quickly withdrawing his prod, but it was too late. He could see electricity racing through Nora's body as she clenched her fists with power. She had baited him into attacking with his cattle prod.

'Oh crap,' thought Nolan as Nora rushed at him and thrust her hammer straight into his gut, sending him flying and tumbling on the floor four times before finally hitting a small boulder, crashing right through it but halting him.

Jaune noticed a thunderstorm building up into the mountains and quickly called Nora to climb up the mountain. He looked at Pyrrha and nodded, before engaging the rest of BRN.

The two worked seamlessly. No gaps in their defense, and fought together as if they were dancing. Roy was sending his saws, juggling them between his two teammates like a pinball, with Jaune and Pyrrha in the middle. And yet, not one of them hit, and the duo were still managing to attack them.

"Yea go get them!" shouted Ruby.

"Damn, those two work really well together," commented Sky.

"Wait a minute," said Coco, looking at the field, "I see three of JNPR. Where's the last member?"

RWBY, CRDL, and CFVY looked around the field and realized that Ren was indeed missing.

"He must've activated his Semblance," began Blake, "He really is a ninja."

Inside her mind, she had a stray thought if there was some alternate reality where they were a couple. It would've really been Ninjas of Love, considering both could be counted as ninjas.

"Those two really work well together," said Emerald, observing Jaune and Pyrrha, "We'll have to make sure to separate them if we somehow end up fighting them."

"Hey, where'd Ren go?" asked Mercury. He had taken his eyes off him when the trio charged at Pyrrha and Jaune. He tried to search for him again just to see him missing.

Cinder looked around in surprise, not seeing Ren at all.

'Could it be? Can he do the same as me, but hypnotize everyone on the field?' thought Emerald, 'Impossible! I can only do it to one person!'

* * *

'This isn't good,' thought May as she frowned, looking at two people beating the crap out of her teammates. Sure, there was the 'Goddess of Victory', but she thought with their teamwork, they could handle her first, and the rest would fall. They completely underestimated Jaune, though. How a person who seemed just as skilled as Pyrrha had gone unnoticed was a puzzle. She had been on supporting fire, trying to get a good shot in, but the two wouldn't even allow such a thing. May then noticed Nora trying to climb up some more cliffs to head up the mountain. She smiled as she quietly took aim at her. She was a sitting duck for her to snipe as Nora struggled to climb one part of the mountain.

"You're mine," whispered May as she lined up her sights. She exhaled, letting no oxygen in her body so she could keep her hands stable. Her trigger finger twitched and was about to pull the trigger. Then her world went dark.

There was a buzzer sound, signifying someone was out. Brawnz looked up, thinking it was Nora when he noticed in shock that May's Aura level had crossed the threshold.

"What?" he said in shock, receiving a shield bash to his face for his sudden realization they were a member down.

"And May Zedong is out for the count!" said Port.

'How?' thought Brawnz until he realized something vital. The green guy Nolan had been fighting had disappeared from their sights.

May's body landed onto the ground, and Ren hopped off the tree they had been on. He smiled before announcing, "And that's how you do it."

In the seats, Arslan and Reese were holding Bolin by both his ears on each side.

"You hear that?" lectured Arslan, "You knock them out when their back is turned, and then you can brag. Not before!"

"The match could've gone much differently if you had hit Ruby when you had the chance," said Reese, "Maybe we could've won! Though hard to tell, as I did also get knocked out by Blake, who handled me alone."

As Bolin was apologizing, Nadir stayed silent. Out of all of them, he had basically been useless. Not even as a cannon fodder. No need to have the ladies attention be turned to him.

"Damn, that was awesome!" shouted Octavia from the screen. She was cheering her boyfriend for taking one out. "Now do something big!"

"You're dating a ninja. They're supposed to be silent, like before," said Dew, grinning.

"And you're dating a dragon boy," replied Octavia offhandedly, "I'm surprised he hasn't ravished you yet."

As Dew and Octavia got into a friendly scuttle, Nebula and Gwen could only smile.

"Well, there's the boy," said Cinder, "Wonder how he managed to fool all of us? Emerald, does it seem like he has a Semblance similar to yours? If so, it could be a problem."

Emerald focused on Ren for a bit before shaking her head, "I don't know. I feel like he doesn't, but I can't be too sure. I'll try to find out more from team RWBY. They might know."

Mercury was still eating his popcorn, a bit bored from watching the action. He wanted to be in the action.

Nora had reached the top of the mountain. She looked down and grinned when she saw Ren had taken out May. Lifting her mighty hammer, the lightning struck her where she stood.

"I'm betting she's going to jump and smash her hammer down," commented Mercury.

"I'll take that on. I bet she'll spam her grenades. 100 Lien?" asked Emerald, taking out a white card

"No deal. The Lien probably isn't yours. I'd bet my whole wallet that you stole that," spat out Mercury.

To their surprise, both were wrong. Nora had been experimenting with what her Dragon's Mark had granted her, and was going to use it right on this stage. After letting the lightning strike her, she focused her Aura.

Seeing this, Jaune quickly stomped the ground and spun, creating an dome of earth to protect him and Pyrrha. BRN were surprised to see this, but what happened next shocked them. Literally. Nora roared out and thrusted her hammer forward, shooting out forked pink lightning right at them. It was pink due to her own Aura color. That, and she really like that color. The three of them were blasted off the arena and into the stadium walls, their Aura depleted.

"And that's the match!" shouted Oobleck, the crowd roaring in cheers. "It's very clear that Nora Valkyrie has taken her Semblance to a new level, to be able to do such a move."

"It appears team JNPR wins the match by knockout!... Can someone go check to make sure they're okay?" announced Port, a little concerned to see the half burnt bodies weren't moving. A few seconds later, the medics checked up on them before declaring that they were fine.

"Well, wasn't that a _shocking_ win," said Yang, making her friends and sister groan.

"Please, Yang, don't ruin it," said Ruby.

"What? Ren had a _sneaky_ win, while Nora _blasted_ her competition out," grinned Yang, causing popcorn to be thrown at her. They were careful not to aim at her hair.

"Let's just watch the next match," suggested Velvet meekly, "It's our friends turn next to fight each other."

* * *

In the spectator stands, the Romee family was cheering.

"Dang! Didn't think Jaune was that good or so in sync with Pyrrha!" said Xanthe.

"Told you sis!" exclaimed Saffron, "I was the one who witnessed Jaune take out two guys and punch Raven without a weapon."

Cinder was watching Nora with a curious gaze. She had not expected someone's Semblance to evolve and be actually able to control lightning in its raw state without any Dust. Her weapon may have helped, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that it wasn't the case.

"Guess we both lose," said Mercury, "Quite surprising to see hammer girl do that. Wonder what else they have in store."

Vlad was looking at Jaune with disgust. How dare this boy become strong! He would have to rectify that mistake soon.

In a bar at Vale, a certain dusty old Qrow was knocking out some drinks, watching the matches. He saw the student he personally recommended do pretty well and was surprised to see him even engage and win a sniper battle.

"I knew there was a reason why I recommended you," smirked Qrow as he lifted his cup to Jaune before knocking back a drink.

"So you did recommend him," said a voice. Qrow turned around and saw his own sister, Raven Branwen, in the flesh. He blinked at this curveball that life had thrown at him before looking at his drink.

"I must've drunk too much that now I'm looking at a hallucination."

Raven slapped his little brother on the head, "I'm not one. And I told you to stop drinking so much, it's bad for you. No excuse. Not even for your Semblance."

Qrow just chuckled before ordering another drink, "What brings you here? Scouting the potential recruit you cougar?"

Raven glared at him, "You're lucky you're my brother, otherwise I'd kick you ass. Never mind, I'd still do it anyways. If you must know, I'm merely interested in Jaune's abilities, as well as Yang. I still have that one time rule for Yang anyways. Not to mention I want to see the man that's dating my daughter."

Qrow, who had been drinking, spat out his drink. Coughing and clearing his throat, he shook his head to clear his head.

"I want to withdraw my recommendation letter now," said Qrow seriously, "He's skilled, but no way I'm letting my niece date him!"

"Too late, Qrow," said Raven, ordering a drink.

"We'll see," huffed Qrow, "I can still bury his body before it's too late. Maybe get Taiyang on this plan."

Raven merely laughed as they both continued to watch the match. It was... good to see her blood family every now and then.

* * *

Port and Oobleck were busy introducing the next two teams, SSSN and NDGO. It would be an all girls team versus an all boys team, something that would be interesting. Port mentioned how both teams were crowd favorites. Looking at the crowd, fans could be seen carrying blown up photos of each fighter with hearts. Scarlet seemed to have attracted more men in his fan base, but according to rumors, he was homosexual. As for Sun, photos of his abs were more common.

As Neptune saw the ladies, he couldn't help but flirt. Sure, he saw them a couple of times, but SSSN never really hung out too much with them. It was mainly with RWBY or JNPR. All four girls looked at him in disgust. Sun had to stop himself from punching Neptune, telling him to stop flirting with his girlfriend. He looked at Gwen, and she nodded in reply. They really should tell their teammates and friends they were dating.

"Alright, girls, try and remember: Hands above the waist," said Neptune smartly before winking.

"Please, just ignore him. You know his personality by now," groaned Sun. He really needed to get Neptune a girlfriend or teach him to stop acting _cool_.

The holographic roulette spun, and soon, a desert terrain was chosen.

"Alright! Home field advantage!" chuckled Nebula, before Sun reminded them that he was from there, too.

"I hope I don't get sand in my shoes," said Scarlet, looking worried.

Neptune leaned over to whisper, "Be cool, man."

That was until Dew mentioned the other field was the ocean. Neptune turned around to see that the roulette had indeed chosen the ocean. His pupils dilated in fear as his goggles reflected the image of the ocean icon. He whimpered in fear.

Ruby was confused at why Neptune was acting so strange when Blake explained that Neptune was terrified of the water, her palm in her face.

"That makes no sense. His name alludes to being king of the sea. How is the king of the sea afraid of his own domain?" asked Coco.

"Perhaps something in his past has made him fear it," commented Yatsuhashi.

"Something like that. Sun wouldn't go into it," said Blake.

"Wonder how he takes showers?" asked Ruby.

"Like a normal person, you dolt," scolded Weiss.

"Actually... Sun told me he doesn't. Something about wearing his clothes while having floats," said Blake. Weiss had to facepalm. This was the person she had almost fallen for? Now she was glad Neptune said no.

Sun was busy poking the petrified Neptune, who would let out a squeak at every poke. A sandy beach with a wrecked pirate ship had risen up, with water everywhere.

As Port started the match, Neptune made a surprising move. It certainly surprised NDGO. He dashed right past them, into the desert, and scaled up the rocks in record time, all to get as far away from the water.

"Neptune, what are you doing?!" yelled Sage in frustration.

"Uh, you know, just gaining the higher ground!" replied Neptune, waving to his team.

"On the enemy's side?!" shouted Sun in exasperation. Scarlet took this time to shrug off the red pirate coat he had hanging off his shoulder.

"They would never expect it!" explained Neptune cheerfully.

Dew turned to her allies, shrugging, " He's not wrong."

"Open Fire!" yelled Neptune. The others nodded before charging to take out Neptune first, as he was alone.

The remaining members of SSSN quickly ran to help out, knowing that they would be at a slight disadvantage since they were fighting at NDGO's field. However, they couldn't do anything about it, because of Neptune's irrational fear of water.

As they were charging forward, Octavia jumped forward to fight Scarlet. She ducked under a swing from Scarlet's cutlass before sliding on the sand. Her Semblance allowed her to surf on any surface she wanted, allowing her to get to places quickly. She could even slide on top of the water.

Dew was dealing with Sage. Sage held his great sword up into the air, and with a great roar, slashed down at her. Dew smiled before spinning her spear and slamming it against Sage's great sword. The result was they were both pushed back, though Sage was surprised to see that he actually tied in terms power, as it was his specialty. Dew smirked as she channeled her Semblance to create whirlwinds. The green Dust crystal in the middle helped her channel her Semblance faster, and soon, three whirlwinds were surrounding Sage. Sage had to cover his eyes, as the winds was kicking up sand into his face when he noticed too late he was surrounded. The whirlwinds combined into one, with Sage in the middle, trapped helplessly. The winds gathered power, lifting Sage into the air, unable to control himself at all. Dew used the wind and threw Sage out of the arena, leaving it 3v4.

Sage could only blame himself for getting cocky as he looked at the screen. He still had 75% of his Aura and could've done more to help. Now, he just had to trust his teammates.

"That was a nice move by Dew," commented Jaune, leaning on a wall. JNPR were at an exit hall, just watching the match. They didn't want to go down to try to find seats.

"Indeed. To be able to disable someone so fast," nodded Pyrrha. She herself was rooting for NDGO, as it was an all female team, and she had bonded quite well with them.

"Yea, but Sun's not going to back down so easily," said Jaune, knowing the man he entrusted the Dragon's Mark would do something.

Octavia slid in front of Sun and Scarlet, who had just witnessed their powerhouse fly out. They got into their fighting poses. Octavia responded by slashing her kris dagger, causing a short-wave beam of fire to fire and kick up sand into their faces. Both boys had to cover their eyes, though Sun quickly jumped out of the cloud, already forming a plan. He quickly called Neptune, who nodded and jumped down from his position just as Octavia fired another slash at Scarlet. He dodged it, and found himself facing Dew just as she did an overhead slash down. He quickly blocked it with his cutlass, but felt his knees touch the ground.

'Geez, she's strong!' thought Scarlet, 'No wonder Sage looked surprised at her strength.'

Octavia, seeing the new threat, slashed again at Neptune, kicking up sand into his face. Neptune, however, was prepared as he put on his goggles and fired, unheeded by the sand. He fired a shot, to which Octavia blocked. She heard someone jumping in the air, and looked up just to see the fake sun into her eyes. She put her hand up to block out the light when Sun came in, landing a kick to her face. That attack alone made her Aura go down from 95 to 60, as it was a huge hit that actually made her neck almost snap off.

Furious, Octavia slashed downwards, but Sun was already spinning his staff around his body so fast that he deflected her attack, leaving her wide open. Taking advantage of this, he hit her on the right collarbone, followed to her left knee, followed by a hit on her chest, before ending it with a thrust into her face, pulling the trigger and causing a shotgun blast into Octavia's face. She was hit so hard that she actually did a flip in the air before landing on her back, rendering her unconscious.

"Oh! And we're down to 3-on-3!" yelled Port as the buzzer rang, signifying Octavia was out by Aura level. Sun took a look to see Neptune dealing with Gwen with Nebula backing her up. Dew was taking on Scarlet before quickly summoning another whirlwind in the middle of a close range combat, sending Scarlet flying off. Scarlet panicked at first before finding his balance, and landed on to the mast of the ship in the arena. Dew quickly distracted Neptune while Gwen and Nebula decided to chase after Scarlet. Sun was about to help Scarlet when another whirlwind from Dew came up, forcing him dodge. Dew wasn't going to let him go easily. However, when Dew was fighting two of them, they were getting closer to the ocean when Neptune stopped and backed away from the ocean. Shrugging, Dew accepted it. It would be easier to fight Sun one-on-one anyways, seeing that he was quite skilled.

Nebula quickly shot an arrow into the main mast before using the arrow as a jumping board, getting on top of the mast to fight with Scarlet. Her crossbow transformed into a sword before she went on the attack.

A few slashes, and Nebula was able get a bash into Scarlet's face, to which his reply was to do a heel roundhouse kick. Nebula stumbled back before jumping across the pole to recover. Scarlet went after her, slashing but missing her by an inch. Nebula took this chance to do an overhead two-handed slash, forcing Scarlet to block it. He blocked it with a one-handed defense stance, making it look like he was losing in power before grabbing the base of the sword, lifting it up to free his sword to slash at her legs. She lifted her leg to dodge it, but didn't expect Scarlet to immediately elbow her face. She fell down the ship from that attack.

Scarlet quickly looked to see Sun dodging Gwen's daggers and Dew's tornado. Quickly making a decision, he took out his pistol, activating the grappling hook function at the hilt guard of the gun, and shot it at Gwen's foot. She had been twirling and throwing daggers when she felt something grab her left ankle. Before she could do anything, she felt herself suddenly being hoisted into the air. Scarlet was using her as a counterbalance to land on the ground safely. Gwen, blushing for the fact she was wearing a dress, was trying to make sure her dress didn't fall and reveal her underwear. The knives that she had stored in her dress all fell down, right where Scarlet just so happened to be standing under her. He looked up to see lots of sharp knives coming straight him. Panicking, he quickly calculated the best position to stand still, letting all the knives past him harmlessly. Sighing in relief, he looked up just to see two flaming coconuts heading right towards him, with no time to react. The first one hit his face, causing him to spin from impact. The second one was the one that knocked him out. It had smacked him in his most vulnerable spot, causing him to black out from the pain.

About 10 seconds earlier, Gwen had jumped closer to fight Sun. Sun, looking around, saw some coconuts to use as projectiles. He hit the tree, letting the coconuts drop into his hands before throwing them at Dew. Dew had smacked the coconuts back at him, causing them to ignite after hitting her spear. Sun dodged it, but didn't know Scarlet had just landed. He witnessed the coconuts hit his teammates in the face and the balls.

"Aw nuts," cursed Sun, wincing at the pun he just made.

"Oooh, that's gotta hurt," said Dove as all the males winced at where Scarlet had been hit and instantly covered those areas plain on instinct.

"I guess you could say he couldn't do _nut_ thing," said Yang with a wink.

"Just no, Yang," deadpanned Ruby, "That was just horrible, even for you."

Dew looked surprised before grinning, knowing her team now had the advantage. She summoned blue water tornadoes, trying to trap Sun, but he kept himself moving, making it hard to lock on him.

"Uh, Neptune? Could use some help, buddy!" yelled Sun as he did a cartwheel to dodge the tornadoes

Neptune called back to Sun, giving him random excuses, until Sun finally snapped, calling him out on being afraid of water. Nebula had gotten back up and freed Gwen from the air trap. Dew as in the air, about to stab Sun when Neptune shot Dew out of the sky.

"There! I helped! Are you happy now!?" shouted Neptune, before adding, "Also, _I_ am not afraid of water, and I have no idea what _you_ are talking about!"

Nebula and Gwen helped Dew back up before getting ready to fight.

"NEPTUNE!" shouted Sun in frustration.

"Okay, fine! Just get out of the water!" replied Neptune transforming his weapon into trident forming, lightning clearly seen on the tip. What happened next was one of the more hilarious scenes to happen during the tournament, as Neptune tiptoed towards the water, afraid to even touch it before plunging his trident into the water with his eyes closed. Sun had already landed next to him. As the lightning traveled in the water, Dew realized they were all in danger.

'Gotta thank Jaune for giving me this idea,' said Dew as she plunged her her spear into the ground. A whirlwind started to form, with her at the center. It drove the water away, and was almost clearing Nebula and Gwen from the danger when the electricity hit them. The two received quite a shock, driving their Aura past the threshold and disqualifying them from the match. Dew frowned before quickly jumping onto one of the island for safety. Now it was 1v2. Then she grinned as she got an idea. She quickly formed tornadoes again, taking the water into it and shot them towards Neptune. Neptune, who was still supplying electricity into the water, froze at the incoming water tornado. Sun had already moved out of the way, and was yelling Neptune to move. When he finally reacted, it was too late. The tornado hit him, and Neptune felt the shock of his own weapon hit him, draining his Aura levels to below threshold.

"Hoho! Now it's down to 1v1. Who will win?" announced Port.

Sun looked at Dew before grabbing his staff. He lifted his hand before making a gesture to Dew.

'Come at me,' grinned Sun.

Dew jumped to clear off from the water before charging at Sun. The two of them spun their weapons, clashing with each other. Dew was adding tornadoes to her attacks, but Sun kept dodging them before shifting his staff into nunchucks, adding more attacks into his assault. The two of them were getting a few hits on each other, lowering each other's Aura.

The crowds were cheering. They were standing. They were stomping at this close match.

Dew and Sun gave one last roar and their attacks intersected with a bright flash. As the flash ended, both of them had switch spots, their backs to each other. The crowds held their breath at who had won. The buzzer rang, signifying someone's Aura level had hit past threshold.

"And the match goes to...," announced Port, raising the tension, "Team SSSN!"

Dew collapsed on the ground, breathing hard. Sun was barely standing as he put his weapon away and stuck a hand to help Dew up.

'Thank god for the Dragon's Mark,' thought Sun, 'That might've been a tie. Or I would've been forced to show my new Semblance skills. Didn't want to reveal it so early.'

"And with that, Team SSSN moves on to the doubles round!" said Port before looking at Oobleck, "You know what I call that victory?"

"Flashy and shocking?" replied Oobleck.

"No, _well earned_. What you said is stupid," retorted Port, causing Oobleck to frown and turn his head away in irritation.

* * *

Qrow and Raven watched the match without much emotion. Qrow merely slurred his words, saying that the match was a mess. Raven merely shrugged. As the bartender asked why he was even here for, an aircraft with elegant ribbons flying from its wing flew behind him. Qrow finished his drink before saying the fight he wanted had arrived. Slightly weaving, Qrow tossed two white Lien cards to pay for his drinks and tips, leaving.

"Well that was that," said the bartender as he looked to Raven only to see she had disappeared, leaving Lien for her drinks. Shrugging, he put the cup he had been cleaning aside to grab Qrow's cup to clean. His hand accidentally hit his clean cup he had just done, making it fall to the floor. It shattered upon impact.

"Aww, gee darn it!" cursed the bartender, frowning at his bad luck. He put the cup down and grabbed broom and dustpan to clean it up. As he did, he noticed something shiny on the floor, just beneath the refrigeration unit he had. He picked up before realizing it was his watch he thought he had lost.

"Cool. Lucky me!" grinned the bartender at his sudden change of fortune.

Weiss was walking when she suddenly stopped, looking up into the air. Ruby bumped right into her, asking why she stopped. Weiss pointed to the ship bearing ribbons on its wings. She could recognize that ship anywhere.

"She's here," smiled Weiss before rushing off to the air docks. Ruby quickly followed her to see what was going on.

* * *

"Close match," said Sun to NDGO. They were all in the medical wing, healing from their fight. Scarlet was getting an ice pack for his genitals. Out of all of them, only Sage was the one who wasn't as injured as them all, considering he was tossed out of the arena. Though his pride was hurt massively.

"Yea, I managed to take out two. Impressed with me now ladies?" asked Neptune with a suave voice. This time, Sun really did slap him on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" asked Neptune.

"For being an idiot," sighed Sun, "You didn't know but do realize that three of the four ladies are actually DATING someone. And all three of their boyfriends would likely kick your ass."

Neptune paled before apologizing to them. NDGO chuckled, knowing Neptune just liked to be cool but knew when to stop.

"Wait, three?" asked Octavia, her hand on her neck. That kick from Sun really did hurt a lot, "I must've misheard or you kicked me a lot harder than I thought. Me and Dew are dating, but who else?"

"I am," blushed Gwen, admitting to her team.

"What?" shouted Nebula, "I'm the only one that doesn't have a boyfriend!? Who are you dating, Gwen, I demand to know as your leader and friend!"

"I'll be a suitor if you want," winked Neptune, getting a pillow to his face from Nebula. "It wasn't a no."

"I'll answer for Gwen," grinned Sun before walking over to her, giving her a kiss on the lips, "That would be me."

"Details, Now!" said Octavia. Dew and Nebula nodded, crowding around Gwen and Sun. Sage and Neptune also crowded around them, while Scarlet just shrugged, but was paying attention. He didn't want to move and aggravate his tender injuries.

A short explanation later, their teams were filled in on how they met and how they were secretly dating for a while.

"Dang. Who else knew?" asked Scarlet.

"Jaune did, but he literally walked in on us by accident," admitted Sun.

'Oooh you had such a juicy secret, and you didn't tell me?' thought Dew, 'I'm going to punish you somehow, Jaune.'

Back in the fairgrounds, Jaune shivered but had no idea why. He shrugged before waving the rest of his family goodbye.

* * *

 **Next up, Winter comes back to play! Next chapter should be up soon! Review if you can, it's very appreciated. Motivates me even more.**

 **Since I have some more free time for a bit, I might shoot out a few one shots here and there. If anyone wants to expand on any of my oneshots, they're welcome to do so. got a few stories in my mind.**


	26. Chapter 26 Calm before the Storm

**A rather short chapter compared to what I usually write, but hey, I'm releasing this so fast. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Ruby was running to catch up with her partner Weiss at the air docks, asking why she was in such a hurry. Weiss merely smiled before looking at Winter, saying her name out loud. Winter had come out of the ship, being escorted by Atlas soldiers and Atlesian Knight-200s. Ruby asked for clarification when Weiss ignored her and called out for Winter before running up to her. Winter turned around to greet them with a cold demeanor. At first, Weiss greeted her informally before switching to a more regal tone. When Winter mentioned how Beacon felt different the last time she was here, Ruby made a remark about the weather, causing Weiss to punch her for saying a rather stupid thing.

When Weiss went to ask what she was doing, and how long she was staying, Winter's answers were the exact same thing. Classified. Ruby had no idea what to do.

Weiss gushed about the difference between Beacon and Atlas, to which Winter snapped at her rather coldly that she already knew the difference, before criticizing her tactics and abilities in the match. Afterwards, she dismissed the robots from her side, making them fall back into formation before sighing and smiling a bit more warmly at Weiss and asking how she doing. This confused Ruby until she understood that the scene earlier was just a facade for the public, and that this one was her real mask, a caring older sister.

Weiss began to ramble about her classes until Winter slapped Weiss on her head, leaving a bump on it.

"Silence, you boob!" scolded Winter, "I don't recall asking about your _ranking_ , I'm asking how you've _been_. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?"

"Well, there's Ruby for a start," said Weiss, as Ruby pushed the lump on her head back in, snickering, "There's also quite a few others. Oh, and Jaune is here!"

"Oh? Jaune Ryu-Long is here at Beacon?" said Winter in interest, "That's good. I was hoping to see his name at Atlas Academy, actually, considering I put a recommendation for him there. But if he's here with you, then it's ok."

"Yes. And we are actually sorta dating," smiled Weiss.

"Oh? So fast?" teased Winter, "Such a shame. If you weren't dating him, I might have considered doing it myself."

"Umm, well Jaune is.." started Ruby before Weiss punched her in the arm again, silencing her before pulling Ruby in, "Don't tell her that! She doesn't know, and I don't want Jaune dead!"

"Ohh, right," said Ruby.

"I have business with the General and your Headmaster," said Winter, "But, seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

As Weiss began leading Winter to the dorms, she began to tell her how RWBY had combined rooms with JNPR to create a bedroom for them all, and the other room was used as a study/break room.

Ruby was left alone, having no idea what to do. She figured she would just go do something else until she found Jaune waving his family goodbye. Only Saffron and Xanthe stayed, as they would be helping with security. She quickly dashed over to them.

* * *

As the two sisters were walking with the Atlesian knights marching in formation, two in front, two right behind, and another two a bit further back. Qrow snuck up on the two furthest back before breaking them, ripping one of the heads and tossing it forward, causing them all to stop. There, he called out to Winter, naming her Ice Queen.

Since Weiss had been termed this so many times, she thought the stranger was talking to her until Qrow drunkenly shushed her, putting his hand on her hand before pushing her out of the way, saying he meant Winter. Winter merely gritted her teeth before stating how he had destroyed Atlas Military property. Qrow just dismissed it off, to which Winter's fuse was growing short. Two years later, and Qrow still seemed to irritate Winter, no matter how much she tried to reign her temper. Qrow began mocking her and Ironwood, causing Mt. Winter to explode in her head.

"Listen to big sister, Weiss. She'll protect you. Just like Atlas is going to protect all of us, huh?" mocked Qrow, still slurring his words.

"If you won't hold your tongue, then I will gladly remove it for you!" announced Winter as she drew her dueling saber, pointing it at Qrow.

"Alright then..." smirked Qrow as he slicked his hair back, "Come take it." It seemed like he had gone through a transformation. No longer was he staggering or slurring his words.

The square that was originally full of students all backed off, clearing space for the two combatants. Other students had joined to see what was going on. Without any warning, Winter dashed towards Qrow, unleashing a fury of attacks at him. Qrow, dodged all her attacks without moving his legs at all, until he ducked under a slash, as if bowing down. Winter took this to land an overhead slash, only for it to be blocked by Qrow's weapon that he hadn't drawn yet, still on his back. Qrow gripped the handle of his weapon with his left hand, the weapon transforming from its portable mode into a sword. With a flourish, he slightly tossed his weapon spinning in the air before catching it in his right hand. At that, Winter merely retook her dueling position, left arm behind her back while her body was slanted. The two of them touched blades for a second before getting ready to fight. Suddenly, Qrow began a series of slashes, forcing Winter to blackflip a few times before finally blocking a slash. They glared at each other before outright trading blows, blades clashing against each other. At that point, Ruby, along with Jaune, Saffron, and Xanthe had come rushing over to see what the commotion was about.

"What's going on!?" asked Ruby.

"Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!" replied Weiss frantically.

"Oh no!" cried Ruby, "Who would do such a th-." She paused as soon as she saw who Winter was fighting before yelling, "That's my Uncle!"

"Oh cool, it's the guy that gave me his recommendation letter," said Jaune, looking at the fight.

"What!?' shouted Ruby, "You never told me you met my uncle Qrow!"

"Yes I," started Jaune when he stopped to think about it, "Huh. That's right, you went to sleep back when I was staying at Patch after your little birthday party. I only told Yang and Taiyang."

"Oh," said Ruby before turning her attention to the fight, calling out to her uncle, "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!"

Weiss, feeling a bit confused decided to shout out her own encouragement, "Teach him respect, Winter!"

"Got anyone you're cheering for, Jaune?" asked Xanthe.

"Eh, I'm good. I'll stay neutral," replied Jaune. Instantly, he was besieged by Ruby and Weiss, telling him he had to choose one of them.

Mercury had just been walking back to his dorm when he saw the fight. Taking a glance, he merely shrugged before halting completely, doing a double take. He slightly paled when he saw Qrow, and quickly hurried off to find his teammates.

Both fighters were doing their best to land a hit. Slashes from Qrow were dodged or parried. Thrusts from Winter were blocked or dodged. Soon, Winter found a chance when Qrow overextended a bit, landing a hilt slam on his face. Qrow didn't even seem to flinch before raising his sword over his head. Sensing this wasn't a blow she shouldn't even consider blocking, Winter summoned a glyph below her feet before forcing her body to shoot off into the air. It was a close one, as Qrow slammed his blade down where she had been, destroying the ground.

As she landed, she looked up in surprise to see Qrow already in front of her before dodging to the side. Qrow slashed right through a steel lamp pole, causing more collateral damage.

"Ummm shouldn't we stop them?" asked Jaune, "Before they start destroying more of the school property?" Right as he said that, Qrow had thrown his weapon into the lamp pole as a projectile.

"I suppose we should. We were hired by Ozpin to stop situations like this," said Xanthe, drawing her estoc sword that could transform into a scout rifle. "Not to mention Glynda would be pissed if she had to fix this place."

"I'll stop Winter. She should still know me," said Saffron, drawing her bastard sword. "You get the old geezer."

"Saffron! That's not nice," scolded Xanthe. She had to admit, the man called Qrow wasn't bad looking.

At this point, Qrow and Winter were on school walls away from each other. That didn't deter Qrow as he started to shoot at the running figure of Winter. An explosion engulfed Winter, causing him to stop and squint. It looked like Qrow had hit Winter when she suddenly came rushing out of the smoke cloud at Qrow. She had pressed a button in her dueling saber, and drawn a main gauche, or parrying dagger, from her sword, leaving a small hollow imprint on her saber. Seeing Winter charging in with two swords, he grinned clashed against Winter. The momentum from the impact carried over, causing both Winter and Qrow to fly in the direction Winter had been charging, right into the ground, creating another crater. Still, it didn't deter them, as they continued to slash at each other.

Their fight was suddenly interrupted when two variations of giant swords blocked their attacks. They looked at the sudden intruders in shock.

"Saffron?" asked Winter in confusion.

"Hello, miss," smiled Qrow, giving Xanthe a wink. Xanthe merely frowned before pushing Qrow's sword off hers.

"That's enough," announced Xanthe, "Everyone, please disperse. We'll handle it from here."

As the crowd thinned off, Qrow put his weapon back before looking at Xanthe with an admiring gaze.

"It's good to see you again, Winter," greeted Saffron as she put her sword away. Winter did the same before giving Saffron a small hug.

"What brings you here?" asked Winter.

"Just seeing my little brother," replied Saffron, pointing at Jaune, who had Weiss and Ruby on each arm glaring at each other. She frowned at this. Wasn't Jaune dating Pyrrha? Before Saffron could ask, Ironwood came in, demanding why the courtyard was damaged like this. Accompanying him was Penny.

* * *

When he found out it had been caused by Winter and Qrow, he frowned and decided to question his lieutenant first.

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" snapped Ironwood.

"He started the altercation, sir!" accused Winter.

Qrow looked completely relaxed before stating a simple fact, "That's actually not true. She attacked first."

Winter was about to counter that rebuttal when she thought about it, only to realize in horror that Qrow was right. She had been baited right in like a newbie. Having no words to reply, she could only look down in shame. Seeing as she was chastised enough, Ironwood turned to Qrow with a gaze before walking close to whisper to him why he was even at Beacon. Before Qrow could reply, Ozpin and Glynda had decided to intervene.

"I'm glad to see you were able to stop the two of them, Xanthe, Saffron," said Ozpin, raising his mug at Xanthe. Xanthe and Saffron bowed in response and respect. This was the man who accepted Jaune without a doubt, and kept him safe from Vlad's grimy hands.

Glynda immediately went to fixing the courtyard, but not before giving a glare at Winter, Qrow, and Ironwood. Immediately understanding what she wanted, Ironwood took Winter and Penny with him, heading towards Ozpin's office. Penny saw Ruby, and waved at her quickly, to which Ruby finally let go of Jaune's arm to wave back. She immediately rushed to Qrow's arm, hugging him and asking if he missed her. Qrow merely smiled before answering no, while rubbing Ruby's head affectionately. He was about to ask what was going on with Jaune when Ozpin called him over. Seeing Ozpin's stern face, he had no choice but to comply. He would ask later.

"So... your Winter's little sister," said Saffron. They quickly introduced themselves as Jaune's sisters. Weiss immediately curtsied, with Ruby trying to follow it adorably. Then, Saffron's gaze turned to Jaune.

"Jaune. Aren't you dating Pyrrha? Then why are you letting both these ladies hang off your arm?" asked Saffron sternly.

"Umm...," stammered Jaune. At this rate, he had no choice but to expand the circle to let his sisters know his secret. He did not want them to get the wrong idea. Especially since Xanthe could be scary when she wanted answers.

"I... need you to follow me to a private room before I say anything else," finished Jaune. His tone left no room for argument. Intrigued, they followed him. Jaune sent Ruby and Weiss away, stating he wanted to talk to them alone.

As they walked away, Ruby asked Weiss, "What's the chance that he's going to live after meeting his own sister and your sister?"

"Not very high," admitted Weiss.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Ozpin's office, they were discussing and arguing about plans, plots, and what course of action to take. Winter had been dismissed to watch over Penny back in her dorms, as well as stating this meeting was above her rank. Ironwood put his Scroll onto Ozpin's table to show some files and holograms. He didn't know the mistake he just did now, by linking his Scroll into Ozpin's table, which was linked into the CCT. Cinder's little virus was still inside, giving her access to his Scroll.

"And you're sure?" asked Cinder with practiced calm.

"Bad hair, used a sword and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him," replied Mercury with a serious face. No longer was he joking about this part.

"What do we do?" asked Emerald, worried about the new person. Qrow had been the one to stop them from fully completing their previous mission.

Cinder paced around for a bit, thinking deeply before replying, "Nothing. We stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend."

At that, she picked up her Scroll, noticing that it was flashing with the Black Queen chess symbol, "Speaking of which... it appears we have a new access point."

She took a look and grinned, noticing that they had gotten access to one of the top people in Remnant. General James Ironwood. She quickly dismissed them, stating that everything would be ready tomorrow. She quickly navigated her Scroll into the doubles round of the tournament and rigged it so the 'randomization' would have Mercury and Emerald fighting against Coco and Yatsuhashi. She was about to close it when she gave a grin and looked through who was in the doubles round. She noticed for JNPR, they had chosen Jaune and Pyrrha to represent. Her grin grew even bigger at that, before rigging their opponent. They would be facing Aurelian and his teammate, Roderick.

"You should thank me for this opportunity, Jaune Ryu-Long. Show me what else you can do," whispered Cinder before heading to sleep. She would certainly have to thank her little friend for making this part possible, and without the help of that irritating Arthur Watts. After all, who would suspect the son of a famous family and a certain company?

* * *

Saffron and Xanthe were silent at what Jaune had just revealed to them. He had taken them into his mindscape and revealed all seven dragons to them. His adventures as he traveled through Remnant. How he was the 'angel' of the train incident and the Breach at Vale. And most importantly, how he actually needed a harem.

"So let me get this straight," said Xanthe, "You need seven-"

"Six," piped Jaune.

"Fine, six girls," continued Xanthe, "to mate with you in the future. Which you have already found. And they're all okay with this?"

"For the most part, yes," replied Jaune, "I've already told them everything. They know about me having multiple wives, and are willing. We are, however, all dating to see if they feel comfortable knowing they have to share."

"Well, I guess that's better than Vlad having hidden mistresses," muttered Xanthe.

"Xanthe!" scolded Saffron, sounding outraged, "You know that Jaune would never be like that man. The fact that he actually has a justified reason and is open about it to her girls is already better!"

"Saffron," said Jaune softly, "Xanthe has a right to be worried. I am having a harem, no matter how it looks."

"No, she's right," said Xanthe, her tone softening, "I was worried you might become another Vlad. However, I can see that you would never become anything like that man. Just promise me that you'll take care of yourself and the girls."

"Always," grinned Jaune, "I would take off my own head if I didn't. Followed by my dragons."

As they gave a group hug, the door that they had closed collapsed, revealing all of Jaune's girls. They had been leaning on the door to try to listen in on the conversation.

"Ummm, hi?" said Ruby, waving from the ground.

The girls managed to separate themselves before introducing themselves to Jaune's sisters. Dew was slightly angry when she found out Jaune and Saffron lied to her back at Vacuo, but quickly forgave them. Jaune had still been on the run, and couldn't risk Vlad knowing he was alive.

"Wait," said Saffron as the girls had been chatting, "You're dating Weiss. That mean's you're dating Winter's little sister! Oh this is going to be hilarious when Winter finds out!"

"Uhh let's not let her know anytime soon," chuckled Jaune nervously while Saffron was rolling on the floor, laughing.

"Don't worry," whispered Weiss, "I'll tell her soon. She won't tell our father. She knows how to keep a secret. Unlike Whitley, who always tells him everything. He is such a stuck-up brat."

"Should I reserve a hospital room now?" whimpered Jaune.

* * *

"I have decided who to aid Cinder," declared Salem. She had gathered the members of her faction in the meeting room. "Tyrian. You will hold off finding the Spring maiden, and go assist Cinder. If this 'angel' is truly there, then your assistance will be required."

"Of course, my mistress!" cackled Tyrian.

He was excited to plunge his stinger or weapons in the angel's flesh. He hadn't felt this excited after that special kill. The one with the silver eyes. She had certainly been a feisty one before he plunged his stinger into her stomach. It had taken him and Hazel, along with 5 more hired guns, to take her down after she had eliminated a large amount of Grimm. After that, the poison quickly took effect, but not before she killed the hired guns. Since she was unable to move, Tyrian slashed her throat before feeding her body to the Grimm to tear apart, so the attack would disguise his stinger and slash. Nobody would know, and just think she died from Grimm.

"Dr. Merlot, how goes your research?" asked Salem, directing her gaze at the mad doctor.

"Excellent!" cackled Merlot, "The specimen and materials you provided me has proven to be most useful. I have already gone beyond my original research, and have finally created a small pool where the Grimm needs to merely drink from it to become one of my beautiful creations. I've also developed to the point that upon contact, it'll mutate them. The serum is stronger than the one I made before. All you have to do is have someone carry a test tube with it and just toss it on a Grimm before sending them out."

"Good," replied Salem, "And the condition I set?"

"They all retain their base instincts like you wanted Mi'lady. They will be attracted to negativity. I must warn you, though, the serum right now affects only a certain amount of Grimm. I have yet to be able to make it work on... much larger and ancient Grimm," replied Merlot.

"Do not worry about those. They will not be touched," said Salem with a touch of anger being directed at Merlot. Merlot bowed and sat down, becoming silent.

"You are all dismissed," said Salem. They obeyed and left the hallway. Salem went to stare out into the open lands at her window.

"Soon, Ozpin. You will fall. Your guardians, huntsmen, huntresses and any hope will fade. None of humanity's legends will save you. Nothing can stop this wave. And I can't wait to watch you burn," smiled Salem as she gazed out her window.

* * *

 **Short, I know, but hey, I released this pretty fast. That, and I had to end it on that note. It was perfect. Read and review, please!**

 **And for the guest review known as 'truth': Meh. You hate my story and yet you reached all they way to my latest chapter. Team DSCO was a creation of my beta reader that I decided to let him put into the story to see how it would work out. And I highly doubt you can predict what I have planned already. As for Neptune being bashed, it wasn't my intention to bash him at all. He's just naturally that way in the canon version too. And as for your last insult, if you were an actual writer, I doubt you'd get a lotta fans after that last comment. Just plain out insulting readers is just stupid.**

 **It's a shame, really. If only you'd use your real profile name to write that review out.**

 **Thus ends my rant. As for my other reviewers, Thanks for the reviews and encouragment! I won't let one trolling flame get me down to quit.**


	27. Chapter 27 Doubles Start,Awaited Battle!

**So many reviews! I feel lucky to get so many. Anyway, new chapter! Hope you enjoy it, for it's finally time for team ARLN and JNPR to face off! Read and Review! Spent quite a bit of time trying to do this fight justice.**

* * *

It was day three of the tournament! Now the doubles rounds would commence! The crowds were all cheering and excited, bets were being placed on who would win. As usual, NDGO, JNPR, SSSN, CRDL, RWBY, and CFVY were all sitting near each other. Seeing that there was no room, Cinder decided to sit across from them at the other side.

Team DSCO had gotten permission to perform another song for the beginning of the doubles round. Most of the crowd loved them from earlier. Dandy waved at the crowd as they got set up to perform. When everything was set up he looked at his teammates, who nodded back. Coral tapped his sticks together to begin the beat with Dandy getting ready to start the first lyrics.

 _Centuries-Fall Out Boys_

Now one may think how they got the chorus going, well do to Corals semblance, he's only able to use one vocal at a time, which is why he did pre-recordings for Onyx to use while Coral done the main female voice.

With the song now coming to an end DSCO walked away with cheers once more as the tournament was about to start.

 _"The randomization process is complete! Ladies and Gentlemen, your doubles tournament fight!"_ announced Port. All the competitors in the front row seat were also cheering loudly. On the big screen, a roulette was scrolling through teams before stopping at Mercury and Emerald vs. Coco and Yatsuhashi.

For this part of the tournament, after the match was announced, the fighters had 20 minutes to prepare any gear and get ready to fight. Unlike the first part, where teams had a day to prepare who they were fighting, this part of the tournament tested teams to see how they could operate with a limited time span to plan. The fields, of course, were still randomized, so competitors couldn't bring field advantage into their plan. They could, however, try to plan out who was suited to fight whom with their chosen members or plan out strategies.

The fighters quickly got onto the field. Coco was standing on the field, confident. Yatsuhashi was meditating to prepare for the fight. On the other side, Mercury and Emerald were merely grinning, knowing they would win this fight. They had to, as they had been ordered, or else.

The fields had been randomized into quarter sections. It was the forest, savanna, urban, and geyser fields. Behind CMSN was the savanna, while CFVY had the geyser behind them. On the right of CFVY was the forest, and the other side was the urban field.

"Hey! Love the outfit, kid!" complemented Coco as she saw what Emerald was wearing, lowering her sunglasses to see better.

"I'll try not to get blood on it," replied Emerald confidently.

Yatsuhashi slowly stood up, drawing his sword from his back, "I can't promise you'll leave without a scratch."

"I won't be the one bleeding," smirked Emerald as she stretched out her arms, rotating them in a circle.

"Ooh, I like her!" said Coco.

Port then counted down, beginning the match. The combatants stared at each other, ready to see who would make the first move. Emerald and Mercury had smirks on their faces while slowly walking backward into the tall grass, disappearing from their sights. At this Jaune and Ren immediately activated their Aura sense to locate where they were. It was good practice, and they wanted to see what those two were planning.

Yatsuhashi and Coco looked at each other, smiling.

'Go for it,' gestured Yatsuhashi, slightly jerking his head towards the grass.

Coco replied by transforming her transforming her heavy handbag into a Gatling gun and fired her bullets into the field. She began to spray for a bit, sweeping the field from right to left and cutting down all the grass. Some of the bullets hit the other side of the forcefield, protecting those in the competitor seats. Coco stopped when she realized that the opponents were no longer in the plains anymore, and had disappeared. They looked at each other in confusion.

Suddenly, Mercury seemingly dropped from the sky, aiming a huge drop kick at Coco. Yatsuhashi pushed Coco out of the way before raising his blade to block the attack. As Mercury's attack landed on Yatsuhashi's sword, he could actually feel the power behind that attack and knew if Coco had taken the hit, her Aura levels would've gone down hard. He pushed Mercury away from him. Mercury merely flipped himself back onto his foot when Coco opened fire. He immediately ran, letting Coco try to hit him but only hit his trail. He was going way too fast for her to get a proper aim. In fact, while he was running in a curve on the ground, his whole body was tilted close to the ground, showing just hard fast and hard he was taking the curve.

"He's good!" commented Sun.

"Yeah, but where's the girl?" asked Scarlet.

"And where did Mercury come from?" piped Nebula.

"Emerald's in the forest, hiding," replied Jaune, "But for what?"

"Mercury split off from Emerald, going into the urban area and jumping to the top of the building before launching that aerial attack," finished off Ren.

Mercury got close to the two before kicking Coco's weapon away while dodging Yatsuhashi sword. He landed a heel kick, followed by an overhead kick onto Yatsuhashi. Coco fired a barrage of bullets, but he jumped into the air, his right foot landing on Coco's barrel before his left foot followed, kicking Coco on the top of her skull. Yatsuhashi quickly slashed, but Mercury dodged it easily. As he landed, he jumped in anticipation the Coco might try to fire at him. He misread it as Yatsuhashi landed a backhand swing on him.

He flew towards Coco but used the hit to his advantage as he grabbed her shoulder, flipping himself right behind her before maneuvering her weapon with his foot to force her to aim her weapon at Yatsuhashi stomach. Yatsuhashi looked down in shock, while Mercury smirked and Coco growled. She quickly transformed it back to its handbag mode and swung backward Mercury deftly jumped back, doing a few flips while Coco put her free hand on her cap to look cool while making sure her cap didn't fall off. Mercury landed on his back for a second before using the motion to push himself forward, launching two blasts from his boots at them. Coco deflected the attack while Yatsuhashi sliced the other one in half. Coco looked back at Mercury to see a handstand-spinning Mercury who was shooting out blasts from his boots. The blasts were all spiraling around him until he sent the barrage flying at them. They tried their best to block it, but it was creating lots of dust and smoke. As the attack finished, they didn't notice Mercury was already behind them. He grabbed their arms, his own crossed when he spun around uncrossed them, forcing them to switch places. He landed a few of kicks at both of them with his left leg only. His second kick forced Yatsuhashi to stumble away, letting him land a flurry of kicks on Coco alone before jumping and using his right leg to send Coco flipping into the ground.

Coco quickly got back up, ready to fight when a chain came from the forest trees to wrap around her. She looked quite surprised at this when she remembered there was another one. She cursed mentally, forgetting this was a 2v2 fight. Mercury had been kicking their butts quite nicely alone.

"Coco!" shouted Yatsuhashi, trying to reach for her in vain.

Coco was suddenly dragged into the forest, leaving him alone. Mercury spun in the air to land a kick on Yatsuhashi. He endured it, feinted his attack, making it seem like he was going for a slash. Mercury jumped into the air to dodge, only for Yatsuhashi to grab him by the collar with his left hand. Mercury tried to pry his hands off, but Yatsuhashi wasn't going to allow that. With a roar, he tossed Mercury into the geyser fields. Mercury landed on his back quite hard, and Yatsuhashi took this chance to jump high in the air and slash down at Mercury. Mercury, however, blocked it with both his boots. The impact, however, was so strong that a shockwave came out of the clash, driving the water away, cracking the earth beneath them, and forcing multiple geysers to shoot out around them.

Mercury fired a blast to get him out of the deadlock before doing a reverse sweep kick. Yatsuhashi as off balance, but managed to dodge it by jumping over Mercury's head. They faced each other, and Yatsuhashi slashed at Mercury, who dodged it with ease before blocking a few. Mercury did an arc heel kick from above, forcing Yatsuhashi to back up. The kick impacted the ground, kicking up some rocks. Mercury quickly did a jump thrust kick, firing a rock right at Yatsuhashi face. He stumbled before reversing his grip on the sword and slashed forward. Mercury was ready, though, and kicked the blade away before doing a capoeira spinning kick, launching two blasts towards Yatsuhashi. He blocked the blasts and tried to attack, but Mercury intercepted him with a swift heel kick to his stomach, following up with a somersault kick with his right leg, sending Yatsuhashi onto his back. It was unfortunate that upon landing, Yatsuhashi head was right where a geyser hole was, and it erupted, causing him to scream in pain. The crowd gave a cry of sympathy at that. He got up quickly, shaking his head to get rid of that pain. He opened his eyes in time to see Mercury already in motion, flipping and landing an ax kick on him, sending him flying towards the middle of the arena.

* * *

Meanwhile, a minute earlier, Coco had been dragged into the forest until she collided into a trunk of a tree. She shook off the damage until she realized that her 500 Lien sunglasses were lying on the ground, shattered.

"I take it back; I don't like her," Coco grumbled quite upset at the loss of her sunglasses.

She heard gunfire and dodged the bullet aimed at her head just in time before doing a few backflips to dodge some more bullets. She transformed her handbag back into a Gatling gun before firing at where Emerald was, up in the trees. Emerald moved, jumping from branches to branches while still firing until she transformed them into sickles and began using them to swing from tree to tree until she suddenly vanished.

Coco frowned when she somehow lost track of her. She heard Yatsuhashi call out to her, and looked back to see him walking towards her. Figuring that he had lost track of Mercury somehow since the buzzer didn't ring for someone had been eliminated, she merely gave him a glance before telling him that Emerald was in the trees somewhere.

The buzzer rang, and Coco looked up in surprise to see footage of Yatsuhashi being launched towards the middle of the arena.

"Oh, and with that final blow, Yatsuhashi is eliminated!" announced Port.

"What!?" Coco shouted in shock, her eyes widening. She looked back to see Yatsuhashi had suddenly disappeared. She started to shake, trying to find Emerald. She knew she was at a huge disadvantage. When she saw the screen, she saw that after all that fighting, Mercury still had 83% of his Aura left. Emerald had barely lost any, showing a 96% Aura level. She herself was only at 74%.

She slowly looked around, not seeing Emerald or Mercury at all. Emerald, though, had managed to sneak up behind Coco, her sickle raised up high. Coco heard a blade being unsheathed and turned around just to see Emerald slash at her. Unable to defend, she took the hit. Emerald wasn't done, though. After that slash, she dashed forward and performed a rising slash on Coco once more. Then, she transformed them into kusarigama, trapping Coco in her chains. Emerald swung Coco into some trees before launching her towards the middle of the arena. Right as she launched, she fired 4 shots into Coco's stomach. At this punishment, Coco was knocked out, her Aura level passing the threshold and eliminating her from the match. She landed right next to a knocked out Yatsuhashi.

 _"And with an amazing upset, Emerald and Mercury are victorious!"_ broadcast Oobleck.

Velvet was worried about her teammates, but Fox reassured her that they were tougher than this, and could easily recover. Amidst the cheers and boos, Cinder merely smiled. She looked to where Jaune was and smiled.

'I hope you can show me what you can do... devil boy,' Cinder laughed mentally. She had originally planned to just leave after Mercury and Emerald's fight, but she didn't want to miss out this special fight.

The next match was Sun and Neptune fighting against a team from Beacon. They easily won that, as the terrain had no water sources for Neptune to panic over. Neptune was able to shine as he showed his mastery over using the Guan Dao mode, landing multiple strikes before launching his opponent towards Sun. Sun took advantage of this and slammed the human projectile with a drop kick towards his opponent. Both of them were disorientated. Sun and Neptune ended it with a dual thrust into their stomachs.

The third match of the day was a team from Shade fighting a team from Atlas, with Shade winning. The next match, however, had people on the edge of their seats. It was Jaune and Pyrrha vs Aurelian and Roderick. The crowds were chanting Aurelian's name or Pyrrha's name. It was the 'Goddess of Victory' fighting the champion of the 39th Vytal Festival Tournament. The fact that it wasn't in the singles round made some people lament, but nobody cared. They wanted to see these two fighting against each other. There were even rumors that the two were dating. That was the result of Aurelian and Boyd spreading lies. The fact there were two extras, granted strong ones, didn't click in the crowd's minds.

* * *

During the preparation phase, Jaune and Pyrrha were in the locker rooms, grabbing their gears.

"Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked with a worrying tone. They were going against Jaune's "brother" after all.

"Never better," replied Jaune. Pyrrha didn't buy it. She could feel Jaune was anxious and nervous to fight Aurelian. His half-brother. The man who would inherit the Arc family, something that should've been his by right. As they walked towards the arena, a few spectators were gossiping as they were waiting for a friend in a bathroom. What the content they were talking about made Jaune pissed.

"I heard that Aurelian's dating Pyrrha."

"Wow, those two together would definitely be the power couple of the century."

"But I heard that she went to the dance with someone else, that she rejected him."

"Naaah. Boyd told me himself that she was playing hard to get. They got together after the dance, and she performed a little extra dance with Aurelian in his bed."

"Damn, fate must be cruel to put those two together."

"I think it's romantic. Two lovers fighting to show their strength. To show their love."

"What about Pyrrha's partner? I thought those two fought very well together. It certainly showed during that fight against BRNZ."

"Aurelian told me that Pyrrha told him the boy's a creep. A stalker. One she just smiles and puts up with it."

"Wow, I hope that jerk get's his ass kicked."

Jaune's anger was about to hit critical when Pyrrha grabbed him, taking him to an empty hall. Before Jaune could say anything, Pyrrha kissed him fiercely. Jaune's anger slowly dissipated, but it was still there when Pyrrha slowly leaned back. It was, however, within Jaune's control level.

"Never doubt that I love you," whispered Pyrrha, "That you're the only one for me. If it wasn't for your self-control and reasoning, I would proudly be bearing your mark right now. But I will always love you, and can't wait when you do mark me."

"You were always my goddess," Jaune whispered back. Pyrrha put her forehead on his, both enjoying the warmth.

"Let's go," said Jaune. Pyrrha happily followed him, ready to destroy Aurelian Arc.

'Lung Wang,' thought Jaune mentally.

 _ **"Yes, Jaune?"**_ asked Lung Wang.

'I'm beating the shit outta Aurelian. I'll be linking with your power, along Fafnir and Alaerth possibly. Full immersion link' snarled Jaune.

 _ **"Good. Show them what it means to try to steal a mate,"**_ growled Lung Wang.

"You set that fight up didn't you?" asked Mercury as he was sitting next to Emerald and Cinder. Cinder had saved them seats.

"What makes you think it wasn't fate?" replied Cinder coyly. Mercury scoffed before grinning, anxious to see this fight. He had grabbed some popcorn and was actually willing to share it with Emerald and Cinder.

Coco and Yatsuhashi had woken up from their fight and were now occupying Jaune and Pyrrha's previous seat. Both were a bit depressed that they had been basically slaughtered. They didn't even make their opponent's Aura level drop to at least half. Still, they were here to support Jaune and Pyrrha.

"I heard a rumor," began Coco, remembering some gossip she had heard while walking to the seats, "That Aurelian is apparently dating Pyrrha."

"What!?" shouted the whole group of friends.

"Pyrrha would never ditch Jaune and date that jerk!" shouted Nora, to hear such a thing made the hyperactive girl quite upset.

"Calm down, thunder girl," said Coco, "Like I said, a rumor. But thanks for confirming the fact that Jaune is dating Pyrrha."

"Wonder where that rumor came from," pondered Blake.

"Who else? Probably the Arc brothers," scoffed Russel.

Ren gripped his seat in anger. He would have to make sure to send Nora to break a few legs later.

"I fear for Aurelian's life," stated Yatsuhashi.

"Huh? Why?" asked Gwen, who was sitting next to Sun and cuddling with him. They had let them all know she was dating him.

"I remember the people Coco was talking about. And I also saw a flash of red hair and yellow hair disappearing into a hallway," answered Yatsuhashi.

"That means!" started Weiss.

"Jaune's going out swinging for blood," finished Yang.

"Well, I can't say I pity Aurelian," started Cardin as he crossed his arms, "I remember being on the end side of Jaune's fist. That was not pretty. So many days of trying to get my face back to normal. But I'm also excited to see somebody else be pulverized."

They all leaned forward, eager to see Aurelian receive the ass-kicking of his life.

In the stands, Winter was sitting with Xanthe and Saffron in a private room in the stadium.

"So. We get to see our little brother fight our half-brother," commented Xanthe.

"Yes. It would be interesting to see how Jaune has grown since I last saw him. I wonder how much he has improved," Winter nodded with interest.

"You're leaving after today?" asked Saffron

"Yes, I was only here to oversee the transport of additional units to Vale, as well as the remote controlled Paladins," replied Winter.

"Why not stay for the tournament? You should at least watch your sister fight!" Saffron exclaimed.

"I do not have much free ti-," explained Winter until she received a whack to the head by Xanthe.

"Bah, this is family! Ironwood can let his lieutenant stay for a few more days. You can even say you stayed here just to make sure the shipment was correctly delivered and not robbed the day after it arrived."

"I... guess that could work?" hesitated Winter. She cringed when she saw Xanthe raise her hand for another slap, "I mean, I should stay to make sure!"

"Good," said Xanthe elegantly before turning her attention back to the match, "I hope Jaune can beat his half-brother and show our father what he failed to see."

"Wait, his? I thought Jaune wasn't related to you?" questioned Winter. Saffron ended up cringing before explaining why they had lied in the past. Winter wasn't pleased, but she was also angry at the Arc family. Especially Aurelian, as he was the one who put the rumor that Winter didn't participate because she was scared. She would've annihilated the brat back at the 39th Vytal festival tournament if it hadn't been for Raven.

* * *

Ozpin almost never went to the stadium to watch a match. Even though there was a private booth for any Headmaster that was hosting the tournament, he used that privilege when his school was hosting it. He was content with just sitting in his office to watch the tournament. This time, though, he decided to use that opportunity. He was sitting inside with Glynda, sipping on his coffee with a bucket of popcorn next to him. He had invited her and three others.

"It's rare to see you actually here, Professor Ozpin," said Glynda.

"There was a match that caught my eye," said Ozpin cryptically.

"Ah yes. The 'Goddess of Victory' against the 39th Vytal Festival Tournament winner," nodded Glynda, as if agreeing with him.

"I would agree with you, but I think Oz is more interested in Jaune and Pyrrha."

Glynda looked back to see Ironwood walking in to take a seat beside her.

"One for the obvious reasons, and the other to see why he managed to get three recommendations from the hardest people to get."

Glynda thought about it and nodded in reply. Jaune Ryu-Long was indeed an enigma.

"Psh, I just want to see him crush that Aurelian Arc's face."

Qrow had come in, carrying his usual flask and a tub of popcorn. He took a seat next to Ozpin.

"Gotta say, Oz. Never thought you'd actually be here watching. You're usually content just watching from your office."

"I merely wanted a change of view this time. And to also observe our candidate closely," replied Ozpin.

"And to observe how far Jaune Ryu-Long has come from exploring all of Remnant," said a third feminine voice.

Glynda and Ironwood were surprised to see Raven walking in. Ironwood immediately pulled out his gun, but Ozpin raised his hand.

"Calm yourself, James. Raven is here as a guest. She has promised not to do anything."

"But, Oz! She's-" stuttered Ironwood.

"Not a threat at the moment," finished Ozpin, "I believe we are all interested in watching this match. Let us have peace for this moment."

Seeing Raven just sitting down next to Qrow, Ironwood warily put his gun back and sat down. While they were waiting, Ozpin chuckled a bit, causing them all to look at him.

"I did spar with him once," explained Ozpin. Ironwood and Qrow raised their eyebrows in surprise.

"I wonder if he's gotten stronger since the last time I fought him," commented Raven, "He is the only boy who I know so far who has actually landed a hit on me at his age."

Qrow coughed a bit while saying "Cougar". Raven frowned and slapped him on the head for that comment. While she was interested in Jaune Ryu-Long, she was not one to steal her daughter's boyfriend.

"I do admit, he's stronger than the average Huntsmen-in-training," continued Ozpin, "In fact, if I was to rate him, I'd say he could graduate within the first half of the second year just due to his experience in the wilds alone. The only thing he needs is some more theoretical knowledge that's spread among the four years."

"Did he land a hit on you?" asked Qrow.

"No," replied Ozpin, "I might've gone at him with more seriousness than I usually do. But I can't shake the feeling that even though he looked like he was going at full power, there was something hidden inside that he wasn't using. Perhaps this fight might reveal it."

At this point, all five of them looked forward to this fight.

* * *

"So, you've decided to show up. I'm surprised you didn't go running scared," sneered Aurelian as he and his partner approached the center of the arena.

"From you? Please," scoffed Jaune, his eyes closed for now.

"Oh, not scared? Why don't we make a deal?" taunted Aurelian, "If I win, I get Pyrrha, and you have to strip naked in front of everyone in the stadium and say you're a worthless stalker who doesn't deserve to even exist."

"What type of deal is that? That's not even fair, and you haven't even stated what would happen if you lose," frowned Pyrrha. This certainly wouldn't be a fair agreement after all.

"No worries, my dear. There's no point in saying that since I won't lose. Soon, you'll have a proper husband at your side. Me," leered Aurelian as he pointed at himself.

"Don't forget your promise, Aurelian," grunted Roderick, a brown haired Faunus with a ragged wolf tail, "I get to have a turn." He grinned menacingly, wielding a flail with three spiked iron balls.

Pyrrha looked at him in disgust, while Jaune tightened his grip on his sword. Roderick really shouldn't have said that.

Back in the Headmaster's booth, Raven was frowning.

"It seems like Aurelian is trying to claim Pyrrha for herself and making a deal without even naming what happens if he loses," said Raven.

"How-" started Glynda.

"We can read lips," began Qrow, also squinting down, "Man, that guy's lower than scum"

"Well, this should prove interesting," stated Ozpin.

"That no-good spoiled brat!" roared Xanthe. She was also reading his lips and wanted to go down and rip Aurelian apart. It was even worse when she looked into the crowd to see Vlad nodding with approval. She also saw Boyd grinning with excitement.

"Oh boy," said Ruby. Blake and Sun had heard what Aurelian said, and was not happy. They quickly told them all, and it took great restraint on Ren to not jump in and pound the crap out of Aurelian for that comment. His pride as Jaune's retainer wouldn't allow him to get away with this.

The fields had been selected. They were urban, ice, desert, and cyber. Desert was behind ARLN, Cyber behind JNPR. Urban was to the left of JNPR, and ice on the right.

"Still haven't heard you accept it, scum," taunted Aurelian, "Tell you what. If I somehow lose, which isn't even divinely possible, I'll give you the Arc name and heir."

"Not interested," replied Jaune, "I have no desire to take on such a shameful name."

At this, the three Arcs bristled in indignation at that.

"How dare you," growled Aurelian, "Fine. You would've still died if you did win. Would've made it easier for dad to force you to come back, stating family business."

"The only thing I'm interested in is if you strip down naked and confess to everyone how you lied and spread rumors about dating Pyrrha," stated Jaune.

"Fine. It's a deal," grinned Aurelian.

As Port was counting down, they got into their fighting position. Jaune had changed stances. His shield was on his back. He was using one of the sword styles he had learned in conjunction with the original style that the dragons taught him. He, of course, was trained to be ambidextrous. He dropped into a partial crouch, left arm drawn back, holding the hilt of his sword with it. His right hand was extended forward, the fingertips of it touching the tip of his sword. He held his blade slightly over his head. This style was called Gatotsu, and since he was linking with Alaerth for speed, Fafnir and Lung Wang for power, it was perfect for this first shot. Then he noticed Aurelian was somehow being protected. He used his Aura sense and saw Boyd had stolen a Semblance involving an invisible barrier protection and was invoking on Aurelian. Jaune merely growled, as this sort of cheating was something he should've expected. No matter, it wouldn't protect him from a dragon's rage.

Ren had also activated his Aura sense to see Boyd cheating.

"That bastard! He's using a Semblance he probably stole from a friend to give Aurelian the extra edge," growled Ren. Before they could do anything, the match had started.

What happened next confused many in the crowd. Even the hunters watching would be flabbergasted. Only the top hunters or strong people would be able to catch what happened. Ruby, with all her speed, would barely be able to keep up what happened.

The match had started. In the next millisecond, as Aurelian was about to step forward, Jaune had already dashed in front of Aurelian, still in the same stance. His eyes open to reveal his slitted eyes. Then, he thrust his blade forward right into Aurelian's face, sending him flying towards the desert. That attack alone, even with the barrier around him, sent his Aura levels from 100 to 60.

 _"Whoa. And Jaune lands the devastating first attack on Aurelian!"_ announced Port.

 _"Indeed. That attack alone took out 40% of Aurelian's attack! I'm sure many could barely witness what just happened. In summary, Jaune leaped towards Aurelian and stabbed him in the face, sending him flying just as the match began!"_ shouted Oobleck.

Roderick tried to fight Jaune, but Jaune, who had thrust his sword forward, took this chance and swung right at Roderick's body and landed another hit, sending him flying to Pyrrha to deal with. He jumped forward to deal with Aurelian, switching back to his right hand while drawing out his shield. Jaune landed to where Aurelian was slowly picking himself up, his face completely enraged.

"You... YOU SCUM! You will not stand in my path! You are destined to be underneath my foot while I claim Pyrrha and anything you have of value," roared Aurelian.

In the audience, Boyd and Vlad had taken the time during the preparation period to spread rumors of how Jaune was keeping Pyrrha hostage, raping her, abusing his power, etc. They started a chant for Aurelian. It soon spread, and people were booing at Jaune and chanting on Aurelian.

"What's wrong with these people!?" shouted Yang.

"I think Boyd started another rumor," said Dove before asking someone behind him. He turned back to them, "Yep. There's a nasty rumor saying Jaune raped Pyrrha."

"Wow. That's a nasty rumor," said Mercury as it reached him. He had been impressed with Jaune's first attack.

"This works well with our plans," grinned Cinder. All this negativity would attract the Grimm much easier.

With Team DSCO, the rumors did not settle well with the four musicians, especially since one of them wanted to murder some Arcs and had full on demon mode going on.

 **"LET ME GO! I'M JUST GONNA HAVE A 'TALK' WITH BOYD, AND MAYBE SHOVE THOSE LIES SO FAR UP HIS-!"** The last part of what Soul was about to say was cut off after his mouth was clamped shut by Onyx who was currently holding said man down from getting out of his seat.

"Soul please calm down! You're making a scene! We all want to teach those Arcs a lesson for those lies but we can't! If we do, we'll ruin our reputation! Ain't that right Dan-" before Coral could continue to calm Soul down, as soon as he looked towards his leader, he seen Dandy was trying his hardest to control his anger, a massive tick mark could be seen on the lion's forehead, while the right arm rest was currently crushed and bent due to Dandy's prosthetic arms grip from squeezing it so hard.

"N-never mind.." Coral quickly took his attention away from Dandy, rarely had he seen Dandy pissed, and when he did, whoever pissed Dandy off would surely face the wrath of the lion.

"Ah know you ain't that type of person Jaune, so show these blinded people the true light that is the truth…" Dandy said in a low tone as he was trying his hardest not to punch the spectator below him that was chanting for the Arc. Though this did give Dandy an idea for a song he knew Soul would love to sing, especially since it won't just be about a certain someone with a V in his first name, but for all the other liars, cheats, and down right assholes on Remnant.

"What's going on down there?" asked Glynda, noticing people were starting to boo at Jaune.

"I believe Vlad Arc and Boyd Arc has started a rumor that involves destroying Mr. Ryu-Long's reputation," said Ozpin. He had noticed Vlad and Boyd whispering something to the people next to them before it started to spread.

"Poor man," said Ironwood, "When this is over, I'll offer him a place at Atlas if he wants to lie low from the crowd."

"Don't bother," said Raven, "A feeble plot like this won't stop him."

"Can you hear the crowd?" laughed Aurelian, "They're cheering for my victory. No matter what, you'll lose. So just give up now, and I'll take Pyrrha and show her who she truly belongs."

Jaune ignored him completely in favor of smashing his blade towards Aurelian's face, who barely dodged it.

"You bastard!" spat Aurelian, swinging his sword. He swung and swung, but never landed a hit. He made a mistake and did a thrust. Jaune dodged it while spinning, winding his blade and using the spin to add momentum and slashed, sending Aurelian's Aura level to 25%. Jaune was about to follow up when he suddenly felt the gravity around him increase. He looked down to see a few dark purple Dust crystals around him, noticing them as gravity crystals. However, although they seemed to be glowing a little, he could sense that they were inactive. He looked and glared at Boyd, noticing his hand was up and grinning while channeling another Semblance he had stolen. They were using the crystals as a disguise to hide the fact Boyd was the one pinning him down. Before he could move, Aurelian had grabbed his arm and was also grinning as he began his drain.

* * *

Roderick sneered as he got up to see he was fighting Pyrrha. He thought the 'Goddess of Victory' was just an over-hyped title people gave to her. What could a first year do against a Huntsman that has already gone through four years of training? He charged in with his flail just to receive a flying shield to his face. Stunned, he stumbled back and had his legs taken from under him and Pyrrha transformed Milo into a javelin and struck at his legs. Pyrrha recalled her shield back before transforming it to another xiphos. Roderick flipped back to his feet and looked up to see Pyrrha slashing with her two weapons. However, she didn't stop after her fast attack. She kept slashing and stabbing, getting faster and faster that her weapons were glowing. Roderick had no way to defend himself. At the last attack, Pyrrha stabbed while transforming Milo into a javelin while letting the butt of her spear explode, sending Roderick flying off to where Jaune and Aurelian was. She quickly dashed forward in time to see Aurelian grabbing Jaune's arm. She was confused. How did Jaune somehow get caught?

"Hehe," grinned Roderick as he got back up, "Looks like your little leader got caught by Boyd."

Pyrrha's eyes widened and looked at Boyd to see his arms up, sweating slightly. They were cheating! She tried to move in to attack Aurelian, but Roderick activated his Semblance, Prism Trap.

At once, Pyrrha found herself within a triangular barrier, still able to see through. However, she tried to get herself out of it and found it impossible.

"It looks like Roderick has activated his Semblance! From what it seems, Pyrrha Nikos can't get out of it, leaving it 2v1!" announced Oobleck.

"Hehe, have fun in there girl," leered Roderick, "We can't hurt you, but the same applies the other way. So we'll take care of your partner, and soon, you'll be ours."

Pyrrha banged her fists at the trap, but couldn't get out.

'Please be safe, Jaune,' whispered Pyrrha.

"Hmm. Something doesn't seem right. Jaune shouldn't have been caught like that so easily," mused Raven, "Even with those gravity Dust crystals, they shouldn't hamper his movement that much."

"True. His past fighting skills show that he is more than capable of dodging Aurelian's grab. So why didn't he?" said Glynda out loud. "Professor Ozpin? Professor?"

Ozpin was staring at Boyd Arc, his eyes narrowing. He suddenly stood up.

"Aurelian Arc is cheating, using Boyd Arc. He's using a stolen semblance to trap Jaune Ryu-Long long enough for Aurelian to grab him."

"We should stop this match!" shouted Ironwood, "It's a disgrace to everything this tournament stands for!"

"I wouldn't count him out, yet, Jimmy," said Qrow as he narrowed his eyes, "Take a look at the screen, and you'll see why."

They all did, and various reactions, from amusement to shock could be seen.

"Something's wrong," said Winter, "Something is off."

"Look at Boyd!" shouted Saffron. They looked to see his hands raised and sweating. It was obvious he was doing something and was responsible for Jaune's current predicament. And from the looks of Vlad, they had his full approval of this plan. Xanthe growled as she was about to stomp away, but Winter stopped her before pointing at the screen.

"How did Jaune get caught like that?" shouted Russel, "He's more slippery than this!"

"There are gravity Dust crystals around them, but I don't think that's the cause," commented Nebula.

"It may have to do with Boyd Arc. If you look at him, his arms are raised and he is sweating," pointed Yatsuhashi. They all turned to see what Yatsuhashi just said, from their guess it had to be a semblance. This got everyone upset.

"Alright, boys. Go show them what it means to try to cheat our friends," stated Coco. SSSN, RDL, Fox, and Yatsuhashi were prepared to intervene when Ruby piped up, "Wait! Where's Nora, Ren, and Cardin?"

Boyd was starting to sweat as he felt Jaune trying to get out of his grip. He was laughing inside, as they now had him in a trap. Aurelian would finish this, and nobody would know. Jaune would then have to face humiliation and watch as Pyrrha was placed in her rightful place, as a possible matriarch of the Arc family. Suddenly, someone punched him on top of his head. Distracted and losing focus, he looked up to see Ren, Nora, and Cardin, all with a rather displeased look.

"Follow us now, or Nora will break your legs right here, right now," demanded Ren. As to emphasize his point, Nora and Cardin both cracked their knuckles. Boyd sneered until Ren shot his hand at his throat. At the same time, he activated his Semblance on the four of them so nobody could see them. Boyd looked around in shock to see nobody even doing anything. He looked into Ren's eyes to see he was quite serious and felt the grip on his throat tighten. Seeing no choice, Boyd obeyed. Ren looked back at Jaune as Cardin and Nora hauled him towards the exit.

'I've got the distraction down. Now beat those two up,' thought Ren as he disappeared into the shadows with Cardin and Nora manhandling Boyd.

* * *

Sensing that he was no longer captive, Jaune immediately punched Aurelian in the gut, forcing him to let go and clutch his stomach before Jaune followed up with a high kick, sending Aurelian flying. Aurelian landed next to Roderick, his tongue tasting the bruise. However, he had the advantage. His Aura had been almost fully restored, and Roderick was next to him. He took a look to see Boyd missing, but dismissed it. He didn't need him now.

"You see, you have no chance. So save yourself the embarrassment and just give up," taunted Aurelian.

"Umm, Aurelian?" asked Roderick, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen, "You tried to drain all his Aura, right?"

"What type of question is that?" spat Aurelian, taking a glance at the screen. Roderick had 40% of his Aura left, and he had 90% after that drain. The attack Jaune had launched costed him 10%.

"Then why does he still have that much Aura left?" asked Roderick, slightly whimpering. Aurelian looked at Jaune's status and froze. Before the drain, Jaune had 95%. After the drain, his level was now merely at 65%. That meant that 30% of Jaune's Aura level was the equivalent of Aurelian's 75%. Many people in the crowd were also realizing this fact now.

"Kick his ass! It's still 2v1!" growled Aurelian as he charged forward with Roderick. Both with the intent to eliminate Jaune from the fight.

Jaune was furious as he charged to attack Aurelian, briefly forgetting about Roderick at all. His rightful victory stopped because of outside meddling! As he ferociously attacked Aurelian, he took a nasty hit on the back by Roderick. He ignored it in favor of attacking Aurelian

 _ **"Jaune! Calm down!"**_ roared Lung Wang as Jaune took another hit, this time to his stomach. Jaune seemed to ignore Roderick until all three dragons he was linked with roared as one to get his attention.

 _ **"I know you're angry,"**_ snarled Fafnir, _**"But attacking like a berserker will get you nowhere. You could lose everything you've worked for because of your blind anger."**_

 _ **"Show him what it means to fight us,"** _ said Alaerth, _**"Show them that our wrath is not merely one that burns indiscriminately. But rather, your wrath should be like a calm deep sea, one that swallows everything. Show us and to everyone that you have complete control of your rage, and that you use it to empower your attacks."**_

 _ **"Announce to the world that you will not have your pride as Jaune Ryu-Long smeared, and your mate**_ stolen _ **!"**_ bellowed Lung-Wang.

Jaune grunted as he jumped back to gain some breathing ground. He took a deep breath, calming himself down. They were right. He had taken two hits that he could've easily avoided. It had dropped his Aura levels down a bit.

Aurelian and Roderick charged in, thinking they had the advantage when Jaune was in his 'berserker' state when he suddenly changed his movements back to his regular style.

Jaune parried, blocked, and attacked them with even more ferocity. It was truly time to show them what they had provoked. The crowds were cheering, no longer caring about the rumors. Port and Oobleck were announcing with excitement what was happening. People were captivated at the fight as they were watching it on a television set. Aurelian showed them that he had indeed earned his title, and Roderick was no slouch. However, Jaune was dealing with both of them, not allowing them to get a direct hit on him.

Jaune jumped into the air slightly at one point, doing a spinning kick into Roderick's chest. Aurelian tried to take advantage of this from attacking behind when Jaune suddenly twisted in midair, going completely in the other way and kicking Aurelian in the chest too. Roderick and Aurelian shook it off, slowly surrounding him once again before attacking once more.

Aurelian yelled as he slashed down on Jaune's shield, trying to break through it. Roderick swung his flail on the other side. Jaune was busy parrying Aurelian's strikes as it was getting harder to just block it when Roderick managed to disarm Jaune with an upward swing. His face was filled with glee until Jaune spun and kicked Roderick away with a spinning thrust kick. Roderick flipped himself back onto his feet, but his breath was taken from him.

Jaune immediately dodge-rolled after his attack, narrowly dodging Aurelian's downward slash. He shifted his shield to a hand cannon and fired at Aurelian's body, who blocked it with his sword. At the same moment, Jaune had clenched his right hand and swung it, manipulating and firing stones at his feet. Aurelian didn't notice and was hit, knocking him off his feet. Jaune quickly dashed forward and kneed Aurelian in the face. He followed up with a shield bash to his head while in midair, knocking Aurelian into the ground. Aurelian immediately rolled away, feeling the concussion. He looked at Roderick, and both nodded. They loosened something in their clothes before charging in again.

Jaune caught Roderick with a leg sweep before pointing his shield at his chest, changing it to a shotgun and fired, all while using his right forearm guard to deflect another slash for Aurelian. As Roderick was sent flying, he had dropped several fire Dust crystals on the floor in front of Jaune. Aurelian quickly jumped back, dropping wind Dust crystals. Both of them transformed their weapons into their range function, Aurelian with the RPG, and Roderick with a mortar. They both fired at once right where Jaune was with all the fire and wind Dust crystals. There was no time for Jaune to dodge or run away. The attacks hit the crystals, causing a chain reaction. The end result was a huge explosion, with Jaune at the center. The competitors could feel the heat from the explosion.

"No way he can live through that," cackled Aurelian.

'Excellent. That stain has been erased,' thought Vlad.

Others in the crowd had the same idea, thinking it was over for Jaune.

'Is this all you have, Jaune Ryu-Long? Was I mistaken?' thought Cinder.

* * *

"All right, let's get Pyrrha. I'll build up the momentum, and you release the prism when I say so. She won't be able to handle it," instructed Aurelian. As they were walking towards Pyrrha, they noticed the buzzer for an elimination still hadn't been rung.

'Such a cockroach. No matter, she will be mine after this,' thought Aurelian as he turned around to see where Jaune's mangled body should be. As the dust cleared, what everyone saw instead was red scaled wings, positioned as if protecting someone.

 _"What's this? What a turn of events!"_ shouted Oobleck.

The wings slowly parted, and everyone saw that it was Jaune who had grew the wings. With a quick slash of his hands, his wings spread out for everyone to see. *

 _"Ladies and Gentlemen, Jaune Ryu-Long remains_ standing _! And with such a minimal loss in his Aura after such an attack!"_ shouted Port.

They all looked to see he was right. That attack overall had only taken 15% of Jaune's Aura, leaving him with 35% left. He had 50% after fighting the two. Meanwhile, Roderick was at 15%, and Aurelian at 70%.

Before the two could move, Jaune flew forward, grabbing Roderick by the face before dragging him on the ground face first, throwing him out of the arena, causing him to be eliminated by Aura levels and ring out. He turned to Aurelian, growling before kicking the ground, causing the earth to shift under his sword and send it back flying at him. Jaune caught it with a flick of his wrist before hovering in front of Aurelian.

"So that's how he got away," smirked Raven, thinking of how she lost track of him before.

"I was not expecting this. He never showed this before," said a dazed Glynda.

"Huh. I thought you said his Semblance was manipulating the earth, Oz," inquired Qrow, taking a sip of his flask.

"A Hunter capable of flight. Who knows how much that can change things," mused Ironwood out loud.

Ozpin was gazing at Jaune curiously. Those wings... could be mistaken as the devil, but he had a feeling it was something more. Something far more ancient, like he first suspected. What, though, he couldn't place it. None of the legends he had learned fit into this. And not to mention he didn't reveal his wings during their own fight.

"Amazing," breathed Cinder in awe. She had been amazed by just the video, but looking at it live, she felt the video hadn't given it justice.

"Whooo! Go Jaune!" shouted Ruby, ready to see Aurelian lose.

"You guys knew he can do this?" asked Velvet in amazement. She looked around to see RWBY, NDGO, and Sun being the only ones not in shock.

"Leader?" asked Sage to Sun.

"He told me about it once," shrugged Sun, "I have to admit, it looks impressive."

"I was not expecting that," said Winter to Saffron and Xanthe. They could only nod in agreement.

"Hmph. Just because you can fly doesn't me-," started Aurelian before Jaune took out a fire Dust crystal, and chomped down on it.

Before anyone could figure out why, Jaune took a deep breath and spat out hot fire, blazing towards Aurelian. He dodged it and was about to launch a counter strike with his RPG when Jaune had already flown next to him, attacking with no mercy. Slashes after slashes, Aurelian's Aura level went down. Aurelian struggled to keep up, trying to build up momentum, but Jaune wouldn't let him. Each slashed was intercepted before Aurelian could attack.

Finally, Aurelian spun, trying to hit Jaune with a spin attack. Jaune leaned back to dodge it, letting the attack barely touch his hair. Aurelian used the momentum of his spin, letting go of his sword with his left hand and trying to punch down at where Jaune would be when he was facing him again. Before he could do so, Jaune raised his right leg while he had leaned back and kicked Aurelian in the face as he threw his momentum down for a punch. Disorientated, Aurelian stumbled back from the attack. Jaune decided it was time to finish it and fired, to everyone's surprise, what seemed to be nine simultaneous attacks, all flying right at Aurelian, all striking at nine vital spots on the human body. He couldn't dodge or block, and so all 9 attacks slammed home. Aurelian was eliminated by Aura level after such a devastating attack, landing face first into the desert.

 _"What an amazing match! Jaune and Pyrrha win this match!"_ announced Oobleck.

 _"It looks like Aurelian won't be a repeat winner this time,"_ added Port.

The prism had broken off when Roderick had been eliminated, but Pyrrha stayed to watch Jaune rip Aurelian apart. As Aurelian struggled to get up, Pyrrha asked, "So, are you going to follow your end of the deal?"

Aurelian spat out sand before replying, "Like I would honor a deal with a bastard."

"Funny. I was under the impression you're the bastard. At least Vlad was married to Yu when she had me," replied Jaune. He didn't care about the deal anymore. Pyrrha, however, did. She would not let her future husband be slandered like this!

With a firm decision in mind, she decided to put all those rumors to rest.

"Excuse me, everyone!" shouted Pyrrha. Everyone became silent, wondering what she had to say.

"There have been rumors about me and Aurelian. I want to say, that none of those are true. I do not want to date Aurelian Arc, nor will I ever want to. I have never even given him the chance to do so, as I find him quite atrocious. So to all those who believed those rumors that I was with Aurelian, or that Jaune was a stalker or raping me. I only have one thing to say. Shame on you. And I will fight anyone who thinks they are true!"

With a flourish at that declaration, Pyrrha walked back to Jaune's side before giving him a hug. Jaune affectionately wrapped his wings around Pyrrha in response. The two stayed in that embrace for a few seconds and before anyone could do anything, Jaune had picked Pyrrha up bridal style before launching into the air. His next location? At one of Junior's hideouts. He needed to hide for a bit from everyone.

As everyone was walking away, they were all talking about Jaune and his wings. How he dealt with two at once. How it seemed that Pyrrha was actually dating him. Vlad, though, was furious. How could his 'true' sons lose? And where was Boyd? As he went to a bathroom to wash his face, one of the stalls creaked open. There he saw Boyd with his head inside a toilet seat. He yelled in rage. He would have to deal with Jaune personally, it seemed.

"Is it me, or does it seem like Jaune is dating Pyrrha? But that can't be right. Weiss told me she was dating him," said Winter. Xanthe and Saffron looked at each other before chuckling nervously and told her to ask her sister for more details.

"I wished he would've come to my school," sighed Ironwood, "So many new tactics with that flying ability of his."

"Wait, hold on. Raven, you told me that Yang was dating him, right? Then why is he getting so cuddly with Cereal girl?" asked Qrow. He didn't want his niece to be dating a two-timing guy.

"So, I was right about the boy. He is strong," smiled Raven, "And who knows. Maybe he's dating both of them at once, and they're all right with it. He is strong enough, and his Aura level tells us how much stamina he has. With just one girl, he would just tire her out. Well, then. It was... nice meeting you all again. I must go." With that, she slashed the air, creating a portal before walking through it to disappear.

"Raven! That doesn't exactly.. Urgh never mind. I'll get it from Yang myself. Probably get Taiyang as backup," grunted Qrow as he also left.

"Well, that was an excellent match," commented Ozpin as he stood up, "I believe we should leave now."

* * *

 ***Insert Epic music at that point**

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It took quite some time just writing and rewriting the fight scene, trying to improve it as much as possible. Review if you can!**

 **Let's see, I haven't done this in a long time. Review responses! I'm going to answer a few questions without spoiling too much of what I have planned as well as deal with some other stuff. Most of the response will be to the guest reviews, as I have responded to a few reviews with profile names.**

 **IAMBECOMESNAIL- Thanks for the review, feel the love**

 **Ricky- I did put that Summer was facing 7 people at once after dealing with a huge wave of Grimm and that she took out 5 before dying. I think that shows quite a bit of power to her.**

 **Yes, I did a Might Guy Easter Egg for fun.**

 **As for the other reviewers: Thanks for reviewing! Thanks for the positive comments! Helps me keep going.**

 **And finally... the anonymous reviewer named "Truth" (** **cough don't think that should be your sn.) For all other readers, it's not very important down here, so you can skip this part of you want.**

* * *

 **Thank you for actually expanding on your criticism instead of straight out insulting like you did last time. I'll take the criticism, but for someone to just come in swinging unprovoked and actually attacking the readers themselves is just ... stupid. And it's quite sad that you had to have somebody else write a perfectly good apology. Should've left it there instead of admitting somebody else wrote it for you. Kinda ruins the apology and makes it empty. And like TheDemonicSaint said, go have some PM wars instead of putting it in my review section. Like I said, easy to make an account. Plus, TheDemonicSaint actually PMed me and apologized to me about posting reviews arguing against you.**

 **Now to deal with some of your points. And frankly, it would be just easier if you had a profile. If not, it's really easy to just make one so I could just send a pm. Also, I do have the future plot planned out till the end of the tournament, you can confirm that with my beta reader TheMischieviousPuppy, as I do discuss it with him. Also, team DSCO was his characters that he painstakingly created to match up with the RWBY universe, so do apologize to him about his team. I actually quite like his OC's, as they are quite unique, and yet still fit with the RWBY universe. So if some of what you think were 'your' ideas, it's not. They were ideas I had planned, and some I admit, influenced by with Saint Danielle when he PMed me and giving me suggestions way early on.**

 **1- Aurelian was never supposed to be the 'end' boss, nor is Vlad. Their Jaune's personal demons/boss, but that's it. True enemy will be after the tournament. Might do something with Vlad, but that's in the air.**

 **2-Tyrian's going to be interesting, I'll state that for now and not spoil it.**

 **3-I can't bloody make them reveal themselves yet. Jaune hasn't even fully shown his powers to the world of Remnant yet. It's the first year of the Academy, and it's also the very first time Jaune's going to be shown to the world. Already had this discussion with Saint Danielle**

 **4-Goes with part 3**

 **5- Eh longest was Weiss. I actually had them break up for a bit in my earlier chapters. Had Blake slap Jaune and almost break up. But hey, please do note that they are just DATING to see if they like how the whole harem thing goes. I've not had Jaune given any Mate Marks, which would = marriage. As for Neptune, I literally followed Canon storyline for that. How am I bashing him when the original story has him doing that already? Granted the response was something I made up, but overall, Neptune did reject Weiss's offer to the dance. If that's still bashing, then blame the original authors.**

 **6\. The dragons are his advisors and basically replacement parents for him while he grows up. I gotta have him start somewhere, don't I? If you notice, I have the dragons talking less and less every now and then, and offering random advice every now and then compared to the beginning. Heck, I even had Jaune fight using Fafnir's powers only. And remember, the Dragon Contracts are his Semblance, and I've given him 7 years of bloody training before heading to Beacon. In the future, I might have something disrupt it, but that's still in planning phase. If there were no dragons, then my story would've ended at chapter 1, where he dies. I should make an omake for that!**

 **7\. And please don't insult my readers. They enjoy this story. The fact that you would go so far to insult them is quite vexing. Insult my story, criticize it, sure. I don't mind and might use some of your points to further my story. But if you just blatantly insult them and, I quote, "The only reason why people read this garbage is because most of them are as immature as you are." or "But why would you care when you get praised for the lemons and obvious wish fulfillment so many people here eat up like pigs with the dirt and feces."**

 **That's just asking for your story to be punched in the face. And don't go, "Oh, my story is for those who truly understand entertainment and for the sophisticated." Only your die hard fans would continue reading your story after those insults that I mentioned above. Which is why you use the face of anonymity, I guess. So you wouldn't lose your readers. And like I said, your 'apology' feels empty after admitting you had someone else do it for you.**

 **And do note that while I had to up my rating to M, most of the time, it was rated T. Even that fluff scene I made I used the vaguest sense of words possible, and considered it about rated T. It was only due to some good-hearted people that suggested I bump it to M just to make sure I don't get flagged. And there's no lemon in the story if you hadn't noticed.**

 **Let's see... on another note. I highly doubt you talked with any of those writers you mentioned. If you did, do provide your profile name so they can confirm. Even Saint Danielle, one of the writers you 'claimed' to have talked to and know, doesn't recognize you. He even rebukes you for your insults.**

 **Final note: I never claimed I was on the same level with Couer Al'Aran, but I am happy someone compared me to him. He's a better writer, I admit. He also has a ton of stories going off at once. Also, no idea what NTFF supposed to stand for.**

 **That's all folks! And Truth, if you are going to post another review, please do make an account or use your real one.**

 **And yes, I'm confirming I will be writing even after the vol 3 arc.**


	28. Chapter 28 Family Lines

**Thanks for the reviews! Here's a new chapter! I put a little spin to it. More of it at the a/n at the end! Enjoy!**

* * *

Later that day, Weiss was sitting with her sister at a elegant pavilion, sipping tea and snacking on a plate full of croissants and strawberries. Weiss had been happy to hear that Winter was at least staying for a few more days to watch her match. Winter decided it was best not to mention how it was Xanthe who had convinced her to do so. Winter was quite surprised that Weiss had actually talked to father for a bit while stating she had learned a lot at Beacon. When Winter asked about the summoning aspect of her glyphs, Weiss admitted she still couldn't summon. The last time she did, was back in Merlot's island, she had been unable to duplicate the results. Winter merely smiled and offered to help out, before showing her an example, summoning a white and blue Beowolf by her side. Weiss looked at in in amazement before resolving to try once more.

"You'll never beat me, old man!" declared Ruby.

Qrow scoffed before replying, "You're nothing but talk, kid!"

"You can do it, Ruby!" cheered Yang, pumping her fist up.

Ruby was playing a videogame with Qrow with Yang cheering at the RWBY dorm. Qrow won easily, decapitating Ruby's character with his. Ruby could only look down in shame before Yang pushed her away taking her spot and snatching the spinning controller in the air, "My turn!"

Qrow chuckled as he fought Yang before continuing his story about a time back in Mistral. As he narrated, he paused at a dramatic climax, saying he had been defeated...by the mere sight... of the innkeeper's skirt length!

Yang, much to her ire at the story and losing in the game, immediately threw a dog-head pillow at Qrow, who caught it easily.

"You are the _worst_!" growled Yang.

Qrow and Ruby just laughed at her anger while starting up another round. Ruby asked a few questions until bragging about how they were also pretty much professional themselves. At this, Qrow laughed at this, causing Yang to argue, telling him they had saved Vale.

"Funny, because I heard Vale suffered a Grimm attack after you almost managed to stop a train," replied Qrow before leaning in to rub it in her face, "But they don't give out medals for _almost._ Plus, that whole angel thing basically saved a lotta people. I doubt you know anyone with that sorta firepower."

Ruby and Yang glanced at each other before putting a stoic expression. Qrow didn't notice as he was stretching his arms.

"By the way. I heard something interesting," said Qrow, "A birdie told me that you have a boyfriend, Yang. My baby niece, all grown up."

At this, he faked out tears before putting a stern visage, "And I hear that it was Jaune Ryu-Long. Which makes it weird, as it clearly looked like he's dating Cereal Girl."

Yang sputtered, trying to find someway to put this gently on Qrow. As Qrow let her try to explain this, he decided he needed a quick swig of his flask. He didn't even expect an answer from Ruby, though.

"Yep. Yang's dating Jaune. So am I, so we're dating the same guy!"

Qrow spat out his drink in front of him before coughing and choking at this news. Outside the window of team RWBY was a raven who sounded like it was cawing in laughter.

"HE'S WHAT!?" shouted Qrow. In the distance, he thought he heard Winter yelling the same thing. "I'm going to castrate him now!"

He dashed out the room, grabbing his weapon, intent on finding Jaune Ryu-Long. He quickly sent a message to Taiyang, stating family emergency/boyfriend alert. He didn't notice Taiyang send in a reply, telling Qrow not to do anything rash as he already knew about it.

"Ruby! I told you that you can't just hand in news like that!" scolded Yang, "Now we have to save our boyfriend now!"

"I thought Uncle Qrow would handle it better," sulked Ruby before they dashed out to save Jaune.

* * *

Back at the pavilion, Weiss was trying to practice her summoning, with Winter coaching her. However, she couldn't get a clone of a Grimm to come out, just like her sister. Frustrated at this, she eventually dismissed it before throwing a tantrum, to which Winter immediately slapped her head and scolding her to stop doubting herself, and that if this was her trying, then she had no hope in succeeding as a Huntress.

Angry at that, she tried to summon a Grimm clone when she suddenly remembered Jaune's words. _Does it have to be a Grimm?_

"I am different," whispered Weiss before dismissing her earlier glyph. Before Winter could ask what was wrong, Weiss summoned another one, concentrating hard on it. Winter looked at it curiously, wondering what Weiss was attempting when she felt the winds start to howl around the glyph. A giant sword came forth from the glyph. Winter raised an eyebrow, thinking Weiss had just summoned an ice sculpture of a sword, but that changed to astonishment when she saw a hand grab the sword. The hand slowly grew, and an arm came forth. It was up to the shoulder before stopping. Weiss moved the sword and hand around, showing she had some sort of control before dismissing it, exhausted from that attempt.

"That was excellent!" praised Winter, "I knew you could do it! And to see that you summon something completely different!"

"It's a work in process," panted Weiss, slowly taking a seat on a chair and grabbing a croissant to eat. "I have Jaune Ryu-Long to thank for this idea. He told me if it had to be Grimm."

Winter nodded, "It's usually enemies that you have defeated. The ones that pushed you. For most of us with this Semblance, it's usually the Grimm."

Winter went to sit with her little sister, proud of her to be able to accomplish such a task. Truly, studying at Beacon had done wonders for Weiss. Then, she decided she needed to ask.

"Weiss. Tell me the truth. Are you really dating Jaune Ryu-Long? Because it seems to me that he's dating Pyrrha Nikos. And don't lie, I can tell if you are."

Weiss stiffened at this accusation, trying to find someway to deflect this. Winter asked one more time, giving Weiss no choice.

"Well... He is dating... both of us?"

"HE'S WHAT!?" shrieked Winter. A few seconds later, and she swore she heard Qrow yelling the same thing.

"Excuse me. I have a boy I need to castrate," said Winter before dashing out, weapons ready.

"Winter! Wait!" shouted Weiss, but it fell on deaf ears. She sighed as she quickly got up and started running after Winter, intent on saving Jaune.

* * *

Jaune had returned back to Beacon, along with Pyrrha. The two of them had taken the time to cuddle and watch some television at a private room. They were content just to hug each other without roaming hands while flipping through some channels. Quite a few of them were replaying the fight of Jaune against Aurelian, and how the 39th winner would not be going for a second win in a row. Junior had given them drinks as congratulations, and gave Pyrrha a bottle of whisky before winking at her, saying she could give body shots to Jaune. He was thrown out by a blushing Pyrrha, but she kept the bottle. Jaune was slowly walking back to the JNPR dorms when he saw Qrow and Winter, seemingly working together, to charge towards him, weapons drawn.

"I think they figured it out," whimpered Jaune before turning around and running for his life.

"Get back here brat!" shouted Qrow, firing a few shots at the fleeing Jaune.

"Stand your ground and fight back, Ryu-Long!" roared Winter, summoning and sending a few small Nevermores to chase down Jaune.

"Can I explain before you kill me!?" yelled Jaune as he sprouted his red-scaled wings to fly away.

"Maybe AFTER!" replied both of them.

It was another two hours of chasing before Pyrrha called in Xanthe and Saffron to help. Together, along with Weiss, Ruby, and Yang, they managed to calm them both down. By that time, they had accumulated quite a bit of collateral damage around Beacon, causing Glynda to scold all of them again for making her do more work. They were back in the RWBY dorm again. All of JNPR and RWBY were there with Qrow and Winter. While Saffron and Xanthe decided to guard the doors.

"So explain to me why you're dating... four girls all at the same time?" said Qrow, "Not that I'm not impressed. I do have a lot of inappropriate stories I could share, including twins."

His eyes became a bit foggy, remembering the past before getting slapped on the head by Winter.

"Please. Do explain Jaune. I did not take you as someone who would be so... willing to engage in multiple relationships. Nor take advantage of some girl's feelings," interrogated Winter, "I did not take you as Qrow."

"Hey!" said Qrow, to which Winter ignored him,.

"I think it's easier just to show you," said Jaune before taking both their hands. Before they knew what was happening, there was a flash of light. RWBY and the rest of JNPR had quickly touched Jaune to be included.

"Ok. I know I didn't have that much to drink," muttered Qrow as he looked around to see darkness. All he saw was everyone that had been in the room, except now they were standing on some grass.

"Where are we?" asked Winter, confused.

"Inside my mindscape. There's someone you guys need to meet. They're the reason why I need multiple... mates," said Jaune testily, "Look behind you."

There was a resounding thud as he said that. Qrow and Winter whirled around, ready to fight when they saw Ryo-Wo and Andusk, who decided to reveal themselves this time.

" _ **Greetings,"**_ greeted Ryo-Wo.

Qrow and Winter just gaped at the two massive dragons in front of them.

"I know. We had the same expression when we first met them too," chuckled Yang, "The same with dad."

"I have no idea what I'm looking at," said Qrow, trying to find his trusty flask.

"What a majestic creature!" complemented Winter as she looked closer at Ryo-Wo.

" _ **Well, now. Someone who finally admires me for my qualities,"**_ chuckled Ryo-Wo.

"Now I think of it, which dragon are we supposed to be bonded to?" asked Weiss.

Jaune pointed towards Ryo-Wo, telling that was hers. She looked at it and smiled. At least she had a majestic dragon. Jaune quickly explained to both of them about his dragons, the conditions, and the fact that he wanted this to remain a secret. He didn't tell them about his past with the Arcs, though. Winter seemed to agree to keep silent, but Qrow was hesitant. He felt like this should be brought to Ozpin.

Andusk, however, was eyeing Qrow. He leaned down to take a sniff, making Qrow stand very still. Andusk dismissed all that alcoholic scent on him, but deep down, there was something connecting him to both Ruby and Yang.

" _ **Ruby, Yang, how is this man related to the both of you?"**_ asked Andusk.

"That's our Uncle Qrow!" piped Ruby.

"He's my birth mom's brother," explained Yang, "No blood relation with Ruby, but he named himself honorary uncle for both of us."

" _ **That can't be right,"**_ muttered Andusk. Qrow immediately felt his blood freeze at this. _**"I can smell it. He**_ _ **'s**_ _ **her-,"**_

Qrow immediately rushed to Jaune, "Tell your dragon not to say anything right now!" Qrow pleaded/whispered to Jaune, "They can't know!"

Jaune nodded before waving at Andusk, shaking his head. Andusk raised an eyebrow but decided to remain silent for now.

"You're explaining this after," whispered Jaune. Qrow nodded, knowing he couldn't escape from this.

* * *

Soon, they were all back out. Qrow privately brought Jaune to a secure and private room to talk, telling Yang and Ruby they were not to follow with a serious voice. And when Qrow was serious, they listened.

"So, 4 girls, huh," began Qrow.

"Six, actually," blushed Jaune. Qrow looked impressed before raising his flask towards him in praise.

"Soo, what was that about?" asked Jaune, trying to switch the subject.

" _ **Jaune,"**_ said Andusk, _ **"I'm sure of it now. Qrow is not just some fun uncle. He shares the same scent in Yang and Ruby. Both of them are related to the Branwen family."**_

Jaune's eyebrow shifted before asking Qrow what relations he had with Ruby Rose in specific. Qrow sighed as he looked up at the ceiling for a bit before emptying his flask. He would need to get a refill soon.

"What information in this room stays in this room," said Qrow, finally looking back down at Jaune, "I won't tell Oz about your dragons, but you don't tell anyone about what I'm going to say."

Jaune nodded, promising on his honor as a dragon contractor not to say anything.

"It all begins... back with my old team. My first team. Team STRQ," began Qrow, "Taiyang and I were partners, while Raven was partners with Summer."

"Ruby's mom?" clarified Jaune. When Qrow raised his eyebrow, Jaune told him that he had taken Ruby to see her grave as a request before the tournament started. Qrow grunted before continuing his story.

"Summer Rose was our leader. She could do things nobody could. Including making my sister listen to someone. She was incredible. And I fell for her hard."

'What?' thought Jaune, 'Isn't she Taiyang's second wife? Taiyang said so.' Qrow didn't notice Jaune's confusion and continued with his story, staring up at the ceiling, as if to reminisce the old days.

"In the start of our years at Beacon, I was... quite the player. Going around, sleeping around and having fun. But Summer... was an unattainable goal for me. It was in our fourth year did we start dating. It took a damn mission where she almost died to make me see it. That I couldn't see a life without her. So, I went up and straight up asked her out. She laughed and agreed, saying that she had a crush on me since the beginning."

At this point, Qrow's eyes started to mist up a little before continuing, "At the end of our schooling, Raven was pregnant already with Yang from Taiyang. They had a small wedding before the end of our final semester. Then, it changed. After Raven had Yang, she stuck around for a few months before suddenly leaving, stating she was going back to her 'family'. It tore Tai up a lot. He was now a single father, who had no idea how to take care of a baby. Summer decided to help him out, and live at his place. I was still going on missions, as well as trying to convince Raven to come back. It didn't work, as you can see. Fast forward 2 years, and I married Summer and Ruby was born. At this point, Yang thought Taiyang and Summer were her father and mother. They didn't do anything to disprove it, and even kept the illusion of 'sleeping together' and other stuff. I had to go on long-term missions, going throughout Remnant to keep people safe. Do jobs most hunters didn't want to do. Jobs most hunters couldn't do."

"Couldn't you have stayed longer with Summer and your daughter?" asked Jaune.

Qrow frowned before taking a deep breath, "I won't say who, but we needed someone on the ground. Keeping ears open to things he can't hear. Summer understood, and promised to always be on my side. By the time I came back, Ruby was already 3, and thought Taiyang was daddy. Crushed me, but Summer always managed to say that they would fix that. Kept my spirit up. So, I became their fun-loving uncle. We were going to let Yang and Ruby know the truth... until that day."

At this, Qrow actually let a tear slip down his face.

"Qrow?" Jaune asked, trying to see if he was alright.

"Summer went out on a mission. It wasn't suppose to be big. Just a simple search and destroy mission. However, she never made it back. Ruby was 6, and Yang was 8 when Summer died. Death by Grimm was what the report said. I say bull. All of STRQ knew Summer wouldn't have gotten so careless and died from Grimm. Raven, in her rare moments, actually provided us with information, saying that she died from some sort of Faunus assassin. Of course, when I heard she died, I dropped everything I was doing and flew back home as fast as possible."

"Flew? You can fly?" asked Jaune.

"Crap," said Qrow, "Wasn't supposed to let that slip. I can transform into a crow, hence my name."

Qrow transformed in front of him into a crow before transforming back to his human form just to show proof before continuing with his story.

"When I got back to Patch, I saw Taiyang, just sitting there in an emotional wreck. He loved Summer like a sister, and to see another person he loved disappear took its toll on him. I would've taken pity, except I noticed there was absolutely no noise. I couldn't hear Yang or Ruby. No screaming, no crying, not even them breathing. I punched Taiyang back to reality before demanding where they were. We found a trail of footprints, leading into the forest, along with wheel tracks. Figuring what had happened, I rushed to track them, ditching Taiyang. The rest isn't important, just that I saved them in the nick of time. Got them back home, took Taiyang a secure location before beating the shit out of him for letting his daughter and my daughter go out like that. We discussed what to do next, and in the end, Taiyang promised to get his act back together and continue acting as both their fathers. I would be the uncle, but I still had to go on long-term missions."

"Couldn't you take care of Ruby? Couldn't somebody else replace you?" asked Jaune, "You couldn't have been so willing to abandon your child."

"Its... my Semblance that I was worried about," confessed Qrow, "I have no control over it at all. It's bad luck. The probability of something bad happening to anyone. And I couldn't take that risk with Ruby. Better for her to be safe than to know the truth and get hurt. So this facade of ours has been going on for pretty much their whole life."

"Is that why you drink so much?" asked Jaune, crinkling his nose. He could smell the alcohol on Qrow's clothes and skin.

"Na. I just love my drinks," grinned Qrow, "Although I drink a little more now, I suppose. Summer has been trying to make me cut down for years."

"Well, that's enlightening," sighed Jaune as he stood up to stretch, "Guess that's why Andusk had his suspicions. He is the one for Ruby, as well as the originator of the silver eyes, as he blessed them."

Qrow looked surprised for a second before looking at his Scroll, shocked to see how fast time had gone by. There was also mail from Taiyang, stating he already knew and not to do anything stupid.

"Huh. Maybe I should've talked to Taiyang first before trying to kick your ass first," mused Qrow, "Oh well. It was fun chasing you."

"You suck," deadpanned Jaune.

"Hmph. Well, gotta get going. You're cramping my style. Take care of my daughter and niece. And remember. NOT. A. WORD." growled Qrow. Jaune nodded before Qrow left.

As Qrow was heading towards Oz's office, he said his goodbyes to Ruby and Yang, before passing on some very important advice. Ones that would be engraved into their minds.

"Remember that you've still got a long way to go. And don't think for a second that graduating means you're done. Every day out there is worth a week in this place. You two, you're gonna go far. But only if you keep learning; if you _never_ stop moving forward."

He left it at that, walking away. His daughter and niece never left their gaze from his back.

* * *

"Well, this is quite a surprise. I didn't imagine to see both my daughters at once," said Jacques as he received a call from Weiss. He was prepared to merely chat with Weiss, but was happy to see Winter sitting right next to her. He had planned to call Whitley over to him to have a family talk, but the boy refused, stating he had some important studies to go through.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Schnee, Miss Schnee," said Klein, their family butler.

"It's good to talk to you too, Klein," said the sisters.

"I saw the matches today," said Jacques, "And I must admit, it was a surprise to see Jaune Ryu-Long win against Aurelian Arc. It does make me feel good that Vlad Arc's bragging finally gets taken down."

"You mean for the fact you were celebrating with wine and canceling your meetings today while yelling as loud as you could, saying 'EAT IT, VLAD!' as your politest words while sprouting other words I dare not say in front of the ladies?" asked Klein.

"KLEIN!" shouted Jacques, embarrassed that her daughters now knew he had set free of his usual strict and rigid attitude when he saw Aurelian beaten. Winter and Weiss were starting to snicker at that, not really believing or being able to see their father do such a thing.

"I have proof," continued Klein, not even caring that Jacques was threatening him before pulling up a video of Jacques hooting and hollering, dancing around his study and sending it to them.

Jacque's usually pale face turned red for once, while Winter and Weiss couldn't hold it in and howled in laughter while Jacques was shaking Klein, trying to make him stop.

What Winter and Weiss didn't know that Vlad met with Jacques on some business deals, and would always slyly suggest an arranged marriage between the two families, or just rubbing it in his face that his daughter didn't fight, that she 'ran' away. Of course, they were subtle, but Jacques took it with a practiced smile. He was strict, and sure his practices were shady, but he loved his daughters. And there was no way he was going to have them engaged to Vlad's sons. He hated the man.

"By the way, I couldn't help but notice that Jaune's partner, Pyrrha Nikos, seems... rather close to him,"

Winter and Weiss exchanged glances before lying to him, saying that there was nothing between them and that Weiss was indeed dating Jaune, with Winter verifying her words. It was half-truths, but they really didn't want their father to know about his 'legal' harem. They had an idea what he would do, and it wasn't pretty.

While the family talks continued, in his own private study room, was Whitley Schnee. He was watching the fight again, with Jaune Ryu-Long in it. His fist tightened in anger as he slammed it down onto the table. That damn jerk! From what father told him, he was now dating Weiss. He couldn't handle having that ostentatious, pretentious riffraff actually having a chance on being his brother-in-law! He was lucky when that special group contacted him, asking if he wanted to get out of the shadow of his 'perfect' sisters and become the man leading the Schnee family. He jumped on that chance. He couldn't use glyphs like her sister, he couldn't fight! He considered it barbaric, that he should be directing others to do those jobs. And so, he poured all his ingenuity in creating that special program, using his connections to understand the CCT better so his program could work even better than before.

Whitley leaned back in his chair and grinned wickedly. If all went as planned, then he wouldn't have to worry about Jaune. He would most likely be among the causality, along with so many others. If his sisters died, then even better! Although he wouldn't say no to a couple of hot Huntresses he saw. Perhaps he could make a deal, have them capture some of them, and give them to him as his rewards.

"Soon, you'll all be nothing."

* * *

"That's him?" asked Adam Taurus, watching a video of Jaune Ryu-Long's fight.

"Yep. At first, we thought Blake was dating a monkey Faunus named Sun. However, our sources tell us that they have seen her with him, going into a private section of the library together," stated Ed, Adam's lieutenant with a chainsaw. He had managed to escape capture, but he really was sore from the beat down the Schnee and the 'Goddess of Victory' had served to him on a silver platter.

"They could be just studying together," mused Adam.

"Going into the private section with that book she usually carries? It might be possible, but our spies say that they leave the room sometimes, hands clasped together, or even slightly messy clothes," replied Ed. "A side note, though. Her partner is Yang Xiao Long."

At this, a photo of Yang appeared in front of them. Adam took his time to study both photos.

"Jaune Ryu-Long. The man who stole my Blake," growled Adam, "And Yang Xiao Long. Blake's current partner. Don't worry, my love. I'll take away everything you love before you come crawling back to me. I am irreplaceable."

He turned around and slashed a tree, cutting it in half.

* * *

The next day came, and the last set of matches for the Doubles round would end. Two fights went by, with Atlas and Shade winning a match each. The third match was Russel and Sky from CRDL fighting Penny and Ciel from CPPR.

"Why aren't you fighting?" Jaune asked Cardin, who was sitting diagonally from him. "No offense, but I would've thought it be you and Dove."

"That was the plan," said Dove.

"Yea, but I was a bit worried that Boyd might somehow steal my Semblance during the match," sighed Cardin, "I tested it out yesterday, and saw that it was working. However, I didn't want to risk him bumping into me today and taking it just to humiliate me in the match, so I opted for Russel to replace me. Russel works better with Sky than Dove, so we had to change that, too. A good thing, because I literally bumped into Boyd, and he didn't look happy."

JNPR and RWBY, who were sitting next to CRDL, nodded at his conclusion. The others had decided to seat with their school mates, while CFVY was sitting with their friends in the second year. They watched Penny basically solo and destroy them, with Ciel just looking at a watch. The match ended with Russel and Sky trying to take cover behind some boulders, only to have them be lifted into the air when Penny stuck her swords inside them. Being helpless in the air, Penny brought the rocks down hard to the floor, dragging her victims and driving their bodies into the ground.

"And victory goes to Penny and Ciel of Atlas!" announced Oobleck as the buzzers rang, signifying the elimination of Russel and Sky.

"Ow," said Yang with a bit of pity, "They never stood a chance."

"Yea, I'm not sure I would've done any better with Dove," admitted Cardin, "Those floating swords seems like hacks."

Penny had bowed down in respect to her opponents before leaving. Ruby, who was excited to see Penny again, left her seats to chase after her.

"Ruby? Our match is next!" shouted Weiss.

"She'll be back," replied Blake, "She probably just wants to go say hi to Penny. Seems like they're friends."

Ruby managed to find Penny and Ciel, just about to leave the stadium and towards the docking area and shouted out, "Penny!"

Penny turned around and replied back with glee before tackling Ruby into a hug, forcing them both to the ground and taking away Ruby's air.

"Why...," groaned Ruby in pain. Penny quickly got up before introducing Ruby to Ciel Soleil. Before Ruby could say anything, Ciel went through some data that she had already gathered about her slightly insulting her.

Ruby could only stay silent for a second before turning back to Penny and complimenting her. Ciel, however, interrupted them once again, stating that they needed to get going. Ruby could easily see that Ciel was really strict about managing time. Penny was able to convince Ciel to allow them to have a private conversation for at least a minute. With that time, Penny confessed to Ruby that she wanted to stay at Beacon. Ruby was worried, stating that it was obvious Ironwood wouldn't allow her, but Penny waved it off, saying she had a plan. With a minute up, Penny left with Ciel, but not before waving goodbye. As Ruby stood there for a bit, Port's voice rang through the stadium.

"Our next match will begin in 15 minutes!"

Ruby suddenly looked really excited as she clasped her hands together, "Oh my gosh, that's right! It's time for-"

* * *

Yang was standing with Weiss at the center of the arena, stretching her arms and warming up, "Well, now it's our turn!"

Weiss huffed a bit before replying, "Just don't go too wild. Remember to keep proper form. You didn't learn all those CQC techniques from Ren and Jaune just to throw them out the window.

Yang chuckled as she acknowledged the statement before changing her tone, "You're from Atlas. What could we expect?"

"Well, seeing as their Kingdom, Academy and armed forces are all merged as one, I think we can expect strict, militant fighters with advanced technology and carefully rehearsed strategies," listed off Weiss, "But… after seeing team DSCO…"

Suddenly, a rainbow zoomed past them before coming to a stop at the opposite of them to reveal a orange haired Faunus girl with pigtails as her hairstyle, roller blades, and a cat tail swaying about. She looked like she wouldn't be out of place at a rave, with her style of clothes. Her partner was a young black man wearing a fedora and sunglasses, while carrying what seemed to be a trumpet for a weapon.

"Yea…, thought as much," finished Weiss, staring in shock at these two fighters who didn't seem to fit the Atlas bill. Yang was also staring in shock. They both snuck a glance at the screen to see their names as Neon Kat and Flynt Coal. Then again, team DSCO didn't seem to fit the bill either, while the other teams from Atlas did. And according to team DSCO, their team and team FNKI were supposed to be among the top teams of the second years.

"Hey!" yelled Flynt, "You Weiss Schnee, right? The heiress." He was looking directly at Weiss with a smile. Weiss bowed her head in recognition, smiling. Flynt continued his innocent line of questioning, asking about if she was good with Dust, to which Weiss humbly acknowledged.

"Yeah, my dad was good too. Owned a little Dust shop of his own," said Flynt, nodding his head, his shades tilted down a little so they could see his eyes. "Till your father's company ran him out of business." At this, his tone changed, his eyes full of hate, and a scowl forming on his face.

"Oh no," said Winter, looking from the audience.

Ironwood didn't give her permission to stay as a vacation, but rather, ordered her to stay at Beacon as part of an independent security force. He said that having an Atlesian Special Operative patrolling the area would make the citizens feel more secure. So, overall, Winter was getting paid to spend time with her little sister, something she definitely wasn't complaining about.

"What's wrong?" asked Saffron.

"Flynt Coal. I've met the kid before," explained Winter, "His father was a Dust shop owner, but it ran out of business due to my father's... rather shady deals. He holds a grudge against the Schnee name, just like so many others. Grandfather Nicholas was well admired, but Jacques Schnee is rather hated. And people forget that Jacques isn't actually a Schnee, but rather married into the name. I remember back in the first semester of this year, when Ironwood had me head to Mantle to look for any potential recruits. Flynt kept giving me dirty looks until I confronted him about it. He scoffed and said I was a Schnee, and that was enough. Didn't stop me from kicking his butt, though."

"So you're basically inheriting your father's hate," said Xanthe sympathetically.

"I wouldn't worry," smiled Saffron, "Looks like Weiss has it under control."

"Are you seriously that childish and trying to pin that blame and hatred on me?" scoffed Weiss, rolling her eyes. Flynt actually looked surprised at her response.

"I am me. My father is his own man. I don't approve of his methods either, and do hope to change that," said Weiss softly, "Too many forget that my father isn't actually a Schnee, that he married into the name."

Flynt now had no response to counter that before looking away, embarrassed, before muttering, "I knew that."

"She got you good," laughed Neon.

"Looks like you _Weissed_ over," said Yang, making them all groan at the terrible pun.

"Hey! Where'd you get your hair extensions?" Asked Neon suddenly.

Neon kept rapidly changing subjects while insulting her. Yang got annoyed and decided to just ignore her completely. When Neon noticed, she frowned.

"Am I boring you?" asked Neon.

"Yup. _Neon_ of this sounds even remotely important, so I filtered it out," grinned Yang.

"Ohh, you're going down, you top-heavy punk," growled Neon.

The roulette stage had just chosen the lava, desert, geyser, and urban stage for their fight. Both of them prepared for the fight as Port started to count down.

Right as it started, Flynt raised his trumpet to his lips and blew, issuing forth a sound wave that forced Weiss and Yang back. Surprised by this attack, Weiss quickly summoned a glyph underneath her to stop from sliding back. Both of them didn't notice Neon riding the sound wave and smacking Yang away from Weiss and into the urban area, drawing the first attack. It was clear that Neon would be fighting Yang while Flynt wanted Weiss.

Flynt quickly blew on his horn to attack Weiss again, who quickly moved forward before summoning another glyph below her to stop her body from being pushed back. She slowly moved forward, straining herself a bit to get closer when Flynt suddenly stopped. Not ready for the sudden change, she shot forward towards Flynt.

'Gotcha,' grinned Flynt as he shifted a little to the left and tried to a round heel kick to her back.

Weiss, with all the extra training she had done with her team, was able to turn and block the hit, but she still shot off towards the lava stage from the kick, crashing right through a red Dust crystal formation.

'Hmm, didn't think she could actually block that,' thought Flynt, but still grinned when he saw Weiss laying on the floor while fire pillars were spewing around her. Weiss quickly got up, ready to attack.

Back in the ruined urban area, Neon was skating and grinding on railings, dodging all of Yang's ranged attack while muttering a mantra to herself, "Never miss a beat!"

Neon was leaving a colorful rainbow behind her still, much to Yang's confusion and irritation. She made a face at the very irritated Yang, who was getting more angered for being unable to land a hit. She suddenly skated towards Yang and whacked her with her nunchaku. Yang was unprepared for the attack and reeled back for a bit. Before she could do anything, Neon was skating by and hitting her every time, leaving Yang open.

'Dangit! It's like playing tag with Ruby!' shouted Yang in frustration as she couldn't do anything but take the hit. Neon stopped when she took some distance before smirking and cracking her weapon a little, causing them to suddenly glow blue. Yang quickly unloaded the spent shells from her gauntlets, hoping to lighten up her load a little. Neon skated forward again and ducked under Yang's punch before slamming her weapon at Yang's right leg.

Yang felt her right leg suddenly become weighted and cold, and looked down to see Neon had encased her right leg in ice.

"Hm-hmm! Look!" Neon giggled before smacking her butt for a bit of emphasis, "Now you're _bottom-heavy_ , too!"

Yang was getting even madder when she remembered her father warning her about her fighting style, and when she was reminded again by Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha. She could get angry, but she needed to control that anger, and release it at opportune moments, not throw a tantrum everywhere. That, and she needed to show Neon who the pun master was! She quickly slammed her foot down to the ground to free her leg from the ice. Just as she did that, though, Neon came charging in and swung her weapon towards her head. Yang quickly reacted, blocking the hit with her left arm before having it frozen. Neon was rollerblading on the rails and going through an archway, gaining some distance before speeding towards Yang again. She jumped to land a drop kick on Yang's stomach, using her momentum to blast Yang away and do some serious damage.

However, she didn't expect someone who was always moving forward and trying to force her way in to suddenly leap back and bend her body, lowering the impact onto Yang's stomach. It had taken Yang some time to learn this lesson, but sometimes in order to go forward, one has to take a step back. When Neon jumped, Yang was already in motion, jumping back a little. Upon impact, she didn't resist, but flowed with it, her body bending forward like a U shape. Her heels were slammed into the ground, keeping her flying away while keeping balance, and her arms quickly trapped Neon's legs Neon found her momentum lost and couldn't launch Yang away.

'My turn!' thought Yang as she did a pelvic thrust, launching Neon in the air for a bit. She quickly slammed her left fist into the ground to get rid of the ice before jumping up. She landed two quick jabs on the flying Neon before spinning and doing an axe kick right into Neon's gut, sending her down into the ground with a bang. Neon threw out some spit from her mouth at the attack, but quickly recovered to dodge the incoming Yang groundshaker.

"Geez, shaking up the party," muttered Neon before rollerblading around Yang, hoping to get an open hit while recovering from that attack.

* * *

Meanwhile, Weiss and Flynt were facing each other in the lava section. She quickly shot out 4 large ice chunks at Flynt, who looked down before spinning the air and landing onto his knees before blowing his horn again. A column of fire erupted right in front of him, and using the fire, he forced the pillar of fire to bend towards the ice chunks, melting them away.

As he got back up, he taunted, "Too bad all that money can't buy you skill," while twirling his trumpet.

Weiss looked at him with indigence and rage before revolving her hilt to use the wind Dust crystal. She aimed a stream of wind at Flynt when he blew on his horn again, creating a standstill. Flynt was frowning when he saw that they were at a deadlock, and he couldn't do anything. Weiss, however, was already conjuring multiple speed glyphs all around Flynt before suddenly disappearing from Flynt's sight. His eyes widened, and before he could do anything, he felt an ice block hit him on the back. He tried to turn around only for another one to hit his side. Weiss was using her glyphs to run circles around Flynt while landing hits with ice.

Getting frustrated, Flynt stomped his foot down to regain balance and started to play once more. Then, he multiplied into four of himself, each wearing different colors than the original with each sound waves color coordinated. They all combined in one direction, creating a bigger wave of noise. Weiss was still dashing around when she unfortunately got caught by it and was sent flying away, dropping her weapon in the process.

"Whoa. Didn't expect someone to clone themselves. His semblance is almost like mine," commented Sun.

"His seems... more solid actually," observed Neptune.

"Also less draining than yours," added Sage, "Usually, you can't sustain your clones for long, although the advantage is that they don't transfer damage back to you. Flynt might have that weakness."

'That was true,' smirked Sun mentally, 'But now... thanks to the mark, it's evolved to something quite special.'

" _What's this?"_ announced Port, looking at Oobleck in shock at this sudden turn of event.

" _It appears young Flynt has just activated his_ Semblance _!"_ said Oobleck, _"And quite a remarkable one at that. Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on Flynt Coal's Killer Quartet!"_

All the clones mimicked the original, flipping their hat around to the audience before looking at the scoreboard and slightly frowned. He had taken more damage than he thought, but at least Weiss was at 40% while he was at 55%. His shock was when he saw Neon at 50% while Yang was at 70%.

'Neon was suppose to be able to handle Yang, according to our data,' frowned Flynt, 'Either she's slacking off, or Yang's data doesn't match up anymore. Knowing Neon, it's the latter, even if she does seem lax.'

Meanwhile, Neon was still skating away from Yang, getting her rhythm back to pace. However, Yang was being more cautious now, and dodging Neon's attack to prevent herself from getting frozen. They managed to end up back at the center of the arena. Neon was very careful not to be forced into the desert area or geyser area, for it would be a horrible place to skate.

Weiss was slowly getting back up, and saw her sword a few feet in front of her, She reached out for it just to have Flynt step on the blade. He looked down at her and grinned until both of their attentions were drawn to Yang, who was yelling in frustration to stop running away.

Neon, however, was just skating around in a circle around Yang, teasing her, "I wasn't trying to say that you _should_ go on a diet, I was saying you really _**need**_ to go on a diet!"

Her plan was to frustrate Yang to make a mistake and charge forward for her to capitalize on it. And it seemed to be working. Not only that, she noticed Flynt had Weiss down and weaponless, so he could provide help.

"That's IT!" roared Yang in anger. 'I keep this body strong and sexy for myself... and Jaune!' she mentally added.

"You're fat," said Neon bluntly, hoping it would push her over the edge.

'Nice going,' chuckled Flynt before deciding to focus his attention at Yang, activating his Semblance once more. He made sure his foot was still on the Weiss's weapon just in case. He would send Yang flying back into the urban area, and maybe off the stage. If not, then Neon would still hold the advantage in there.

'You're ignoring me?' snarled Weiss inside her head. 'Who do you think you're looking down at!? I am Weiss Schnee! Heiress of the SDC! Huntress -in-training to carry the Schnee family name! And, most importantly, ONE OF JAUNE'S POTENTIAL MATE! I CANNOT, NO, WILL NOT BE LOOKED DOWN LIKE THIS!'

She opened the palm of her hand, summoning a glyph on the palm of her hand like her sister Winter did. She focused on it, and it suddenly expanded. An arm with a sword spawned forth above her head.

"Don't you dare look down at me!" roared Weiss as she slashed her hand horizontally. The sword mimicked her movements cutting from right to left.

"Flynt! Look out!" called out Neon, who noticed the sword. But it was too late.

The sword cut through the pink clone first, and kept going, slicing all the other clones before slamming into Flynt, sending him flying into the urban area. The buzzer rang as Flynt's Aura passed the threshold.

" _Oooh, and Flynt goes down! He shouldn't have let his guard down like that,"_ commented Port.

" _Indeed! Just because a fighter is weaponless, doesn't stop them from being a threat,"_ added Oobleck, _" And it looks like he'll be paying for that."_

Neon gulped, knowing it was now 2v1. Yang, however, grinned.

"Going somewhere?" Asked Yang as she slammed her fists together, activating her Semblance. Her hair became fiery, and her pupils red. She didn't get hit much, but the additional boost would be satisfying when she punched Neon. Neon immediately started to skate away when Yang suddenly accelerated towards her. She yelped in surprised and turned, going into the geyser area. Weiss had made a glyph underneath Yang to propel her forward.

Weiss quickly glided towards the geysers as Yang also gave chase. Neon was not having a good time, as the bumpy path made it difficult for her to skate fast. Yang saw this and grinned, firing shots near Neon, making it even more difficult to skate. It was over for Neon when her skates hit an uneven rock, causing her to fall and roll. Weiss took advantage of this and summoned a glyph, predicting where Neon would roll towards. Neon hit the glyph and was sent flying into the air by repulsion, straight into a waiting Yang. In Neon's view, she swore she was looking at a hungry dragon, waiting to bite down on her.

"This is for calling me FAT!" shouted Yang and punching Neon in the stomach, sending her flying out of the stage while also lowering her Aura pass the threshold.

" _Weiss and Yang of Beacon win this doubles round!"_ shouted Oobleck as the buzzer rang.

Yang walked up to Weiss, giving her a high-five. Flynt was slowly standing back up after being hit by Weiss' attack, shaking his head to get rid of the sand as well as clearing his head.

"Not bad, Schnee," said Flynt to Weiss, "Guess I got cocky there."

"A good fight to you as well," curtsied Weiss.

As Flynt was walking off the stage to help Neon up, who's body was imprinted onto the stage, he stopped before calling out to Weiss again.

"Listen... Sorry about what I said earlier," apologized Flynt, "I guess... I'm a bit sour about my old man's business. Blaming it on you when you've had nothing to do with it."

Weiss just waved it off, saying not to worry about it. Flynt grinned before walking away.

Weiss and Yang were greeted by the rest of their team and friends, congratulating them on a victory well deserved. The decided to head back to the festival grounds to eat as celebration, or in CRDL's case, a pity party.

They passed by the registration booth, and made their decision on who would proceed to the singles round. For RWBY, it would be Yang, while for JNPR, it was Jaune. As they left, they didn't notice one of the employee inside smirk as her eyes changed colors to pink and brown. She told the other employee she would take care of it, and while typing up who was going into the singles round, changed Jaune's name to Pyrrha's. After all, they needed her in the finals to make this work, according to Cinder from earlier.

* * *

 _Few minutes earlier_

Cinder had been scrolling through some documents that she had managed to gain access to when her eyes widened in surprise, before it was followed by a smile. Emerald noticed and asked what was up.

Cinder was scrolling through a blueprint with the title "P.E.N.N.Y." before grinning, "Oh nothing. We're just going to be making a slight, hmm... _alternation_ in the plan."

Mercury stopped doing his push ups as he shared a look of concern with Emerald, "What does that mean?"

"It means that this will be even easier than we thought," smiled Cinder as she continued to look through the file, with it showing an outline of a very familiar girl who wore a pink bow and orange hair.

* * *

Back at Ozpin's office, he was facing the window, looking out at the sight of Beacon and the Atlas ships flying around when the elevator doors opened. Qrow Branwen stepped inside, approaching Ozpin's desk while carrying a coffee mug in hand. However, inside the coffee mug, was coffee that had been mixed with whiskey.

"You know, he's making you look like a fool," commented Qrow. It wasn't hard to figure out who he was talking about.

"His heart is in the right place. He's just... misguided," replied Ozpin distractedly.

"Sometimes, I'm not even sure he _has_ a heart," scoffed Qrow before draining his cup, "So, have you chosen your guardian yet?"

Ozpin swirled his chair to face Qrow before replying, "Maidens choose themselves. I simply believe I've found the right candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had the feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, caring... but most importantly, **she's ready.** "

As he was listing the traits, Pyrrha was walking towards the elevator. She had been messaged by Ozpin to come to his office for something important. She shrugged and left after giving Jaune a quick kiss to his lips while the others weren't looking. She turned around and waited as the elevator took up her up to where Ozpin was, unsure what it was wanted. Whatever it was, she would tackle the challenge head on.

* * *

 **Next up! Discussion of the Fall Maiden! Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Read and Review. Soon, we'll be hitting the epic moments! Also, I'm having trouble coming up with chapter names... DAMMIT! I can write the story, but coming up with names hurts...**

 **Yep! I put Qrow as the daddy! I know that it's been... confirmed? Whatever, Ruby is supposed to be Taiyang's daughter, but I felt like putting a spin on that. Hope my 'explanation' I put was believable. To be honest, Ruby has more small factors that point her to him. The cross Qrow wears on his necklace can be seen on her hood. The weapons. Etc. This will play into the story later in the future.**

 **Now to answer some reviews that I can't pm!**

 **Review section:**

 **MachinaWarrior: Can't really do that. I don't really have a set schedule of when I release, though I think I've been doing a pretty decent job of releasing chapters ranging around 7-8k words from the story alone once a week. Once I'm done, I also let my Betareaders go through it, and they have other things to do to. Still gotta thank them for going through and giving me ideas every now and then.**

 **ME: Sorry, not familiar with the Star Wars universe. I'd have to go into deep research to write it out, and I don't want to do it with that. Any story I write, I try to research up on the universe so I don't make too many mistakes.**

 **Guest: No, Boyd was forced into the toilet by a few friends of Jaune.**

 **All other reviewers! Thanks for your support! I read them, and they help me with my muse!**

 **On a side note, I just released a oneshot on the Teen Titans! No, not the cartoony Teen Titans Go, where their fanbase is for the humor. The original one with good animations! It's based off the 2nd to last episode of Teen Titans, Titans Together, and it's an AU. I had some things to pick with that episode.**

 **Next one shot... will probably be a crossover about a certain key and some sort of league. That should be anough of a hint.**


	29. Chapter 29 Opening Moves

**New chapter yaa! Hope you guys all enjoy it, including any modifications I've made. Also, My beta reader wanted to leave a note, so I'm letting him. Read and review!**

* * *

"Good afternoon, Miss Nikos," greeted Ozpin when he saw Pyrrha show up. He quickly had her sit down in front of him. They made some pleasant talk, asking her if she was having any problems or if she was enjoying herself until Ozpin decided it was time to shift the conversation.

"Well, it comes as no surprise that they've chosen you to move on to the final round of the tournament. Your performance was exemplary, even if you did get trapped.."

"Thank you, Professor Ozpin, but I would have never-" said Pyrrha humbly until she stopped. She looked back up at Ozpin in surprise, "I'm sorry, did you say I was going into the final round?"

Qrow, who had been hiding and leaning against a column in the back of the room, looked at Ozpin and Pyrrha in surprise. Ozpin also had the same reaction but kept it hidden.

"Yes. Are you not the one they chose? I was looking through the roster and saw your name representing JNPR," said Ozpin slowly, "I would assume that you were chosen for tactical reasons."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at that, "Impossible! We chose Jaune for that!"

"You chose dra-, I mean blondie to represent, not the famous 'Goddess of Victory'?" asked Qrow, revealing himself to the conversation. He almost slipped on the nick name, but Ozpin didn't seem to notice. He was busy scanning his Scroll for any errors, and couldn't find any.

"I don't see a discrepancy," muttered Ozpin, "There was no sign of changing or deleting names after registering who was to represent JNPR. I fear they have gotten in further than I suspected."

He turned to Pyrrha, who was still looking worried, "I'm sorry, Miss Nikos. The draft was finalized, and so you will be fighting to represent your team. Be sure to let your teammates know as soon as possible after this meeting, while we'll try to get to the bottom of this."

Pyrrha frowned but decided to follow along anyways. Ozpin decided to approach about the subject of fairy tales. Pyrrha was confused, but played along, stating quite a few tales. She was tempted to drop the tale about dragons, but decided against it. Finally, Ozpin gently guided her towards the story of the _Story of the Seasons._

Pyrrha smiled before giving a brief summary of this story, and how four maidens helped an old hermit. In return, he blessed them with incredible powers and had them promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant. Thus, the four maidens were born. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.

When she finished, Ozpin made a slight joke, causing Pyrrha to laugh. Ozpin's playful grin suddenly turned deadly serious when he asked, "Well, would you believe me if I told you it was true?"

Pyrrha was silent for a moment before giving an uneasy chuckle, "I beg your pardon?"

"What if I told you that there were four maidens existing in this world, that could wield such tremendous power, _without_ Dust?" continued Ozpin.

"You mean... like a Semblance?" clarified Pyrrha.

Ozpin shook his head before giving her a small smile, "Like _magic."_

Pyrrha looked down for a bit, trying to digest this information. At first, she didn't think it was true. But after encountering the ancient rulers of Remnant, it was pretty easy to believe some of the myths that came out.

"Why... why are you telling me this?" asked Pyrrha after giving it some thought.

Ozpin took a glance at Qrow, who shrugged. This puzzled Ozpin a bit. He was sure Qrow would approve. Qrow, however, was hesitant because he knew Pyrrha was in line to be Jaune's mate. And frankly, the power of a maiden was nothing compared to the power of a dragon.

Ozpin decided to continue, "We are telling you this, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers."

Pyrrha's eyes grew wide at that, and the elevator doors opened to reveal Glynda Goodwitch and General James Ironwood.

They quickly stepped inside, and Glynda was reassuring Pyrrha, telling her that they were still the same people she knew. Qrow and James merely added some comments, saying they were also protectors of the world. Ozpin came in with the final surprise, telling her that they needed her help.

* * *

"Wonder what's taking them so long with Pyrrha?" sighed Jaune as he lied down on his bed. Just as he said it, he received a message from her, telling him she was okay. However, she had some news she would tell them when she got back. Jaune shrugged before joining Yang and Ruby in a racing game. Blake was reading her book while Ren was taking care of Nora's need for pancakes.

* * *

Pyrrha was looking a bit nervous as they all rode an elevator down, past the lobby and into some sort of underground levels. When she asked, Ozpin merely replied they were headed towards the vault, located under the school. Soon, Pyrrha was looking out a large sparsely-lit hallway. As she cautiously proceeded forward, Glynda looked at her with slight pity, trying to comfort her before asking if she had some questions. When she asked for more clarification about being next in line to receive the Maiden's power, Glynda sadly smiled.

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years. But much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost and that no individual can hold on to that power forever," explained Glynda.

"So, how does the power choose?" asked Pyrrha.

Qrow looked over his shoulder before scoffing "Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules."

Glynda growled at Qrow, to which he replied that he was right. She looked back to Pyrrha before expanding on Qrow's views, "At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women. But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more... intimate."

Pyrrha looked a little concerned at this before asking for more clarification. If she was going have to be a lesbian, she would outright refuse.

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power," revealed Glynda patiently.

"Unless it's a dude or some old hag," added Qrow, "Then the power goes to someone random, and our job gets a lot harder."

At this, Pyrrha decided to ask why they were telling her this now. Qrow sighed before saying that they were starting to run out of time and that they needed someone now. They needed the protector of mankind. Pyrrha was worried about another war, but Ironwood clarified it for her, saying it wasn't between nations. Qrow finished it up by saying for the first time in history, one of the Maidens had part of her power stolen from her. As he said this, Pyrrha saw at the end of the hallway was a large machine with lit screens hooked up to two pods. One was empty, but the other one had her concerned. Inside was a young girl with brown hair and skin, wearing minimal clothing. What was most concerning was the burn scars over her left eye and face.

She stepped forward, touching the glass as she looked at the girl, when Ozpin revealed that the girl inside was the current Fall Maiden, Amber. She was barely alive, and only state of the art Atlas technology was keeping her alive. When Pyrrha asked why not let it naturally transfer to the next host, Ironwood sighed before replying that while it would still work, it was common for the last thoughts of the slain to be their attacker, and that since half of Amber's powers was stolen, if she died, it would most likely seek out its remaining half, to the assailant. And none of them were comfortable with that fact.

Pyrrha turned around a bit angry, before asking why this knowledge was kept hidden from the populace. The sails of her rage were taken out when Glynda explained that it used to be common knowledge in the past. Qrow took point and told her where else did these legends and tales start from? They had to begin somewhere.

Pyrrha sighed as she remembered Jaune and Ren telling her about the legend of the Dragon Clan. How a famous and powerful clan fell because of jealousy, rage, and other events. And how it was forgotten. But even then, they had a starting point.

Qrow, Glynda, Ironwood, and Ozpin began to explain that if people knew that these legends were true, it would attract the wrong crowd, and the power would fall into the wrong hands. And with mass panic, it would attract the Grimm. Which was why their little group was created in order to protect the Maidens.

Pyrrha looked at the ground, unsure what to do. She really wanted to be the Fall Maiden, to help humanity. But at what cost?

"How would I become your Fall Maiden?" asked Pyrrha.

"It won't be simple," admitted Ozpin, "you can't inherit it naturally. "However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what's it made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it," stated Ironwood.

"Capture it and cram it into something else," summarized Qrow, "Or in your case ..."

Pyrrha immediately understood and yelled out in her anger, stating it was wrong.

Glynda glared at Ironwood for a bit before sighing, saying that desperate times called for desperate measures.

Ironwood merely continued, saying that they could transfer what possibilities the power of the Maiden could give her, to which Pyrrha knew he meant taking Amber's Aura and putting it in her.

At this, Qrow added that since they were putting Amber's life force into her, they had no idea what it could do. Including changing her whole personality, her likes, her body, and even her looks.

"You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work. And there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time on this matter. But understand that before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer," said Ozpin slowly.

Pyrrha was frightened. She wanted to help, but at the cost that she might never be with Jaune again? The boy who promised to always be there for her? Would combining with Amber make her forget all about Jaune? Were there restrictions if she did become the Fall maiden, such as never to marry? And yet, this was so much than just her love life now. It was the world of Remnant, hanging in the balance. Could she make the ultimate sacrifice, the ones Huntresses and Huntsmen always needed to take?

She looked at the dying girl, unable to make her decision. Ozpin couldn't fault her.

"The assailant that attacked the Fall Maiden has made their first move. And there's no telling when their next move will be," warned Ozpin.

With that Pyrrha was dismissed. Glynda took her out of the tower to lead her back to her team. Ironwood, Ozpin, and Qrow were looking at Amber, also unsure what they were doing was right. They stayed there for a bit.

"You think Leonidas will be mad at this?" asked Ironwood.

"Knowing him, he would probably call all his friends and march right down Beacon," snickered Qrow.

"At this point, we have no choice. I will face her parent's wrath if it means we have an edge over Salem," sighed Ozpin. He had hoped to avoid this all together, but as it was stated earlier, time was running out.

'I dunno,' smirked Qrow as he took a drink from his flask, 'I don't think you can handle a dragon's wrath if what Jaune says is true.'

* * *

"What!?" shouted team JNPR and RWBY. Pyrrha had just told them that somehow, she was being chosen to compete and not Jaune. They tried to fix it, but it was too late. Apparently, from the official story, one of the employees was a Pyrrha fan and thought she deserved to go to the finals instead of Jaune and put her name instead. That and the employee thought JNPR had made a mistake.

"I guess there's nothing to do about it now," sighed Jaune, "We'll just have to support Pyrrha."

"Yea! Gooo Pyrrha!" cheered Nora.

"We'll be behind you 100%," stated Ren.

They all quickly went to sleep. Pyrrha, however, had trouble sleeping with all the information that had just been poured on her. She desperately wanted to sleep with Jaune, to have his body chase away the worries, but it was Dew's turn. She could only hope that these worries would go away.

During the night Weiss had decided to take a walk outside, with the things that have been going on lately, a nice walk was sure to keep her mind off the recent events, especially since some of the spectators she heard after Jaune's fight with Aurelian still thought the rumors were true. As she continued walking she heard someone calling out her name. She turned around to see Dandy of team DSCO calling her over. Curious, she walked over to see what he wanted. A few minutes later, Weiss walked away with a small smile on her face.

* * *

The next morning, Weiss left early. She left a note, telling them she was fine, and that she had a surprise for them all later in the tournament. As for the tournament, all competitors competing in the finals were getting ready. The match this time was to be held at night, at 7:00 P.M. This was to allow everyone who had to work the usual 9-5 shift be able to watch the tournament. Although many workplaces allowed their employees to be distracted by putting up the show of the fights from the other rounds while working. The bosses also wanted to see them too. The competitors themselves were psyching themselves up, although Pyrrha seemed distracted. While everybody else was grabbing their seats, Ruby and Blake noticed Weiss hadn't shown up yet but asked them to save a seat. They were a bit worried.

Before that though, DSCO was invited to play three more songs. As the stage was once more set up, everybody noticed an extra mic to the side.

As team DSCO warmed up, Dandy who had a guitar placed around him was setting up his weapon on the stand and plugged it in using one of the speaker cord. Once it was set up a small section of the disco ball opened up to reveal the same type of material a mic had, Dandy tapped said part and it acted just like a mic.

"Ahem..Excuse me! May ah have everyone's attention? Ah have an announcement to make before we start our first song today!" Dandy addressed to towards the crowd, everyone who was currently chit chatting or distracted with other things stopped and gave their attention towards Dandy

"Thank ya kindly, now then ah just wanna say that is been an honor for me and mah team to sing for this tournament! It has been a wonderful experience so far, and we hope to do this again sometime in the future! But that's not official announcement, oh no, what I want to address is that as many of you all know of yesterday's events, certain rumors were spread throughout the last match of the day, involving a dear friend of mine, Jaune Ryu-Long-"

Low murmurs could be heard through the crowd, some good, some bad, though this had gotten the attention of Vlad and his sons considering they started said rumors

Jaune and the others raised their eyebrows at this announcement. What was team DSCO planning?

The murmurs stopped when Dandy continued "As Pyrrha Nikos, stated before, those rumors are FALSE." Dandy's voice heightened at the end, "To those who may be our fans after hearing us perform and yet still think said rumors are true, we can promise you with our careers as a band and huntsmen on the line, that Jaune is NONE of those things the rumors has said, and we can back up Pyrrha's statement! If any of ya'll want to try something, you'll also be dealing with us!" Dandy looked towards the front row and look amongst them til he saw Jaune and gave him a firm nod and small smile before continuing. Jaune returned his smile with a nod of his head.

"Now ah can admit, one good thing came out of these false Rumors, and that was a song me and my team discussed, this song goes out to all the liars, cheats, and low life's who cares nothing but themselves or just plain power hungry! Another thing, this song does have foul language so I must advise any caring parents to cover the ears of your children, now without further ado, Soul-"

Soul who walked up to his mic gave a thumbs up to Dandy as he was ready to sing for the first time.

Dandy who nodded took a deep breath and shouted, "LET'S GET GROOVEY~!"

* * *

 _Wolf in Sheep's Clothing-Set It Off, with Lyrics slightly modified._

* * *

The crowd cheered at this, not knowing this message had been indirectly pointed at Vlad.

Dandy coughed once into the weapon, catching everybody's attention once more, "Now, I know you are all wondering why there's an extra mic here. Allow me to introduce our guest singer, who graciously agreed to come, Weiss Schnee!"

The spotlights pointed towards one of the entrances to reveal Weiss walking in, waving at the crowd. Most of her friends were surprised to see her so willing to sing in front of an audience. Then again, they all knew that she loved to sing, just not too often. The mic was soon set up for her, and with 3 taps from Corals drumstick, the song began.

* * *

 _This Will Be the Day-RWBY season 1 opening_

* * *

The audience cheered, and Winter smiled from her box with Xanthe and Saffron, proud of Weiss and her talent at singing.

"Thank you! Now, I know we're all eager for the tournament, we got one last song that I think our fighters can enjoy and identify with. And Weiss has agreed to sing with us this one last song with us together," announced Dandy before waving to Onyx.

Onyx took a deep breath before playing the beginning intro on the piano. Coral was the one singing this song since there wasn't much drumming for this song.

* * *

 _Sweet Victory- David Glen Eisley_

* * *

As the song continued on, Dandy thought it was a great idea by using a bit of lightning dust to make the disco ball light up a bright yellow, with it lit up, he picked it up and began swaying it side to side in the air slowly, which soon made many audience members follow by using there scrolls or any type of light to follow what Dandy was doing in tempo.

At the end of that song, the crowd was going wild. The hype for the tournament was reaching its limits. Meanwhile, Cinder smirked as this day would be indeed the day Vale would remember. As Weiss quickly reached back to her seat, all her friends were cheering her on.

"You should sing more often," praised Jaune, "I'd love to hear more of your songs."

"Thanks," blushed Weiss, "Maybe…. a private concert for you sometime?"

"It's a date," replied Jaune. Weiss smiled before kissing Jaune on the cheek.

* * *

" _Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!"_ announced Port.

In the center of the battlefield stage, Yang Xiao Long stood there with a confident smirk, along with all the other competitors. Sun, Penny, Mercury, and three other competitors also stood there, excited. Two of the three were from Shade, while the last one was from Atlas. At the end of the line stood Pyrrha, although she looked troubled. Jaune frowned when he saw this. He had noticed it earlier, but Pyrrha kept waving it off, saying it was nothing.

" _Barty, why don't you explain the rules?"_ said Port.

Oobleck nodded, _"Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!"_

" _Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!"_ commented Port.

" _Ah, yes, yes! Now, let's see who our first match will be!"_ said Oobleck as he pointed to the screen. The roulette started to spin for the competitors. From every corner of Remnant, they were all watching with baited breath. Including Salem, Watts, and Hazel.

Cinder smirked as she had already fixed it.

" _Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!"_ announced Port as the roulette stopped, showing who would be fighting. Cinder smiled as she got up and left the seating. This part was done. She was needed for the second part.

Meanwhile, all JNPR, RWB, SSSN, NDGO, CFVY, and NDGO were all cheering for Yang.

" _Would all other combatants please leave the stage!"_ said Port.

The lineup left while Mercury and Yang stayed in the middle of the arena. The middle of the floor rose up, and a ring of spotlights also rose up, fixing the lighting onto the arena. For the finals, there was no environment. Just a plain simple arena so everybody could watch the fighters fight. As Yang and Mercury faced the crowd and screen, Yang smiled, "You better not go easy on me."

Mercury laughed darkly, "You wish."

Both of them faced the crowds one last time before facing each other getting into their fighting positions. During this time, they were free to move about and find a starting location. Some preferred to start far away. Others liked medium distance. For these two fighters, they were advancing on each other, arms raised until their hands were almost touching. As soon as Port counted down, they commenced by throwing an attack. Yang with a punch, while Mercury spun to kick, both meeting each other with a clash. They were both pushed back, but Mercury immediately dashed towards Yang, closing the distance and tried to kick, but Yang leaped over him and fired a shot from her _Ember Celica_ that he spins to avoid before getting closer. He tried to punch, but Yang blocked it. After a few punches thrown, Yang managed to get first hit into his stomach, narrowly avoiding his uppercut. Mercury did a few backflips to recover, to which Yang immediately fired shots after shots, only for him to dodge them all before charging in with an axe kick.

Yang grinned as she decided to put the new move she learned from Jaune to the test. She had her fist upwards, quickly touching the side of Mercury's leg with her bent thumb before twisting her whole arm forward like a corkscrew. Mercury's eyes opened in shock to see his leg slide off her arm and the fist coming towards his face. Upon contact, Yang fired a shot, shooting Mercury away and doing quite a bit of damage to his aura.

* * *

Raven, who was watching the match on a scroll while eating with her bandit members, smiled. She recognized the same move Jaune used against her. It was good to see her blood daughter improve with Jaune by her side. Without him, she had a feeling Yang would just be an all out frontal brawler, with no real concept of defense or techniques.

"Boss?" asked a one-eyed bandit. Raven turned to look at him.

"We've been staying around Vale for a while, now. Why?"

"Just... something that's caught my interest," said Raven, "We'll move after the tournament is over."

* * *

'Ok, didn't expect that. Axe kicks are a no go,' thought Mercury before charging in again with a flurry of kicks.

'Geez, it's like fighting a better version of Melanie,' thought Yang. Mercury had better kicks than Melanie, with the only difference that Melanie used blades instead of guns.

* * *

In Junior's bar, Melanie was indeed watching Mercury with interest in his techniques, trying to see what she could steal. However, she couldn't shake off the feeling about his legs. Just from instinct and sight alone, she felt like those legs... weren't normal. Solely because her fighting style was based off kicks.

"Uncle, is there any information about Mercury Black?" asked Melanie.

Junior rubbed his beard for a bit, thinking about the name Black. It sounded familiar. After quickly going through his computer, he found out why.

"I wonder if Mercury is the son of Marcus Black, the assassin," pondered Junior out loud, "Other than that, I got nothing. Rumor has it Marcus died, but I don't know if he had a kid or not."

Melanie merely turned back to the television set to watch.

* * *

Back in the fight, Mercury was slowly turning it around, landing a few kicks on Yang before hitting her on the knee, causing her to buckle. Mercury quickly spun in the air and kicked where Yang's head was. She quickly got up to dodge it and tried to punch Mercury, who spun to dodge that downward punch before launching a kick. Yang blocked it and scooted back. Mercury followed up with a reverse roundhouse kick, to which Yang ducked. Mercury stopped it midway and forced his kick downwards, making Yang flip backward, and causing the floor to crack from the force of the kick.

They exchanged a few kicks until Mercury managed to hit her backward. Her rushed in, only to get a fist to his chin, to which Yang followed up with a blast infused elbow to his torso. She quickly followed up with projectiles, causing Mercury to backflip to dodge. Yang managed to get a blast in, shooting Mercury off the edge. As Mercury was falling, he quickly adjusted his position before firing a few shots from his boots, flying back into the arena. As he was about to land, he saw Yang grinning and ready with a punch.

'I don't like that grin. Our past data said that Yang was an all-out brawler, according to Signal records. She certainly doesn't show that now,' thought Mercury. Yang threw a punch, to which Mercury spun and kicked it, causing another shockwave. They were both pushed apart, but Mercury almost fell off the edge again.

'Gotta switch tactics,' thought Mercury before shooting a barrage of silver blasts everywhere, aiming a few shots at Yang. Yang charged forward, and Mercury dodged, getting back towards the middle of the arena. They fight in the middle of the arena until Mercury manages to kick her up into the air. He jumped up and quickly did an arcing kick, knocking her back into the ground.

As Yang hit the ground, she noticed all those shots Mercury had done was circling in the air. With a snap of a finger, they all dive bombed towards Yang.

'This is gonna hurt, but if I can make it through, then the payoff is so worth it,' thought Yang before closing her arms together, legs locked together, to minimize the amount hit and maximize her defense just as all the blasts hit her.

With a huge dust cloud behind him, Mercury got up, sweeping off any specks of dust off his outfit and seemingly happy until the smoke behind him erupted into flames. He turned around to see Yang already charging in, eyes blazing red and hair up in flames, throwing a right straight into his face. Mercury stumbled back before trying to kick her. He was surprised when Yang grabbed his foot instead of blocking it or just taking it. Yang quickly spun under his foot, still grabbing it, and tossed him into the air. Before even letting Mercury get a chance, Yang had jumped and smashed him back into the ground. Mercury bounced up once, letting Yang wind up for a Dempsey Roll, weaving and punching as hard as she could. She used the momentum at her last left hook to scoot back before launching a double punch, one to the stomach and one to the head. Mercury's Aura shield sparkled up and shattered from the impact. He flew and landed on his back just as the buzzer sounded, ending the match. Mercury's Aura level was now at 0 while Yang still had just 22% left.

'Gotta thank them for all those lessons, otherwise, this match would've been much closer,' thought Yang as she raised her arms up in victory, her eyes turning back to lilac.

" _What a way to kick off the finals!"_ announced Port.

" _Yang Xiao Long wins!"_ declared Oobleck.

In the stands, all of Yang's friends were cheering for her victory.

As Yang wiped her brow with her arm, she addressed to Mercury, "Better luck next time."

She was starting to walk away from the hunched up Mercury that was 10 feet away when she heard him utter, "There's not going to be a next time, _**Blondie**_!"

Back in the stands, everyone was watching Yang walk past Mercury, only a few inches away. Then, Ren and Jaune both felt something wrong. Like an Aura sweeping over the stage, and targeting Yang only.

In Yang's eyes, Mercury leaped forward with a kick at her. Yang scowled as she turned around her brought her gauntlet forward, landing a punch right at his knee. She heard something break as she landed the hit.

In everybody else's view, Mercury was just getting up when Yang deliberately attacked him, landing a punch to his knee while he had no Aura to protect himself anymore. Everyone gasped in shock as Mercury fell back in pain.

" _My word!"_ shouted Oobleck in surprise.

" _Cut the cameras!"_ yelled Port to one of the cameraman.

Back at Mt. Glenn, Grimm could feel the negativity in the air. Something had happened that caused so much of it. They had gathered two days earlier when they felt the negativity in the air. And they were attracted to it. They all started to head towards Vale.

Yang was looking at Mercury, looking mad that Mercury had tried to do a sneak attack when she noticed Atlesian Knight-200 and two male soldiers surrounding her, their guns raised and ready to fire at her.

"Yang Xiao Long, stand down!" demanded a soldier.

Yang was completely bewildered. Why were they arresting her? She only acted in self-defense.

Meanwhile, Mercury was wailing hysterically, crying in pain as his leg seemed broken while Emerald was there, comforting him. Yang looked at a screen just to see a replay of her attacking a Mercury that was just standing there. Her eyes widened in surprise. She was sure Mercury had attacked her! So why did it show that she was deliberately attacking Mercury, who was doing nothing?

Two medics quickly came to the scene and looked at Mercury to see flesh and blood on his leg.

The paramedic glanced over to his coworker, "We need to get this boy to a hospital. Grab a blanket."

They put Mercury on a stretcher, who was still moaning in pain, before carrying him off, with Emerald right behind them. Yang watch in horror as he was rushed off. Everybody else was booing at Yang. Her friends were in disbelief at what Yang had done. Jaune and Ren, however, had their gazes locked at the leaving group. More specifically, at Emerald.

"You feel that?" whispered Jaune.

"Yea. Emerald is doing something to the paramedics, but I can't tell what. It feels... almost like the same signature that was on Yang too," replied Ren.

"Something's not adding up," muttered Jaune.

" _ **Believe in your instincts,"**_ rumbled Lung Wang, _**"There seems to be more than what it seems."**_

" _ **Especially since there is no scent of blood at all,"**_ added Fafnir, _**"With such an attack, there should be some blood. Yet there is none that you can smell of in the air. And yet the paramedics are taking him as if his injury is serious."**_

As the paramedics were running towards the air docks, another paramedic called out to them, telling them that an ambulance was ready. They loaded Mercury in, and Emerald told them that she was not leaving her partner's side. The transport flew away from the Colosseum, with Mercury lying in the back, still moaning in pain when Emerald smacked him in the arm.

"Ow! What's your deal!?" Asked Mercury as he stopped moaning to rub his arm. He had been faking the whole thing.

Emerald just groaned in pain as she put her hand on her forehead, "Ugh, headache. One mind I can handle, but two is a stretch."

She had been using it on the two paramedics to trick them into thinking Mercury was bleeding. In reality, Mercury was perfectly fine as he sat up, his right leg pants ripped off to reveal he had cybernetic leg prosthetics up all the way to his thighs. He had these limbs ever since he killed his own father, Marcus Black. His father had cut his legs off after an accident, stating it would cost too much to get him to a hospital before replacing it with cybernetic limbs. Mercury never really forgave his father after that, and trained to be able to use them as a weapon. He had to admit, they were stronger than his normal legs. One day, when Marcus was drunk, he killed him. It was right after that, he met with Emerald and Cinder.

"Well, you all performed marvelously, driver included," commented Cinder as she took off her paramedic disguise.

The driver blinked when her magenta eyes turned into their usual brown and pink shades and smiled in silent gratitude. Neo had also infiltrated to be the driver. They would be landing near one of their hideouts to drop them all off before Neo took the transport back to hospital they had 'borrowed' from.

"So, you think it worked?" asked Mercury.

* * *

The tournament was postponed after the incident, but the news network was eating it all up. Tourists from other cities were decrying Beacon's Headmaster and students, saying it was disgraceful.

Meanwhile, the local authorities near Vale were calling in any available Huntsmen to aid in the suppression of Grimm activity, as it had suddenly spiked. It had already been gathering after Jaune's fight, but now, it was skyrocketing.

"I'd say it worked," laughed Mercury as he was sitting in a storage house, fixing up his leg.

They had just taken the blonde bimbo and shattered her reputation. A pity, though. She was hot, and he had to admit, she had skills. If they weren't on different sides, he would've actually tried dating her.

"So, how was the bimbo's skill?" asked Emerald sarcastically, "Surely it wasn't that hard to play her."

Mercury thought about it, debating whether or not to tell her the truth. He decided it would annoy her if he did.

"She's got skill. Probably better than you."

Emerald huffed twisted the screwdriver on his leg, causing him to wince, "Too tight!"

"Enough. Our Mercury put on a wonderful show. He was quite brave," smiled Cinder.

Mercury went back to fixing his parts. Yang had really made a dent into them with that last attack, considering all that power that he had slammed into her came back at him.

"These things aren't exactly cheap, you know," complained Mercury. Emerald rolled her eyes to ignore him before asking what to do next.

"You and I will ensure that our next matchup goes just as smoothly," explained Cinder before turning to Mercury, "You get to lay low until the end. We wouldn't want people to see you on your feet and have this all be for naught, now would we?"

Mercury shrugged and continued repairing his leg. Get a day off to do nothing but relax and maybe order some food? Sounds good to him.

* * *

 **Beta Note: it's me TheMischieviousPuppyDog, Fun fact, the very first song Wolf in sheeps clothing is the song I first sent to Dragon through my first message about wanting to be his beta OuO, ever since then I been helping work on this incredible story and I'm glad I have been too! I hope to continue help make this story even more enjoyable :D and on a side note, for the song Sweet Victory, think of a remixed version of the song, with a female cast in it. Use your imagination! XD anyway, Puppy is signing off to help with the other chapters ahead, and I can assure you all, you are in for a huge season 3 final arc! )**

 **Main Author Note:**

 **As you can tell, my betareader has a general idea what I have planned out. No pming him for spoilers, you'll just have to wait. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. It's going to get... interesting.**

 **Random Review Answers!**

 **Guest: You'll see why I did it within... 3-4 chapters i think.**

 **ME: be easier if I could just pm you lol. Im mostly familiar with kh, rwby, one piece, and somewhat with Naruto, only cuz i had to do research on the universe. There are others, but those are the ones im best with.**


	30. Chapter 30 The Beginning

**Hmm guess my last chapter my muse wasn't working at full steam. Well, hopefully, this will redeem it! The next chapter might be up on Monday, depending on my schedule! Enjoy!**

* * *

It was the next day, and Yang was under house arrest after the scandal that followed her 'unprovoked' attack on Mercury. At first, it was hard to decide which room she was to be locked up in. It was later decided that she would stay in JNPR room, where all the beds were. The rest of RWBY were also inside the room, along with Ironwood. Team JNPR were also inside when they managed to convince Ironwood to let them in, saying the two teams worked together as well as having vital information. However, both Yang and Ironwood noted that Jaune was missing from the meeting. Two Atlesian-Knights 200 were standing guard to prevent unauthorized intruders as well as stop Yang from leaving.

"I'm sorry, but you've left us with no choice," said Ironwood gravely.

"But he attacked me!" Yang insisted angrily.

Ironwood continued to pace around the room, although there was not much room to do so, not looking at her, "Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise."

Ruby, Weiss, and Nora immediately defended Yang, saying that she would never do that. Ruby and Nora stood up in protest. However, there was a small spark of doubt deep inside the three of them. Blake didn't say anything, something her blonde partner noticed. Yang had her hands in her face, feeling ashamed, sad, and confused.

Ironwood sighed as turned around to face them all, "You all seem like good students, and the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did... under normal circumstances."

He motioned for Ruby and Nora to sit back down before continuing, "What I believe and hope this to be is nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline. When you're out on the battlefield, your judgment can become clouded in an instant. Sometimes you see things that simply aren't there. Even after the fight is past..." At this statement, he looked directly at Yang, who instantly tried to defend herself again, but Ironwood wasn't letting her.

"The sad truth is, whether it was an accident or an assault, it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that... you are disqualified."

Yang's shocked face turned into misery as she looked down. She felt worse when she began to worry about Jaune's reasons for not showing up. Somewhere in her heart, she feared that Jaune didn't believe her and didn't want to see her. Ironwood was about to leave when Ren coughed first.

"General Ironwood? A word before you leave."

Ironwood turned around to look at Ren, nodding his head to allow him to say his piece.

"What I believe, is that someone was actively sabotaging Yang to see what she claims to have seen."

Everyone turned to look at Ren in shock. Before he could continue, they all heard someone knocking on the door, as well as sounds of a slight scuffle.

"Halt. No unauthorized entry," said a robotic voice.

"UNAUTHORIZED MY ASS! THAT'S MY DAUGHTER. NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!" roared another voice.

A brief tussle and pieces of machinery being torn apart could be heard from the door. A second later, the door opened to reveal Taiyang. The two robots that stood guard had been ripped to pieces.

"Dad?" Yang and Ruby's face turned to shock. Taiyang saw Yang and immediately walked to her, shoving Ironwood out of the way.

"Shhh, Daddy's here, my sunny little dragon," said Taiyang, hugging Yang. "Daddy believes you didn't assault someone with malintent."

At that, Yang started to cry into her father's chest. A second later, Jaune walked into the room before shutting the door.

Ironwood had to put his hand on his face, giving the blond Huntsman an irritated look. "Taiyang, you just destroyed Atlas property. You could've at least knocked and wait for someone to answer."

"Nobody will stop me from seeing my daughter," said Taiyang fiercely.

Ironwood could only sigh as he mentally adjusted the budget again.

Jaune was looking around his eyes slightly closed before opening them, "I want all Scrolls powered off now for this conversation."

Ironwood was confused but saw everyone was going along with what the boy had said, so he decided to go along with it, shrugging as he followed through.

"Good. Ren, did you already tell them?" asked Jaune.

Ren nodded, "I aired our suspicions."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ironwood, curiously.

Jaune turned to face Ironwood, "In my match against Aurelian Arc and his partner, Boyd was cheating, stealing other Semblances and providing an indirect interference against me. I didn't say anything, considering I won. Both Ren and I are able to sense Aura and sometimes a Semblance. When Yang won, both of us sensed somebody's Aura clashing onto Yang. And we felt it leave just a second before you punched Mercury."

"Then that means...!" gasped Weiss.

"I'm inclined to believe that somebody used their Semblance to create a visual hallucination," finished Jaune. "Not long ago, we fought someone who could create illusions of herself. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that they forced Yang to hallucinate Mercury attacking her."

"That is... possible," admitted Ironwood, "I'm inclined to believe that. During your fight, Ozpin noticed that Boyd Arc was interfering in your match, and was about to put a stop until we saw how well you were handling yourself. We all agreed to continue to watch the match, and to our great pleasure, see you win."

"You knew they were cheating and didn't stop the match?" Blake asked, shooting the general a dark look.

Ironwood glanced at her, "I wanted to stop it, but Qrow convinced me that Jaune would be fine, and he was right."

"So what you're saying is," growled Taiyang, "Is that there some sort of plot that involved crushing my daughter's reputation? Where is Mercury Black! I'll kill him for playing a part in it!"

Ren continued Jaune's theory, "We also suspect Emerald Sustrai might have been involved with it."

"Em?" asked Yang in shock.

"She wouldn't do that... would she?" asked Ruby.

"Unknown. But we did sense her using her Semblance on the two paramedics, though I don't know why," said Ren.

"To make them believe Mercury was bleeding," said Jaune. They all looked at him in surprise. "I didn't see any blood from the injury when they carried him off. Everyone was busy looking at Yang while I focused on Mercury."

'And the fact I didn't smell blood, but no need to let Ironwood know I have a great sense of smell,' He thought to himself.

"Still, this is all just speculation," admitted Ren, "We have no physical proof, which is what we'll need if we're going to tell this to the public."

Ironwood looked over from Ren to Jaune, then finally to a growling Taiyang.

"All right. I'll tell Ozpin and my soldiers to be on the lookout for Mercury and his team. But I'm afraid we cannot lift the punishment, for the time being, the public would be furious. So it's unfortunate, but the decision still stands. Yang is disqualified."

He turned around and left them. He would have to get some other robots to stand guard later. For now, he would let them have this moment. Xanthe and Saffron would've volunteered, but they were busy with Winter clearing out some of the Grimm that had started to gather. All available Huntsmen and Huntresses had been sent out to deal with the growing Grimm crowd.

As soon as Ironwood left, Jaune went to sit next to Yang. Ruby immediately scooted over to give him room. When Yang lifted her head from her father's chest, Jaune gently placed his hand on her head and guiding her to his forehead.

"I believe you," said Jaune gently, their foreheads touching as he looked into her eyes, "I believe that someone tricked you into seeing something else. And that there's something bigger going on."

At that, he gently kissed her on the lips. Taiyang had to stop himself from tearing Jaune and Yang apart. At least they were keeping it gentle in front of a bunch of people.

"Dad, how'd you get here so fast?" asked Ruby, "I didn't even get the chance to tell you what happened."

"Well..." chuckled Taiyang.

* * *

 _Flashback_

Taiyang had been sleeping in his house when he heard somebody knocking on his door.

"Go away," muttered Taiyang, "It's..."

He looked at his Scroll to see it was 6 in the morning. Still, the knocking would not stop. Taiyang lifted himself off the bed, splashing some water on his face before opening the door.

"What!?" Taiyang half-shouted at the visitor. He blinked to see it was Jaune.

"What brings you here?" asked Taiyang.

"Yang's in trouble," said Jaune.

"My daughter's in trouble!? Hang on, I'm coming!" shouted Taiyang as he charged out the door. Jaune sighed as he linked up with Fafnir and stopped him by creating a wall in front of him.

"I'll get us there faster. Just hold on."

Looking around to make sure nobody was looking, he linked up with Andusk and Lung Wang, sprouting two red scale wings and two white scale wings. He had been improving on his links and could create more wings for better flight while color coding it. Jaune grabbed Taiyang by his hands and flew towards Vale. They would land in one of Junior's hideouts before taking a ship to Beacon in order to not seem suspicious.

As they were flying, Taiyang couldn't help but giggle. So this was what Qrow and Raven could see when they transformed. While approaching Vale, Jaune quickly filled in what had happened in Beacon and the Colosseum. Taiyang expressed outrage, saying he taught her daughters better than that. When Jaune said he also believed that, and that he would explain his suspicions later, Taiyang nodded in agreement.

 _Flashback ends_

* * *

"You guys have a good boyfriend," finished Taiyang, "He thought my presence here could help Yang out."

"Why that makes it sound like you approve of him," smiled Yang. She was feeling a lot better now that her father was here, and that Jaune and Ren proved that she was innocent.

"Only a little," grunted Taiyang. He was still hesitant about any boyfriends.

"You guys go out and have fun at the festival," said Yang, "I have Zwei here to keep me company."

"I'll be here too, for now," said Taiyang, "Gotta keep on eye on you. Ironwood would throw a fit if you were here alone."

Everyone nodded and proceeded to walk out the door. Blake paused for a second before giving Yang a quick hug.

"You're my partner. I trust you can grow stronger from this," whispered Blake before leaving.

Pyrrha was the last one to walk out when Yang called out to her.

"Win your match. For the honor of Beacon and for me."

Pyrrha slowly smiled back at her before leaving. Her mind was still troubled and tormented about the decision she had to make.

JNPR and RWB went into the RWBY room, where SSSN, NDGO, and CFVY were waiting.

"How's Yang?" asked Sun.

"She's doing a bit better now that her dad is with her, and we all gave her some comforting words," said Jaune, "But I need to ask Coco about something."

"What's up?" asked Coco.

"Did you see some sort of illusion when you were fighting Emerald?" asked Jaune.

Coco was silent for a bit before responding, "Yeah. I thought I saw Yatsuhashi walking towards me in the forest. Everybody else tells me he never even made it in there. I even saw a replay of myself looking at nothing. They keep saying I was jittery and nervous that it made me see things, that the stress of battle made me hallucinate."

"Which we know is a load of crap, she doesn't get stressed that easily." Fox voiced.

"This helps proves our theory," said Ren.

"Theory?" asked Velvet.

"We suspected Emerald's Semblance is a visual hallucination, and that she can affect a specific person to see what she wants the victim to see. We don't know how many she can affect at once. Maybe two or more," said Jaune.

"I knew I wasn't going crazy," muttered Coco as she narrowed her eyes, "I may have been nervous, but never enough to hallucinate."

"Well, it's good to hear she's innocent," said Dew, "I heard so many people trash talking about her."

"Nothing we can do but be careful," grunted Sage.

SSSN, NDGO, RWB and CFVY left the dorm to explore the fairgrounds for a bit, while JNPR remained in the dorm for a while. Pyrrha looked quite forlorn until Nora surprised her, stating that she had to prepare for a fight that could come at any moment. She did random exercises and ended it while lifting a barbell tipped with 1000 pound weights on each end, struggling to hold it in the air before falling backward in exhaustion.

" _ **Huh. Didn't think she could lift about 2000 pounds,"**_ sweatdropped Othim, _**"I don't think you could do that without linking up with us."**_

'I've learned not to question what Nora can do,' mentally replied Jaune.

"Nora's right," said Ren, wearing a pink apron that had the words 'PLEASE DO NOTHING TO THE COOK' _, "_ You can't let your concern for Yang hold you back. You need to focus. You'll be defending the honor of Beacon Academy."

Pyrrha nodded and was about to reply when Ren cut her off, holding a glass full of green liquid that was bubbling in front of her, "This blend of herbs and vegetables is filled with nutrients vital to your body's well-being."

Pyrrho looked a bit confused when Ren stepped away with a smile, "Please, there's no need to thank me."

Nora looked at the juice with disgust before voicing her opinion, "Ugh, that looks like slime from a lakebed!"

Ren turned away from her, cradling his concoction, "Algae contains numerous spectacular properties. See for yourself."

And with that, he forced some of it down Nora's throat, who turned sickly green and immediately ran to a waste basket, spitting out the juice. The two of them started to argue about the so called "health drink" causing Pyrrha to smile at their antics. Her smile started to fade away as her troubles returned, to which Jaune said they should get some fresh air. He was going to find out what was plaguing Pyrrha right now.

* * *

Yang was sitting on the bed with Zwei on her lap, stroking his head while looking out the window. Taiyang had gone to the cafeteria to get them something to eat when she heard a voice.

"Hey there, firecracker."

She was surprised, but not enough to turn around before greeting him.

Qrow was silent for a bit before asking, "So, why'd you do it?"

Yang slightly growled before responding, "I'm not lying. My team believes me, my friends believes me, dad believes me, and even General Ironwood has doubts that I did it! Not only that, Jaune and Ren have already come up with a plausible theory narrowed down the suspects."

Qrow looked at her in surprise for a second before asking, "Tai's here?"

"Yep," said a voice from the door. Qrow looked over to see Taiyang with a tray full of food.

"Beacon's cafeteria hasn't changed one bit after we graduated," said Taiyang as he walked in a set down the food in front of Yang."

"How'd you get here so fast?" asked Qrow.

"Jaune," replied Taiyang. Qrow nodded in understanding.

"So, what happens now?" sighed Qrow.

"We can only wait," replied Taiyang.

"Dad, Uncle Qrow? I have something I wanna ask since you're both here," said Yang seriously.

They both looked at Yang, nodding their head to show they were paying attention.

Yang took a deep breath, "I met mom. My birth mom, Raven."

Both males froze up for a second before trying to act relaxed.

"So, you think you saw her?" Qrow asked, trying to play it cool.

"No, I mean I met up with her and talked to her," replied Yang.

Taiyang sputtered, trying to think up a reply.

"We had... a nice talk," admitted Yang, "She showed up to help us get to safety during the breach incident, and then I met up with her after that. She wanted to see if she could lure Jaune into her little bandit clan, and promised to take me in too if I convinced him. I said no."

Qrow and Taiyang glanced at each other and snickered. Raven getting rejected by her own daughter was priceless. Outside the window was a raven, who cawed in indignation.

"But... Can you guys tell me... more about Raven?" asked Yang, "Like some stories when you were all part of team STRQ."

Taiyang was about to start when he noticed the raven outside the window and narrowed his eyes.

"Qrow can tell you some. I need to make a call back at Signal since I left without warning," said Taiyang, leaving them alone.

At this, Qrow was ready to tell Yang some funny stories, considering he had permission now.

* * *

Taiyang stepped out of the dorms and towards the back of the library, where he knew was a blind spot for private conversations. A few seconds later, a raven landed in front of him before transforming into Raven Branwen.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here," said Taiyang coolly.

"Hello, honey," smiled Raven. Taiyang noticed that her reply seemed sadder than usual.

"What do you want? My daughter in your clan?" asked Taiyang, "I thought we agreed that you wouldn't touch her. Not after you abandoned us."

Raven winced at that. Somehow, this was affecting her more than she thought. Raven slowly breathed in and out. She had made her decision and didn't look back all these years. So why was this affecting her now?

" _Summer Rose was, is, and will always be my true 'mother'. Sometimes, I wish I was her blood daughter and not_ _stepdaughter_ _."_

Those words reverberated in her head again. Had she truly made a mistake when she left them? To which, she thought of another point. Wasn't Summer dating Qrow? When did they break up? When did Summer marry Taiyang?

"I guess... I'm slightly regretting it a little now," huffed Raven.

"The courageous and fearless Raven, actually regretting her decisions? That's new," scoffed Taiyang sarcastically.

"Enough," said Raven, "I didn't come here to pick a fight. I'm only here because I wanted to observe... Yang."

"What for? When did you start caring now?" asked Taiyang, with a scowl on his face.

"Because of my rule of one," replied Raven, "It's still applicable to Yang. And from what I've been seeing and hearing, Beacon is in danger. And Ironwood's toy soldiers won't stop it. I just want to be able to honor that rule before I leave."

Both of them were silent for a bit.

"How is... Yang?" asked Raven tentatively, "That incident didn't paint her in a good light. Knowing that you and Summer raised her, she would've never done that on purpose."

"We have a theory," replied Taiyang, "We think that someone, possibly that punk or his partner Emerald Sustrai used a Semblance to cause Yang to hallucinate that the boy attacked her, and she responded in what she thought was self-defense. But the question is why?"

"To bring more Grimm near the city," replied Raven instantly, "Haven't you noticed there's been an increase in Grimm activity now? Negativity brings Grimm in. And what better way to have everyone seeing MY daughter be used as a scapegoat to attract negative emotions?"

"Your daughter?" said Taiyang with his eyebrow raised.

"S-s-shut up!" stuttered Raven, cursing herself for the slip.

'Ah, and there's the tsundere side that I fell in love with,' sighed Taiyang mentally.

"I should get going," said Raven, "I need to make sure my clan doesn't get too rowdy with all this stuff happening."

As she pulled out her sword, ready to slice a portal open, she stopped for a second.

"I'm... glad to see you remarried to Summer and had Ruby. Although I'm quite surprised she dumped Qrow to be with you."

Taiyang winced at that statement, to which Raven caught it instantly.

"All right, confess. I know Summer wouldn't have dumped Qrow so easily. Those two were lovestruck, just like we were," said Raven.

"We... may have kept a..." stuttered Taiyang before he realized something.

"Wait, just like we were? That means you did love me?" shouted Taiyang.

Raven's eyes opened wide at her slip of words before cursing and quickly opening a portal to escape.

"I never said that! And you'll tell me the truth someday!" shouted Raven before jumping into the portal to escape.

Taiyang stared off at where Raven had been before slumping back onto the wall, chuckling to himself.

"And I never had the courage to tell her and Yang that I never actually filed the divorce papers. We're technically still married. And that Ruby is Qrow and Summer's daughter."

* * *

Outside the cafeteria, Pyrrha was leaning against a wall, still worried. A brown leaf fell down from a tree, landing right next to her, reminding her it was the Fall season, which lead back to Amber. Suddenly, a voice cut through her thought process.

"You alright?"

Pyrrha looked up to see Jaune holding a piece of chocolate cake for her. She smiled as Jaune set it in front of her and sat next to her. Ren and Nora were walking back to them when they both noticed they wanted private time and turned back around. They decided to stay within close range, in case they needed something. Plus, it was a good time to just cuddle and wait.

After Pyrrha finished her cake, she looked back down to see the leaf still there, tormenting her thoughts.

"Jaune... I don't know what to do," confessed Pyrrha.

"What's wrong?" asked Jaune, concerned.

Pyrrha looked up to the ceiling for a bit, "Do you believe in destiny?"

"Ummm, that depends. How are you viewing it?" replied Jaune.

"When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape. But rather... some sort of final goal, something you work towards your entire life," explained Pyrrha.

"So... basically do I believe I'll reach my goal in my life? I guess," nodded Jaune.

At this, Pyrrha started to struggle to find the right words to explain, "Well... what would you do if something came along that you... never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?"

Jaune tilted his head to think about it, "Well, I mean I met my dragons. I met all of you. That was unexpected. At first, I thought I would never be a Huntsmen, with my so-called father. He believed my destiny was to die."

"That's not what I fully mean," said Pyrrha sadly.

"Then what?" asked Jaune.

"Or what if you could suddenly fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?" asked Pyrrha, as her stress began to show.

Jaune remained silent, trying to see where she was going with this. She stood up away from him a bit, holding herself as if on the verge of tears, "None of it makes sense! This isn't how things were supposed to happen!"

Jaune immediately hugged her from behind, causing her to relax again. He just held her to him, and it soon became quiet. There was nothing else, but the two of them. The dragons, even Othim, remained respectfully silent.

"What do you mean," asked Jaune finally, "What happened? Does it have to do with what Ozpin called you in for? Please, tell me. Help me understand."

"I... don't know," cried Pyrrha, "I've always felt as though I was destined to become a Huntress- to protect the world...and it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But...I don't know if I can do it."

"Pyrrha," said Jaune softly, "Your ultimate destiny is up to you, and the actions you make. If it's your destiny to save the world, then do it. But know this: no matter how far you go, no matter how deep you're in… I will always find you. I will come to help you, to save you. No matter if you do somehow change and get lost, I'll be there to grab your hand and pull you back out to me. Nothing will prevent me from finding my mates, including you. Nothing will stop me, not mountains or oceans… nothing. Even if I have to fight through all the Grimm in Remnant, I will always be there for you. And if destiny is somehow chiseled in stone that we are not meant to be, I'll break that stone into dust. Because I love you so much, my goddess."

At this, Pyrrha turned around to cry into his chest. He kept holding her tightly while she sobbed into his chest.

She soon stopped and looked him in the eyes, and he looked into her green teary ones. "It's not that simple," she said, "I'm terrified. I'm scared if I do accept the offer, I'll never be who I really am again. That somehow, I'll fall out of love with you, or be forbidden to love you. And yet, I can't be selfish and say no. Not when humanity's fate could be in the air."

Jaune gently sat back down with Pyrrha again, touching her forehead with his. With a stomp, he had 4 walls surrounding him again to prevent anyone from spying on him before dragging her into his mindscape.

Pyrrha opened her eyes to see Jaune, along with all seven dragons. This was the first time she saw all seven of them at once, and she was also probably the first one to see them all amongst Jaune's mates.

" _ **Speak, child,"**_ cooed Aryz, _**"What plagues your mind? What has caused you such distress?"**_

" _ **You need not to worry about revealing secrets here,"**_ said Alaerth, _ **"Here, nobody can hear you except us. And we are the oldest beings in Remnant. Perhaps we can offer you advice."**_

"I.. can't," said Pyrrha,"I promised them not to speak of it."

" _ **It is very clear that you are distressed about this,"**_ growled Fafnir, _**"Tell us. Who has caused you to become like this? We will make sure they don't bother you again!"**_

"It's... about a very old legend. A legend involving four girls and an old man," began Pyrrha. As long as she didn't go into details, she was sure it would be fine.

" _ **The Story of the Seasons? The four maidens?"**_ asked Othim, _**"The one where all four of them are blessed with power?"**_

Pyrrha nodded, choosing to remain silent.

" _ **If it is about the legend being true, we know of it,"**_ smiled Andusk.

"But, how?" stuttered Pyrrha.

They all pointed to Lung Wang, and Othim calmly announced with a cheeky voice _**"You're looking at the so-called wizard in the story."**_

" _ **That was not me! That was one of my descendants who contracted the wizard in the story!"**_ roared Lung Wang.

" _ **So you say,"**_ deadpanned Othim, _**"But we all know your clawprints was all over that."**_

"Uhh, what?" asked Jaune in confusion.

" _ **The wizard in the story is actually someone that used to be part of the Dragon Clan,"**_ explained Aryz, _**"One of the remaining survivors. There was hope that he would be the one to resurrect the clan as he had 4 contracts with some high-tier dragons, but he grew a very jaded view of the world. In the end, he shut himself in his own little land."**_

" _ **Over time, he was visited by four sisters, who managed to warm his heart. Before dying, he blessed them with power,"**_ took over Alaerth, _**"Mind you, it wasn't the dragon's power itself nor the Mate Mark, but rather his own version of a Dragon's Mark."**_

" _ **It was a rather risky one,"**_ commented Ryo-Wo, _**"The power is supposed to belong to the people he thought of only. Yet the wizard in the story, who had trained himself while in solitude, basically split his aura into four pieces and passed them to the sisters before his death, thinking of them only. However, the power continued**_ _ **to pass on to others even when the original maidens died. We think that part may have been unintentional.**_ _ **"**_

" _ **That leads to the legend today,"**_ added Andusk, _**"Did they tell you that the power is given to young maidens only, and that the power transfers over to whoever is the last one in their mind before death, whatever the cause?**_

Pyrrha nodded in reply.

" _ **Which brings to this question. Why are they telling you this?"**_ asked Lung Wang thoughtfully.

Pyrrha broke down and confessed about what had happened. About Amber being attacked. Her power being stolen. And how Ozpin's group had chosen her to be the next Maiden due to fear of the assailant gaining too much power. Her biggest fear was that when they forcefully transferred Amber's Aura into her, that she would change. That she could forget all her friends, and especially Jaune. Or somehow be bounded by some random rule that she couldn't marry, and had to travel the world alone, just like Amber did apparently.

After she finished, she fell down to the ground crying. Jaune quickly dropped next to her and hugged her, letting her cry into his chest again. When she stopped, she looked back up to see the dragons looking at her with concern.

" _ **That doesn't sound good,"**_ admitted Othim, _**"To cram someone's Aura into another person is quite barbaric. Not only that, but that technology in the wrong hands could be deadly."**_ Jaune knew that the situation must be serious if Othim, of all beings, was taking it seriously.

" _ **As for your worries, I don't think you'll have to worry about it changing you. The original way was so only the Aura and the additional abilities would be transferred over. If Amber's was to go into yours, it would only augment your power,"**_ explained Lung Wang, _**"I remember talking to my descendant who was contracted to that wizard. He gave me some of the details."**_

" _ **As for your fear of being ineligible to be Jaune's mate,"**_ said Alaerth smoothly, _**"The Mate Mark takes priority over all. Even if Ozpin's little group tells you that you shouldn't, or that there some random archaic rule about no marriage, the Mate Mark overrides it. Don**_ _ **'t let them bind you with random rules.**_ _ **After all, there is nothing more important to our contractor than to find one of his mates."**_

"Not to mention, I promised you I would destroy anything in my path to bring you back to my side, just like all my other mates," whispered Jaune.

They both closed their eyes, their foreheads touching again. Pyrrha felt the weight of the decision lift off her. She then opened her eyes again, making her decision.

"I'm going to take the offer," said Pyrrha, "But I expect you to be able to help me pull through. To make sure I won't change or be lonely."

"Of course, love." replied Jaune, "Nothing will stop me. Though I wonder. If I give Amber a Dragon's Mark, would it heal her, from what Pyrrha has told us?"

" _ **Unknown,"**_ replied Ryo-Wo, _**"We'd have to know how she had half her power stolen. Probably by a special Grimm parasite, but we would need to see her first. Even then, most likely with just a Dragon's Mark, it wouldn't help. A Mate Mark might do the trick, but you've already filled them all up. And even so, there's no guarantee."**_

"I guess that's all I can do," sighed Jaune, "There's no way I'm replacing any of my girls."

With a bright flash of light, the two of them found themselves back to reality. Jaune stomped the ground to lower the walls to see Ren and Nora standing nearby.

"You guys ready?" asked Ren, "It's almost time for the tournament."

Pyrrha nodded, her confident face returning. Ren and Nora could only smile at that. They had both noticed that Pyrrha seemed off.

"Ren. You know what to do," said Jaune. Ren nodded in reply.

* * *

At the Colosseum, the crowd was ready for the entertainment to begin, to wash away yesterday's disappointment and shock. Ruby was alone, as Weiss and Blake had decided not to see the fight, but rather spend some quiet time eating and maybe watching it on the television. Ruby arrived early to get some seats when she saw Emerald sitting in the stadium at the opposite side. Wondering why she was there when her partner was supposed to be in the hospital, she decided to get closer. She took the exit tunnel, and after checking to see nobody was around, took the door with the yellow maintenance sign that was supposed to be restricted for workers only. She had a feeling Jaune's hypothesis was correct but wanted to get closer.

Meanwhile, Emerald saw Ruby leaving, and decided to call Mercury, who had been hiding in the Colosseum to help run interference just in case. She had just finished calling when she almost jumped at someone calling her name. She turned around to see it was Jaune.

"Hey, Emerald. Sorry to hear about your teammate," began Jaune, "I was hoping to actually see Cinder, to see if she wanted to grab dinner after these matches. You know where she is?"

"She's... busy," replied Emerald hesitantly. She cursed herself being in this awkward situation. She was sure Cinder would be disappointed that she missed her chance on seducing Jaune. At the same time, she had to concentrate on this next match to make it work.

"Hmm, that's a shame. Any chance I can get her Scroll number so I can call her later, maybe?" asked Jaune.

Relieved Jaune was providing a way out of this situation, Emerald gave him Cinder's numbers. It was a throwaway Scroll anyways, so Cinder would have a way to contact Jaune without compromising herself too much. At that, Jaune thanked her and left to find some other seats, far away from Emerald. As Emerald sighed and leaned back in her seat, behind her, Ren smiled. They had distracted her while he used his Semblance to secure a seat right behind her. Now she wasn't paying attention, he turned his Semblance off. He would be ready if Emerald tried anything.

* * *

As Ruby was walking forward to see if she could get closer to Emerald, she could hear Port announcing the randomization process had begun. She hadn't seen Jaune talk to Emerald already. As she took a few more steps, she saw Mercury stepping out from a nearby tunnel, completely unharmed.

"So he was right," muttered Ruby. Mercury raised an eyebrow at this

From behind the walls, a slightly muffled voice from Port rang out, "It looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina from Atlas.."

She turned her attention from the broadcast back to Mercury, "What are you doing?"

"And her opponent will be... Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"

Ruby realized just how horrible this matchup would be. Pyrrha could kill Penny if she wasn't careful, and she didn't know Penny was a robot!

Mercury put his hand on his chin as if to think, "Ooh, polarity versus metal. That could be bad."

Ruby glared at Mercury, reaching behind to grab Crescent Rose when she remembered she didn't have it. The Colosseum didn't allow any fighters who weren't fighting to have their weapons.

"This'll be fun," cackled Mercury.

* * *

Jaune had gone to the bathroom and returning back to the stadium when he noticed it was quiet around him. From a corner, Vlad Arc stepped out in front of him. Jaune glared and quickly turned around only to see Aurelian Arc and Boyd Arc coming to block his path.

"Today, I am going amend a mistake that should've been corrected a long time ago," stated Vlad Arc as he drew out his weapon. It was a Great sword that doubled up as a Dust-thrower. Which was to say, whatever dust he equipped into the handle, it would shoot out that specific elements, like flames or ice. Boyd and Aurelian also drew out their respective weapons.

"How did you get your weapons here? I'm pretty sure you of all people aren't allowed, nor could you hide it," asked Jaune coolly.

"The Arc name carries some influence," scoffed Vlad, "That, and coupled with a few Liens to have some people look the other way, and we have the perfect way to get rid of you."

"You got lucky that fight," growled Aurelian, holding his sword up, "But this time, you don't have a weapon with you."

"And your friends won't be here to help you," chuckled Boyd as he lifted his buckler up, "So be a good boy and die. Don't worry, we'll take good care of your girls."

"Your sisters won't be able to help you either," grinned Vlad, "They're too busy 'fighting' Grimm."

Jaune sighed before taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes and glared at Vlad. Then he heard the announcement that Pyrrha was fighting Penny, the strange girl who's Aura didn't feel normal.

"Okay, first of all; the real mistake you made was trying to kill me," growled Jaune as he reached behind him, putting his hand into the bag he carried. He had snuck it in with Ren's help.

"And trust me, I'm never helpless. That's your second slip up."

At this, he pulled out his sword in its scabbard before pulling out his shield. He shifted the scabbard form so it transformed into a bladed weapon. He would need the extra weight for attacking. All the Arcs were staring at Jaune in confusion. How did that little bag be able to contain his weapon? It was certainly something they would "liberate" from Jaune's body for the future of the Arc.

"And third, Aurelian, you had help from Boyd and Roderick, and you still couldn't win. So what makes you think it'll be any different?"

At that, he used the basic link and linked up with all seven of his dragons. His pupils became slits in anger. Jaune glared at the three of them and gripped his sword tight.

"So I'm giving you this one chance, you can all either walk away now or face my wrath."

As the four of them stared off at each other, Jaune's scroll rang. Not taking his eyes off of Vlad, he answered it. It was Nora.

"Jaune, where are you? Pyrrha's fight is about to start!" said Nora.

"I won't be able to make it," replied Jaune, "Some complications came up. My family decided to trap me and try to kill me. I-"

That was all he managed to say when he dodged a sword strike from Boyd. Aurelian and Vlad charged right in. He disconnected the Scroll to concentrate on the fight against his family had begun!  
 _ **"Show them,"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"Show them what it means to earn our wrath! For blocking your way to make sure your mate is safe! For even daring to think about stealing them!"**_

* * *

 **Thus, begins the matches! Penny vs Pyrrha! Ruby vs Mercury! and Jaune against the Arc family! What will happen next time!?**

 **If you guys didn't notice, I did hint from chapter one about the wizard in the legend of the 4 maidens. XD**

 **Next chapter will be up as soon as possible, and I promise you won't have to wait a week. Hopefully, I can upload it on Monday. I'd also like the thank UGX7 for being my proofreader this time! Made quite a few corrections for the better, I'd say. Go read his story RWBY: Destiny of Remnant if you're looking for an epic-length story that has minimal errors and quite an interesting story plot. And now for a random Omake.**

* * *

 **Omake: Dandy's lyrics**

Since I've had someone tell me that just saying what was the difference, I decided to type the song out and write out how Team DSCO would perform it. Remember, Dandy's the main singer. Back up singer would be Coral. Lyrics are centered in the middle. Dandy sings in the regular font, Coral sings bold, and when both are singing it's in bold and italics. Plus, there's only minor changes in the lyrics. And with the slight lyric change, I guess it should be called Grimm in Sheep's Clothing.

Soul starts off the guitar intro while Dandy starts to tap on his mic.

Ha-ha-ha, this is about you

Beware, beware, be skeptical

Of their smiles, their smiles of plated Dust

Deceit so natural

But a Grimm in sheep's clothing is more than a warning

At this point, Coral and Onyx join in with their instruments. Dandy starts to strum his guitar while singing into the mike.

Bah-bah-black sheep, have you any soul?

No sir, by the way, what the hell are morals?

 _Jack, be nimble,_ Jack, be quick

Jill's a little whore and her alibis are dirty tricks

So could you

At this point, Dandy had kicked the original mic aside and was using the headset that was attached to his ear to project his voice. Soul started to move along with the song as he rocked out harder on his guitar.

 _ **Tell me how you're sleeping easy**_

 _ **How you're only thinking of yourself**_

 _ **Show me how you justify**_

 _ **Telling all your lies like second nature**_

Listen, mark my words: one day _(one day)_

 _ **You will pay, you will pay**_

 _ **Karma's gonna come collect your debt**_

A brief guitar solo starts as Soul slides into the front for his moment of glory. He quickly gets back up and returns to his original position. Meanwhile Dandy was already raising his hands, trying to get the crowd excited. It was working. Then he started to sing again.

Aware, aware, you stalk your prey

With criminal mentality

You sink your teeth into the people you depend on

Infecting everyone, you're quite the problem

Fee-fi-fo-fum, you better run and hide

I smell the blood of a petty little coward

 _Jack, be lethal_ , Jack, be slick

Jill will leave you lonely dying in a filthy ditch

So could you

 _ **Tell me how you're sleeping easy**_

 _ **How you're only thinking of yourself**_

 _ **Show me how you justify**_

 _ **Telling all your lies like second nature**_

Listen, mark my words: one day _(one day)_

 _ **You will pay, you will pay**_

 _ **Karma's gonna come collect your debt**_

At this part, the song seems to start to calm down. A box that the crowd hadn't noticed was in front of Dandy, and he stand up on it, waving his hand in a wave motion.

Maybe you'll change

Abandon all your wicked ways

Make amends and start anew again

Maybe you'll see

All the wrongs you did to me

And start all over, start all over again

Suddenly, Dandy surprises everyone by jumping off the box and kicking it off the stage in fake anger.

Who am I kidding?

Now, let's not get overzealous here

You've always been a huge piece of shit

If I could kill you I would

But it's frowned upon in all Four Kingdoms

Having said that, burn... in…. hell!

At this point, all of them start playing back in tempo again, while Dandy laughs for a bit, yelling, "Where are you, motherfucker? Ha ha!"

 _ **Oh! OH! OH!**_

 _ **So tell me how you're sleeping easy**_

 _ **How you're only thinking of yourself**_

 _ **Show me how you justify**_

 _ **Telling all your lies like second nature**_

Listen, mark my words: one day _(one day)_

You will pay, you will pay

Karma's gonna come collect your debt

Dandy managed to get back to his original position and kicked the mic he had originally kicked down back up to its original position.

Karma's gonna come collect your debt,

 _(She's a li—she's a li—she's a liar)_

Karma's gonna come collect your debt.

And with a flourish, they finished the song.


	31. Chapter 31 First Casualty?

**I came. I saw. And I delivered! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, I'll be building a shelter because of what I wrote. If you don't understand why, just read on! Enjoy!**

* * *

Ozpin sat at his desk, watching the matchup. When he saw it was Penny being matched against Pyrrha, he raised an eyebrow. Two Beacon students in a row? While it wasn't impossible, there was something that didn't seem right. Still, he sat down in hope that he was just imagining it.

Down in the arena of the Amity Colosseum, Pyrrha was looking confident while Penny politely saluted her opponent.

Penny put her hands on her hips in excitement, "Sal-u-tations, Pyrrha Nikos! It's an honor to finally meet you!"

"The pleasure is mine," smiled Pyrrha.

"This is going to be so much fun!"

In the same structure behind the closed doors, Ruby was facing Mercury, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She slowly backed away and tried to go back through the door she came from, but Mercury fired a shot, stopping her. He had no intention of letting her go that easily.

Nora was panicking. She didn't expect Jaune's ex-father to try to kill him right now! She quickly ran off to find help. She forgot to just mass text everyone for help, as she just wanted to find and help her leader as soon as possible. Ren was busy watching Emerald, so it was up to her!

Ironwood was sitting in the front seats, wanting to see how his project would fare against the 'Goddess of Victory.' He noticed Nora leaving in a panic, but merely excused it. His focus was more on Penny, and a bit on Emerald. Since the suspicions, he made a cursory glance at her. He pushed back Ren and Jaune's warning to the back of his mind.

Oobleck began counting down, "3, 2, 1... BEGIN!"

Suddenly Penny was surrounded by her floating swords, commanding them with her hands and body before launching a volley at Pyrrha, who ran forward towards them and leaped through or deflected the blades. The swords flew into the air and turned around, coming back to Penny.

* * *

"Showtime," smirked Mercury as Ruby tried to find some way past him.

She panicked and spins forward, becoming a red blur of petals, hoping her move would force Mercury out of the way, only for him to kick her in the stomach with his boots before landing another kick, knocking her back into the ground. As Ruby winced, she grabbed her Scroll out to call for help when a bullet flew and shattered her Scroll. She looked back to see Mercury with his right leg stretched out.

"Let's just keep this between us friends," taunted Mercury.

"Not much of a friend, when you had to fake your injury to get my sister disqualified," spat out Ruby, "You couldn't win against her, so that's why you needed to cheat."

Mercury's forehead grew a tick mark at that comment, "I'll show you just how good I am. I was holding back against her."

* * *

Jaune was dealing with his 'family reunion'. He kept taking potshots at Boyd to make sure he couldn't focus on using whatever Semblance he stole while dealing with Aurelian and Vlad. He blocked a diagonal slice from Vlad when Aurelian tried to attack. His shield was blocking Boyd's attempt on making a shot. Aurelian thought he had it, but Jaune suddenly kicked him away. He then expanded the scabbard edge, causing Vlad to stumble back at the sudden expansion. He turned and let a light blade beam fly at Boyd

* * *

Pyrrha, having returned her shield to her back during the fight, was twirling _Milo_ in javelin form to block each sword swipe from Penny. Penny forced her her to fly back with another slash, making her somersault as she dropped her weapon. Pyrrha quickly recalled it back to her as Penny readied another wave of blades, with Port commenting on how skilled Penny was. Pyrrha grinned. She hadn't had this much fun in a fight since Jaune! She rushed forward and jumped on an incoming sword and swung _Milo_ down on Penny, just to have her attack halted by a collection of blades. She flipped backward to avoid the retaliation slice. As she landed, Penny was charging forward, slicing with waves of swords. Pyrrha blocked them all but was forced back. She immediately rolled her shield from her back onto her arm with her Semblance before firing a few shots at Penny.

* * *

Ruby blocked a kick from Mercury with her arm and almost gets hit in the face, but she backflipped just in time. She ducked under his thrust kick before leaning to the right to dodge his sickle kick before dashing right past him. Mercury immediately took a few shots after her, but Ruby dodges them while spiraling away with her Semblance. She kicked off a wall and fell to the ground, pumping her arms as she ran for the exit, with Mercury chasing after her.

* * *

Jaune was spinning forward, the deadly tip of the blade forcing Aurelian away from him. Vlad slashed down at him, forcing him to block with his shield. Jaune's knees buckled under the powerful force. Vlad's Semblance was Momentum Drive, which meant that each continuous swing made his attacks are much stronger. Jaune had seen him use it on some Grimm before. As long as he could swing without disruption, it made him so much stronger in conjunction with the Arc style. He quickly did a reverse sweep kick, forcing Vlad to jump before elbowing him. Vlad blocked it with his Greatsword. Jaune stomped the ground and made a few tiles fly at Boyd, who shot the tiles out of the air. Vlad and Aurelian aimed their ranged weapon and fired, Vlad using lightning dust. Jaune empowered his sword with lightning before firing a huge blade beam at the projectiles, canceling them out.

* * *

Nora was rushing to find where Jaune was. She was halted by two guards, telling her that the area she was heading to was off limits. She heard explosions and knew that was where Jaune was. She tried to tell them about the dangers, but the guards sneered at her, saying it was just her imagination. She looked down to see pocket full of Liens and knew Vlad had bribed them. So she took out a purified lightning dust crystal she kept in her skirt pockets and crushed it. The lightning channeled through Nora, giving her the extra juice before punching one of the guards into the wall. The other guard faltered, giving her time to drop kick the sucker. She pillaged the bodies for any weapons and found a pistol to use. Not her best weapon of choice, but it would do. She also took the Lien as payment for making her use one of her crystals.

'It's only fair.' She thought to herself with a grin before she ran off to help her leader.

* * *

Pyrrha spun wildly as she deflected and dodged the swords Penny was sending until she got close enough to Penny and landed a few slashes, two to the head and three to the body. She got behind Penny and slashed her upwards. Pyrrha continued her combo in the air as Penny parried her attacks. Pyrrha shifted _Ak_ _ouo_ into another xiphos managed to land another slash, forcing Penny into the ground. Penny quickly slid to a stop before summoning 12 swords around her. With a few gestures, they split off and spun, three in each rotation, and transformed to projectile mode, firing aura beams at Pyrrha. Pyrrha slid and jumped, avoiding the line of fire when she noticed that 6 of the swords transformed back into blades and were flying right towards her. She deflected each with with her dual xiphos. She avoided another sudden formation of projectiles with a few well placed flips before finding an opening. She lunged forward and attacked Penny with a fierce and mighty stab that sent her flying back.

She straightened up, thinking she had it when she saw Penny charging back at her, using the Aura beams like a jetpack. She jumped into the air, and activated the beams once more to simulate a meteorite crashing into Pyrrha, sending her flying. Pyrrha tumbled onto her back for a second before being able to reorient herself back on her feet. As she stood up, two of Penny's blade came out of nowhere and knocked _Akouo_ and _Milo_ away from her. Pyrrha quickly used her Semblance to recall both of them back, but another two blades crashed into them to prevent her from grabbing them. As Pyrrha's weapons landed on the ground, Penny had 6 blades stab into the ground around the weapons, trapping them with 3 each, and prevented Pyrrha from being able to summon it back. Pyrrha was now disarmed.

Penny grinned as she saw her chance and raised her arms, summoning all the blades she had left. She had 14 in total, and with 6 of them trapping the weapons, she summoned the rest of the 8 behind her.

'Excellent work, Penny,' grinned Ironwood. He would have to congratulate Penny's creator, or father as both Penny and the man himself preferred, Geppetto Polendina. To show that humankind could create the next generation of protectors against the Grimm. His works with Aura was certainly a key factor, especially in helping transfer Amber's Aura into a new host. He leaned forward in interest to see Penny's upcoming victory.

Pyrrha hadn't given up and adopted a fighting pose with her fists. She may not have a weapon, but she had been taught by her father and practiced with others how to fight without her weapons. However, what she saw next frightened her. Somehow, Penny's original 8 swords started to multiply. There were so many blades that they covered a fourth of the stadium. She was so shocked she forgot about the fact that it could be a trick. She didn't stop to think that the audience would be shouting and in shock at so many blades. She started to put as much Aura into her Semblance and was ready to unleash it to protect herself when the blades started to fly towards her like a flood.

'Got you,' grinned Emerald as she focused on conjuring an illusion on Pyrrha.

With this, Pyrrha would overreact and most likely affect and maybe even destroy Penny. Penny was just nuts and bolts, with programs in it. A strong electromagnetic pulse would certainly stop her, and with all her limbs being metallic, also freeze her forcefully. Who knows, maybe limbs would fly off. She saw Pyrrha getting ready to counter the image when she felt something hit her from behind.

Ren was also ready. When he saw Pyrrha falter, he immediately closed his eyes and sensed that Emerald's aura was affecting her. Ren quickly raised his fist and punched Emerald's seat with a charged up Aura punch.

The impact was enough to force Emerald to lose focus, dissipating the image. However, it was too late. Pyrrha had already begun releasing her pulse. Pyrrha's eyes opened wide when she saw the multiple blades that had been there suddenly disappear. She remembered about Jaune's hypothesis and knew immediately Emerald had something to do with this. She couldn't halt the amount of power she put into the pulse. She could, however, control the direction of the pulse a bit. Instead of doing a full out frontward pulse, she directed it upwards as high as she could when she released it. The result was the blades went flying back when the polarity hit, forcing Penny to lose control of her swords. The pulse, however, was not high enough, so it managed to hit Penny's upper body.

Penny felt her body clamp up from the hit. Luckily, her main hard drive was emp proof, but her top half of the body was frozen. Her hands were forcefully raised into the air and going backward. She could feel it almost ripping apart. Then, her eyes widened when she saw and felt the strings start to wind around her. One of the strings was curling around her right wrist. Another one around her left arm. The last one had just started to wrap around her neck.

'No!' thought Penny. There was still so much she wanted to do! She wanted to stay at Beacon! To make friends with Ruby and her team! To fight Grimm. To be a regular girl like Ruby. To be a real person like everyone else. TO LIVE!

'WhatcanIdoWhatcanIdoWhatcanIdo?' thought Penny rapidly. Her legs twitched, and she realized she could still move her legs! She couldn't move left or right, though. She couldn't go forward or backward. Then, she realized all she needed to do was to bend to her knees. She immediately sent all power to her legs. The result was her dropping to her knees, narrowly dodging the wire that was about to wrap around her neck. The other two arms, however, had already been caught. Her wrist and arm immediately crumpled by the force with ease as they completed curling around. A few milliseconds later, the wires sliced through her wrist and arm revealing to the world that her arms were fake. And with a closer look, the audience could see through the newly opened hole in her arm that the electronic wiring extended through her body. That she was just a robot. Penny had already disconnected the wires after being cut through, to make sure no other wires could threaten her.

Everyone gasped at this sudden turn of events. This savage moment. The blades all dropped down to the floor. The silence was deafening. The amount of negativity in the air rising at this. Pyrrha could only stare in horror at what she had just done. Ozpin stood up from his seat as he saw Penny's limbs falling off her. Port and Oobleck stared in shock. In an Atlas laboratory, Penny's creator, Geppetto Polendina, could only grip the armrest of his chair tightly. He had just seen his beloved daughter's arm be torn off. Ironwood was also standing in shock at this sudden turn of events.

* * *

In the distance, miles away from Vale, The Grimm turned their attention towards the Colosseum. They could taste the negativity from the city of Vale. It was just too tempting. And so, the vast majority of the Grimm started to head towards Vale.

* * *

Ruby had just gotten back out to the stadium just to see Penny on her knees, her right hand and left arm completely detached from her. She was too late. She fell down to her knees and started to cry.

Mercury had managed to catch up in time to see that their job was done. Grinning, he left the stadium to get ready for the next phase.

Emerald had already gotten up to leave. Everyone was still in shock that nobody noticed her walking through to the stairs. She didn't expect to suddenly be distracted, and looked behind her just to see an empty chair. Shrugging it as an accident from one of the other people besides the chair, she continued to walk towards the exit. She still had her weapons behind her, as she managed to smuggle it in with the help of Neo. What she didn't notice was Ren following right behind her, his own Semblance activated. Emerald was the cause of this. And he would see to it what and/or why.

Nora gasped when she saw it on a television set she was passing by. Then she hid behind a wall as 2 more guards were shooting at her. She gritted her teeth. These punks really were annoying her. She wanted her hammer so she could BREAK SOME LEGS!

Jaune had been busy fighting. He took a peek to see his Aura reserves were at 40%. Aurelian's was at 30%, Boyd at 50%, and Vlad at 77%. Taking on three Huntsman had been taxing. Especially since one of them was a fully trained Huntsman with his two sons acting as backup. Jaune had not time to try to use full immersion link. He need some time and room to even use it. Something they wouldn't let him. He then noticed that the stadium had gone silent. Boyd and Aurelian both noticed it too, and stopped to see what was going on. Vlad was continuing to stare down Jaune. This boy had been an irritant long enough! Then, they all looked at the television that happened to be near them to see a replay of Penny's arms being torn apart.

"What the?" shouted Boyd out loud.

'She's a robot!' Jaune mentally shouted.

" _ **Well, that does explain a lot,"**_ murmured Alaerth, _**"She didn't seem to be a living being. Someone with flesh and bones. Her scent always seemed off."**_

" _ **What I'm worried is about all this negativity,"**_ said Aryz quietly, _**"This could attract Grimm. Many people could die."**_

* * *

Everyone was staring at the kneeling Penny. She seemed to not even be moving. Believing her to be dead, the people whispered in fear.

"Broadcast, what are you doing? Kill the feed!" shouted Oobleck into his earpiece.

"Something's wrong! We don't have control of the cameras! We can't even stop the broadcast!" a voice replied back.

"What!? How is that possible?" interrogated Oobleck. Suddenly, Penny stood back up, scaring everyone in the stadium.

"I'm okay!" yelled Penny, causing the everyone to facefault at this.

"Penny! Are you alright!? I... I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry!" cried Pyrrha.

"It's alright," said Penny, "My arms are fixable. I'm still combat ready!"

Pyrrha looked down to see electricity sparking from the new holes. It was very obvious that Penny should not be okay.

Emerald had almost fallen over when she heard Penny say those words. So Penny didn't die. But it was enough, still. The amount of negativity in the stadium and Vale had already been cast. She continued to walk away.

Suddenly, video feed changed before them into an ominous bright red background with a black queen chess piece hovering in the middle of the background. The rest of the world had the same image. The hijacking of the CCT had begun.

At Atlas, in a private room, Whitley leaned back as he smiled to enjoy what his program had just done. He had been in a bad mood when he saw Weiss was capable of summoning. He would constantly annoy her about that, and now he couldn't.

Soon, a female voice began to ring out for everyone to hear. For all of Remnant to hear, and many of them would remember her words.

"This is **not** a tragedy. This was **not** an accident," began Cinder. She was standing at a rooftop in Vale, speaking through her Scroll. She had the master control in her hand. "This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your _children_ , to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than _men_. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both."

* * *

Ironwood grimaced when he realized who she was talking to, and rose from her seat, marching up the steps towards the commentator box. He looked around and saw Emerald was already gone and grinded his teeth. He should've posted guards to pay attention to her, but he had put Jaune and Ren's theories off as insignificant. Something that was biting him back in the rear.

* * *

"They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here?" continued Cinder, "One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference."

Back in the fairgrounds, Weiss and Blake were gaping at the hacked screen back at the Shopkeeper's stall. Several of Junior's men were panicking, getting their weapons ready.

At the city of Vale, Winter, Xanthe, and Saffron could only look in horror as they were watching the broadcast at a cafe.

"And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching _his_ students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither."

Junior was at his bar, fuming. This woman was trying to discredit Jaune's mates! First Yang, and now Pyrrha? This had gone far enough.

"Lock and load, boys!" shouted Junior to his men, who had been gaping at the screen. At the sound of Junior shouting orders, they responded immediately. Going to their rooms to clean up. To prepare. To get ready to dive into a fight if necessary. Melanie and Militia were double checking their weapons. Junior hefted out his bazooka bat. He tried to call Jaune earlier to see if he was alright, but he wasn't answering his Scroll. Growling he barked out some more commands.

"I want transports ready! We have people to help out! We got a young master and his mates to save!"

"Anyone who's slow gets extra punishment," said Militia sadistically as she licked her claws. The gang quickly moved faster. Melanie and Miltia looked at each with worry for Ren.

Yang Xiao Long was listening to the speech from her windowsill before looking back into the room. Taiyang was there, listening to the broadcast in shock. Zwei could only bark to get them back to reality.

Raven and her crew were watching the broadcast with interest. Naturally, most of the bandits were already planning on how to use this to their advantage. Raven, however, had other concerns. Was Yang going to be safe? With Taiyang, perhaps. But she couldn't shake the feeling that just by himself, it wouldn't be enough. Her motherly instincts were coming out more and more. She cursed herself for that. It seems like the trip to Beacon had a much bigger impact than she thought. She closed her eyes to meditate about her decision. Then, Summer's face suddenly appeared in her mind. And she wasn't smiling. That made her blood run cold. To see an upset Summer was something she never wanted. She knew her choices, and she knew what she had to do. She stood up, surprising her clan. She slashed a portal open.

"Where are you going?" asked a bandit member.

"To fulfill my rule of one," replied Raven, "Duncan, you're in charge now. I don't know how long this will take."

At that, she entered in her portal.

* * *

"Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his _colossal_ failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Even with the help of the 'angel', people died. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... _equally_ undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet _we_ , the citizens, are left in the dark."

Two Atlas soldiers were watching the message on their Scroll. They had been posted at the border of Vale, to be on the lookout. They heard many stampeding footsteps and quickly turned around to see Grimm flooding their view. They opened fire, trying to get rid as many as they could. Other patrols were also dealing with the same problem. One of them decided to hit the emergency button before putting it as level 9.

* * *

"So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?" finished Cinder as she looked across Vale with a malevolent smile.

The screen cut off to complete static.

"The feeds are all jammed! We can't get a message out!" shouted Oobleck to Port.

"Will somebody tell me what in the world is happening!?" asked Port to the technicians.

Suddenly, the sound of the wailing alarm could be heard all around the Colosseum. Even in Vale, the alarm was going off. The screen was flashing orange, with the word CAUTION on it.

"Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner," announced a synthesized voice.

At this, the crowds began to flee, screaming wildly and completely ignoring the order to be calm. A threat level 9 had never been seen before for Vale! The highest they had ever gotten was a level 6. The most recent one being the Breach of Vale a few months ago.

Ironwood entered the announcer's box, grabbing a microphone, before telling everyone not to panic. Suddenly, a giant Nevermore appeared on top of the arena's domed force field, screeching loudly as it clawed and pecked at the shield.

"How did it get past the kingdom's defense?" asked Sun in shock.

"It seems that this Grimm was not alone," noted Yatsuhashi as he looked up to see more flying Grimm.

* * *

Back at the 'family reunion', Jaune looked at the Arc family.

"Can we do this later? Whatever's going on, we have a duty to stop it. We can settle our grudges later, but right now we have a job to do now," asked Jaune.

"No," replied Vlad calmly, a voice filled with spite, "This takes precedence over everything else. Your existence must be erased."

"Father," said Aurelian softly, "We cannot deny that Jaune is a stain to the Arc family but as much as I hate to admit it, he is right, we are Huntsmen. It is our job to guide people to see our greatness, not to abandon them. Plus, this is a threat level 9. We cannot just ignore this."

"And we won't," smiled Vlad, "We just need to kill him before we help others. If they ask, we can just say he was part of the group that's causing this trouble, or maybe claim some Grimm got to him and killed him, we'll just have to get our weapons… a bit more bloody than we'd please, but it won't be anything a wet rag cannot fix."

"Fine," growled Jaune. He immediately tried to use a full immersion link but had to cancel it when Boyd fired a few shots. He retaliated with sniper fire, infusing wind Aura into it for penetration.

Nora was getting pissed. Why didn't she bring her hammer! Oh right, rules stating not allowed to bring weapons in Colosseum unless for a fight or emergency. Some people bypassed this rule by either hiding them or disguising them. Her hammer, however, couldn't do that. It was too obvious. As she rummaged through her pocket for another Lightning Dust crystal, she touched her Scroll. She facepalmed at this. She should've just called for help! She immediately began calling for Pyrrha and Ren.

* * *

In his offices, Ozpin gripped his cane tightly as he saw Vale come under attack by the Grimm. Behind him, Qrow and Glynda had arrived.

"Get to the city!" ordered Ozpin. Before Qrow could say anything, Ozpin gave them a fierce look.

" **NOW!"**

Qrow and Glynda exchanged looks before deciding to follow orders. Sure, Ozpin would be the only one to defend Amber, but it should be enough. Saving more lives was important. They quickly ran, going into the city as fast as they could.

Ozpin picked up his scroll to dial to Ironwood, waiting impatiently.

Ironwood was watching the Nevermore trying to break through the shields when he heard his Scroll ring. He looked down to see it was Ozpin. He gulped in fear. He never explained about Penny to him. He picked it up before stammering out, "Ozpin, the girl... I-I can explain!"

Ozpin ignored that as there were more precedent matters, "You brought your army to my Kingdom, James. **Use it**."

Ironwood's face turned back to determination before dialing to his ships, ordering them to attack all Grimm in sight.

* * *

Back at the ships, an Atlas ship captain was barking orders as fast as he could. All turrets were firing, into the Grimm hordes, decimating them, but there were just too many of them. Hundreds of thousands. He spoke into his scroll, commanding the Blue Two and Three to fall into defensive position. Blue One had been overrun. Blue Three responded, but Blue Two's communications was silent. He kept asking for their status.

In Blue Two ship, the bridge was wrecked, computers sparking, and soldiers dead. A pair of high boots was walking through the destruction, wearing an Atlas uniform and holding a pink umbrella. Neo grinned as she walked to the jail cells. She had infiltrated the ship easily and killed off all the soldiers. She stopped at one before opening it.

"Well... it's about time." Rang a voice from the shadow. Neo grinned as she held out a familiar looking bowl hat and a cane. Roman Torchwick stepped out from the shadow. He was free again and inside an Atlas battleship. Just as planned.

* * *

"We need to get moving," said Pyrrha to Penny, "Can you still fight?"

Penny nodded as she manipulated the six swords that had trapped Pyrrha's weapon back to herself. She could easily restore the connection to those swords. The other 8, though, she had forcefully disconnected the wires from her back. She wouldn't be able to use those until she got back in for repairs. Pyrrha quickly used her Semblance to recall her weapons back before turning to Penny.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I didn't know you were... a robot. I would've never -"

Penny waved her off, saying it was okay when Pyrrha's scroll suddenly rang. She picked it up.

"Pyrrha! Ren! Jaune's in trouble! Vlad and his sons are trying to kill him! And they bribed guards to block my way! I don't have my hammer!" shouted Nora.

Pyrrha gasped at this. She would not let her future husband die! He had promised to protect her no matter what, and she would gladly do the same for him!

"Go," smiled Penny, "I can tell he means a lot. I can handle myself here."

Pyrrha nodded and rushed out, hoping to find where Jaune was.

* * *

At the airships, Blue Two suddenly turned towards the other ships and began to fire at the engine of the closest one. That ship collided with the another ship before a series of explosions erupted on both ships, sending them tumbling down to the waters below. Vale had just lost its Aerial defense.

"Woo-hoohahahaha! Oohh, it is good to be back!" cackled Roman as Neo stood by his side, smiling.

* * *

Ren had been tracking Emerald silently. His eyes narrowed as he saw Emerald meet up with Mercury. So they were right! Mercury had faked in injury. He felt his Scroll go off and picked up. His eyes widened in fear and shock at Nora's message. He immediately decided to abandon this mission to look for Jaune. As he was about to leave, he saw several Bullheads suddenly appear. The doors opened to reveal the White Fang was invading. He saw that in one of them was Adam Taurus. The leader of the Vale branch. Blake had told them all about him at one point.

"Bring them to their knees!" ordered Adam as Emerald and Mercury got onto a Bullhead. They needed a ride down for the next phase. Another Bullhead opened its door, revealing several Grimm. Ren's eyes widened as Grimm started to jump off, ready to rip apart whatever it could. Ren quickly changed his bullets to explosive rounds and immediately fired at a Bullhead containing Grimm.

To the White Fang, they were surprised, as well as Emerald and Mercury. At one point, there was nobody there. The next second, a man wearing green suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was firing at a Bullhead. The said Bullhead took too much damage from the bullets and started to spiral out of control, down into the city, taking it's load of Grimm with it. Before anyone could do anything to the man, he suddenly disappeared again.

"Was that?" began Emerald.

"Lie Ren," finished Mercury, "Looks like he was following you the whole time, and you didn't notice."

"How?!" cried Emerald. "I should've been able to tell if someone was following me."

"No use now," growled Adam, "I can't sense him anymore."

He pulled out several vials of green liquid before throwing them at five Creepers, two Beowolves, and an Ursa. They instantly transformed into the mutant forms.

"Happy hunting," laughed Adam as the Bullheads pulled away from the stadium. They had other places to be, more 'justice' to be served.

All around the Colosseum, more Bullheads were releasing Grimm and throwing the mutation formula on them. The guards stationed there had no idea how to fight these sickly green looking Grimm, and panicked.

Pyrrha and Ren had met up with Nora, who called in her weapon, and were running to where Nora heard the explosions. They had to deal with both regular Grimm and mutant Grimm.

"Why are these versions here?" wailed Nora.

"It seems that Dr. Merlot escaped, and is now in league with the White Fang, along with whoever Emerald and Mercury are working for." guessed Ren.

"So you and Jaune we're right… It doesn't matter. We cut through!" shouted Pyrrha.

* * *

"What's with these Grimm!?" shouted Aurelian as he dealt with the incoming Grimm wave.

Vlad ignored his son, as he was too busy trying to kill Jaune. Jaune felt his arms getting sore as he mostly tried to parry Vlad's sword. It was getting heavier and heavier with each swing. Jaune quickly switched to the shotgun on his shield and fired all his bullets, infusing them all with fire and shadow Aura for damage and impact, hoping to dissuade Vlad. It worked, but he had left himself open.

"Gotcha!" shouted Boyd in glee as he grabbed Jaune's arm, "Now your Semblance is mine!"

He started to attempt to steal it. However, he made a huge mistake. He was provoking the dragons. And when one provoked them, they shouldn't incite their wrath.

Boyd found himself in a mindscape. He looked around in confusion before shrugging. He had dived into other people's minds before. Part of his Semblance involved going into someone's mind for a brief moment before taking their semblance. However, before he could do so, he found himself staring at a very angry red scaled dragon. The dragon's pupils were in slits. Boyd slightly shook in fear before grinning.

"So, you're the source of Jaune's power. Well, it's mine now!"

" _ **Foolish one,"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"Did you really think you can control my power so easily? That you deserved it? That you can just steal it? We are bound to Jaune because he has not only been chosen, but he has proven himself worthy."**_

"I'm a true Arc," yelled out Boyd, "I am more worthy than Jaune."

" _ **The fact you merely use a name as one for judgment already disqualifies you,"**_ sighed Lung Wang, _**"Still, you want something right?"**_

Boyd nodded his head in excitement. He would regret it immediately.

" _ **Then taste the wrath of a dragon!"**_ roared Lung Wang as he took a deep breath and spat fire so hot that upon contact, it incinerated Boyd and the ground around him.

Boyd screamed in pain and let go of Jaune. He looked at his arm to see that second degree,third-degreeird degree burns from just touching him.

"What are you, freak?" trembled Boyd before he recollected himself and used another Semblance he had stolen.

Jaune found himself stuck in a prism, one that was very similar to the one Pyrrha had been in. It was Prism Trap.

"Excellent. Now keep him in there as I build up my momentum," grinned Vlad as he used his Semblance to power his strikes. He started to get closer and closer.

Jaune frowned before putting his shield on his back and his sheath in his belt, transforming it back to normal. His knees were slightly bent, right foot forward, and left foot back. His right hand was on the grip of his sword, holding it tightly while his left hand grasped the sheath. He was positioned as far back as the trap would let him.

Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora had arrived to see Vlad ready to swing his blade down at Jaune. Pyrrha recognized the trap that Jaune was in and screamed. She pulled out _Milo_ and shot at Boyd, distracting him. Ren and Nora were charging in, but their path was blocked by Aurelian and some Grimm. They all watched as the Prism Trap dissolve right as Vlad was swinging his Great sword at an angled downward arc. One that would cleave Jaune in half.

Jaune however, was not idle. As soon as he saw the trap dissolve he took a step forward, left foot in front before drawing out his sword from his sheath at speeds unheard of. They saw two blades were about to meet.

'Fool,' thought Vlad, 'Struggling to the end. I'm using a Greatsword, with more weight, higher density, crafted from the finest blacksmiths. Not to mention I'm using full power with my Semblance. There is nothing that can stop my blade!'

Jaune had also streamed as much Aura into his blade as he could. The dragon's powers seeped into the sword, too, making it glow brightly. Vlad had made a huge error when giving _Crocea Mors_ to Jaune. He thought it was just a rusty old blade. That could be far from the truth. Nobody, save for the dragons, knew the true legend of the sword's origin, but the blade was crafted by a legendary blacksmith. Blessed by the heavens above, the sword material was made of metals not from Remnant. A legendary blade, capable of being able to handle all seven dragon's powers into it. Any other sword would easily shatter from such power.

As the swords crashed into each other, there was a bright flash of light, forcing all those not part of the fight to close their eyes. A sword being broken could be heard, followed by the sound of flesh being cut.

As the viewer's eyes adjusted, Boyd and Aurelian were grinning. There was no way Jaune could've won. As the dust cleared from the clash, their eyes bulged. For standing there was Jaune Arc, his sword perfectly fine. And on the ground was Vlad Arc, his Great sword broken in half, and bleeding from his chest. The other half of his blade was embedded into a wall.

Jaune sheathed his sword and put his shield on his back, tired from the fight. His aura levels were now at 10%. He looked down at Vlad, who was still conscious, but growling in anger. Jaune noticed that Vlad still had more Aura than him, and made a grunt of annoyance. In terms of tournament rule battle, Jaune would've been the one to lose as he had less Aura than Vlad. But in a real fight, Jaune was the victor. Not only that, but Vlad had gotten too cocky and didn't even think that Jaune could block or even destroy his attack, leaving no room for him to try to dodge when his sword broke. So it was basically he lost the battle but won the war. Still, he needed to let them all know his feelings about the Arc name.

"I'll only say this once," declared Jaune, "I have no interest in the Arc family. Give the title to Aurelian, I don't care. But stop trying to kill me. If you intend to pursue this path, then I will not hesitate to cut you down. You and your sons."

At that, he turned around to leave. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were starting to run towards Jaune to help him. They all called out his name in happiness, and Jaune gave smiled back at them. With them all together, everything would be fine. That was when it happened.

Suddenly, a Bullhead appeared before them and started to fire in between them. Jaune was stuck, trying to avoid the shots when the Bullhead started to concentrate fire on him specifically. Three Mutant Creepers had gotten behind him. Jaune was about to turn around to deal with them when the Bullhead's side doors opened to reveal Adam. He shot the three Mutant Creepers. Jaune looked behind him to see Adam with a malevolent grin as the Mutant Creepers started to build up power for an explosion. He had no time to jump and sprout his wings, much less dodge. Jaune couldn't even grab his shield. The only thing he could do was to helplessly cross his arms for protection as the Mutant Creepers exploded, sending him flying off the Colosseum.

They all witnessed Jaune's Aura shatter around his body as he fell down to the city of Vale, completely unprotected. One blast was enough to take out the Aura of any grown Huntsmen or Huntresses, but three of them at once, with Jaune weakened from battle? Jaune had no chance. For NPR, they had to watch the whole thing in slow motion in their minds as they watched Jaune be blasted off from the explosion, unable to do anything. They felt their hearts stop when the Aura crackled and disappeared from Jaune's body. Their bodies started to move, but they felt like their limbs weren't obeying them as it was also going in slow motion. They couldn't urge their own bodies to move faster.

"NOOO!" screamed Pyrrha, trying to use her Semblance to catch him. But it was too late. He was out of her reach, plummeting to his doom without Aura and unconscious.

"One down, one more to go," grinned Adam. Mercury and Emerald, who were still on the Bullhead, frowned. They didn't know Adam had been planning this part out. Cinder would not be pleased to hear that one of the potential recruits she wanted had just been killed by their "ally".

"Get us down to Vale," shouted Adam to the pilot. The pilot nodded when he felt his controls stiffen. He tried to force the airship to move, but it wasn't budging. That's when he noticed the ship seemed to have an ominous black glow around it. Everybody else noticed it, too.

"That's not good," gulped Mercury. They looked to see Pyrrha with her hands raised. Her face filled with nothing but pure rage and a small hint of sorrow.

"You're not going anywhere except to the afterlife!" roared Pyrrha as she manipulated the ship with her hands. She made a sort of tearing gesture, with her left hand holding the main bulk of the Bullhead while she tore the wings off with her right hand.

The people in the Bullhead tried to open fire, but Nora and Ren beat them to it, already firing at them. They had no choice but to shut the doors for cover. Pyrrha quickly tore off the other wing before lifting it up into the air. She then threw it down with all her might. The Bullhead went careening towards the ground at almost mach speed. Many of the people inside it couldn't move! A few seconds later, Pyrrha saw with satisfaction that the Bullhead blew up upon impact. With luck, they were all dead. But it didn't change anything. They had just lost Jaune Ryu-Long, their leader.

* * *

 **Andd... done! Well, since Jaune just died, guess my story ends! Marking it as complete. See ya on my next story! And now to run to my shelter.**

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 **Just kidding! Real notes below.**

 **And the first casualty... is Jaune?! What will happen next? Find out next time, as I'll upload the next chapter on Wednesday at the strike of 12 am! Pacific coast time! Of course, with that, it could mean fanfic will take a bit of time before it does upload, but yea!**

 **Alright, I'd like an honesty check. Who thought I was going to do that to Jaune? I did kinda hint it when Adam found out about Blake and Jaune XD. Rofl Plot twist!**

 **Review if you can! Each review will bring me closer to my next goal, as I've finally cleared the 300k viewers! Thanks for reading my story!**


	32. Chapter 32 Grimm Awakening

**As promised, Here's the new chapter. Granted it's a bit short. Enjoy!**

* * *

Back in the fairgrounds, it was chaos. Civilians were running away from the attacking Grimm horde while Atlesian Knight-200s were firing at the Grimm as fast as possible. Vendors were hiding behind their booths in hope that they would be safe while others tried to run for it.

"I don't believe this..." gasped Weiss. She and Blake were planning to have a nice dinner when this happened. Blake didn't respond as she felt her Scroll vibrate. She quickly picked it up to see Yang was calling her. She quickly responded, asking if she was okay. Yang confirmed she was fine as she was running in the hallways of the dorms with Zwei. Taiyang had already gone to help fight the Grimm. Yang had tried to catch up, but Taiyang was just too fast.

"Is Ruby with you? She's not answering her Scroll," asked Yang anxiously.

"No, she isn't," replied Blake. At this, Yang stopped in her tracks with a worried expression upon her face. As if sensing her turmoil, Blake continued,"Yang, I'm sure she's fine. She's our leader. She can take care of herself."

Yang could only close her eyes and curl her fists tightly before acknowledging in reply. She took a quick look out the window from her position and saw Grimm incoming, along with White Fang members.

"I'm headed to the docks near the courtyard. The White Fang are releasing Grimm into the school!" shouted Yang.

Blake shouted in alarm, "The White Fang is here!?"

Yang was about to reply when she almost crashed into a Grimm. She quickly punched it away and killed it before telling Blake that she had to go. She hung up on them.

"Blake, what are we going to do?" asked Weiss in worry. She knew the White Fang meant a lot to Blake.

Blake looked down for a second before opening her eyes. The White Fang were no longer the same. They were now just a bunch of criminals that had just threatened her friends and home.

"We're going to the docks, and we're doing our job," said Blake seriously. She went through her Scroll and quickly called upon her rocket locker, which landed behind her. It opened up to reveal her weapon, Gambol Shroud. Weiss nodded in agreement before summoning hers.

* * *

Back at the Colosseum, NPR could only look down in shock.

"Haha. The stain of the Arc family is gone!"

They looked back to see Vlad laughing. Ren was in no mood for this.

"Nora. I give you full permission to break his legs and anything else you think needs to be broken."

"You got it," replied Nora. She was not smiling. A few seconds later, a scream could be heard. Vlad's legs were now broken, thanks to Nora and the liberal use her hammer. Aurelian gasped in shock at what had happened to his father and he looked to Pyrrha, only for her fist to slam directly into his face, knocking him out rather quickly. Boyd shouted at them, but they knew that he was in no condition to fight anymore. So Pyrrha bent some iron poles around them, tying them up before dragging them on the ground. They needed to meet up with the others.

* * *

In the arena, an announcement stating that the safety barriers failing could be heard. Penny was looking up, ready to fight, even in her damaged state.

"Penny!"

She turned around to the source of the voice to see Ruby had landed next to her, grabbing one of her own swords as a weapon.

"Thank Oum you're ok!" cried Ruby until she looked at Penny's lack of arms, "Well, kinda ok. Least you're still talking."

"Thank you for your concern, Ruby," smiled Penny, "But I'm still combat ready! Even if I'm not operating at 100%."

The Nevermore from above suddenly flew up for a bit before flying directly down, piercing through the barrier, shattering it. It landed in front of Penny and Ruby, sending them flying back. Penny quickly used her projectile mode as jetpacks to stabilize herself before rushing to see if Ruby was all right. They both looked up to see the Nevermore lunge at them. Penny immediately fired beams at it, and Ruby lunged at the Nevermore, stabbing it into its chest. She twisted it to do more damage before jumping back, leaving the sword in the Nevermore. She grabbed another one that was lying about.

The Nevermore rose up flying, circling around the arena before flying back down, straight towards Ruby and Penny. Before they could do anything, the Nevermore was pinned down by a barrage of rocket lockers, stopping right in front of them before screeching in pain and passing out. The lockers opened, revealing weapons. SSSN, DSCO, CFVY, ABRN, NDGO, and FNKI had all summoned their weapons to help out.

"Can't let you have all the fun," grinned Sun.

"This is going to be a fun party!" shouted Neon. They were all standing next to their lockers, some right on top of the Nevermore. The Nevermore started to move, telling them all that it wasn't dead yet. They really should've known as it didn't dissolve yet. Octavia and Dew quickly ran to the Nevermore's head and stabbed its eyes out. Arslan used her rope dart to swing down and grab Yatsuhashi up into the air. Sage channeled his strength as he also leaped up into the air.

Sun decided it was time to show off his new abilities. He climbed up the Nevermore's back before sliding on its beak into the air. He summoned two clones while in the air. His teammates were wary, as when using his Semblance, it drained quite a bit of Sun's reserves. However, what happened next shocked them. One of the clones grabbed the other one by his feet. Sun swung his staff downwards. The first clone had been on Sun's staff and was shot towards the Nevermore. The second clone **transformed** into a giant hammer for the first one to use. The clone swung the hammer down onto the Nevermore's boned face and exploded, forcing the Nevermore's head to crash into the ground. Dandy quickly followed up with another bash with his disco ball, causing the head to cave in further. Arslan had just reached the peak height of her swing and let Yatsuhashi go. Both he and Sage were falling down right at the Nevermore's neck, their broadswords ready. With a roar from both of them, they decapitated the Nevermore.

As the Nevermore dissolved into ashes, Sun was confronted by his teammates.

"Since when could your clones do that?" interrogated Neptune.

"And you don't seem as tired as before," added Scarlet.

"What changed?" asked Sage.

"My Semblance... for a lack of a better word... evolved," grinned Sun, reminding himself to thank Jaune, "I'll explain later, right now we need to get outta here."

They all nodded and was about to leave when more flying Grimms came out, flying around them.

"Griffons," gasped Velvet. The group immediately prepared to defend themselves.

Ruby looked at them before asking Sun for his Scroll. Not questioning it, he used his tail to grab his Scroll and flicked it to Ruby. She caught it and summoned her locker to grab _Crescent Rose_. However, before she could get it, a Griffon landed on top of her locker. The Griffon screeched at her when a gunshot rang off, and a bullet hit the Griffon on the head. It flew away immediately.

Ruby looked to the source of the sound to see Port carrying his weapon, the muzzle smoking as Oobleck accompanied him.

"Students! I think it would be best for you to leave," said Port in a serious tone. It was very rare to hear him like this.

Ruby tried to argue, but Oobleck stopped her.

"Miss Rose! This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it," said Oobleck firmly but gently. It was obvious what the man was saying. He wanted the younger generation to live, and to learn from this. Meanwhile, he had his pride as a professional Huntsman to help others. It would be a blow to his pride as a huntsman and a teacher if he let younger, less-trained people to fight for him. Especially his students.

Ruby nodded at Oobleck's words before grabbing her weapon out.

"Let's go!" commanded Ruby, twirling her scythe. The others nodded and quickly left. Velvet took a quick photo of Ruby's weapon before leaving.

With the students clear of the arena, Port and Oobleck stood back-to-back with their weapons ready as Griffons circled around them.

"One final match, Barty! Place your bets!" laughed Port maniacally.

"May the best man with a Ph.D. win," grinned Oobleck.

"Hoho, I'll take that... HEY! That means you only!" shouted Port.

"Exactly," smirked Oobleck. He was getting his petty revenge now.

* * *

Civilians and students continued to flee towards a secure air dock. Some of the students were too scared to even consider fighting. The Atlesian Knights, along with any Huntsmen and Huntresses available, were dealing with any Grimm and Mutant Grimm. Suddenly, more White Fang Bullheads pulled up, deploying even more Grimm. Ironwood was watching the crowd as his personal Atlesian Knights escort was dealing with the extra Grimm. Suddenly, they were brutally ripped apart by an Alpha Beowolf.

Ironwood narrowed his eyes as he began to pick up speed, running towards the Alpha Beowolf, with the Grimm doing the same. With a roar, Ironwood pulled out his revolver, the Tin Shot, with his left hand before sliding under the Alpha Beowolf's swipe, shooting it twice. He turned around, grabbing the ground with his right hand to stop himself from moving. The Alpha Beowolf roared in anger before charging at Ironwood, who was shooting at it a few more times before it got close. It raised its claw to swipe down, only for Ironwood to duck under it while spinning. As Ironwood got back up, he raised his right arm up, predicting the Alpha Beowolf would strike from that side. He completely stopped the Alpha Beowolf's arm. The Alpha Beowolf could only look in confusion at this when Ironwood shot its feet, taking the ground from beneath it. But Ironwood wasn't done there. Using what seemed like brute strength, he swung the Beowolf like a ragdoll into the ground before lifting it up, pointing his revolver at the Grimm's armored head. With a bang, his bullet went right through and killed it.

As he just finished it off, he saw a group of students coming over to him, recognizing Ruby in the lead.

"What's going on!?" asked Ruby.

Ironwood could only grimace before replying, "Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang's invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, some... _vagabond_ has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm..." he paused for a second to take out another Grimm that was trying to sneak up on them, "...going to take it back." He looked to see Penny was standing next to Ruby, and sighed in relief. Penny was all right. He quickly told Penny to stick with the group for now.

"Everyone!"

They all looked to see NPR running towards them, dragging the Arc family. Ironwood raised his eyebrow at this.

"Pyrrha! Why did you run off like that? And where's Jaune?" asked Ruby.

At this, Pyrrha stopped and looked down before giving into her emotions, sinking down to her knees, crying. Nora looked away sadly, and Ren could only curl his hands into tight balls. So tight that he started to bleed.

There was a brief silence, Sun's mouth hung open in shock and Velvet covered her own.

"No… it can't be… not him…" Ruby said quietly, not wanting to believe that the boy she loved was gone.

"No... Please no...," gasped Dew in horror.

"Jaune…" Dandys whose giant Afro was suddenly deflated covered his face as he looked down. Whether it had to do with his semblance or not was a mystery, but every time he's depressed or sad, his afro instantly deflates, same could be said for the opposite effect when he's happy, the fro is back.

"Yes! That disgrace is dead at last!" Laughed Boyd, causing all of them to either gasp or eyes widened in shock. "It wasn't easy but we finally did it!"

Vlad glared at his younger son as he didn't want it to be known that they had outright killed him. Ironwood walked towards them, a furious glare on his face. "Is this true?"

Vlad didn't answer at first, but when he saw Ruby, Pyrrha, Dew, Sun, and all of the others point their weapons at them with one trying to literally run over and most likely kill Boyd only to be held back by his teammate, he came clean.

"Very well, yes. It's true, the boy's dead! And I couldn't be more pleased about it." Vlad confessed.

"You... You murderer!" shouted Dew in tears.

"Bah, aside from you pathetic children nobody will care. That's a stain gone for good. Plus, I did the world a favor. No need for him to exist," cackled Vlad, clearly losing it, "You won't be able to convict me of anything either! Just a few well place Lien in the right hands and Jaune Ryu-Long is one of the key members who caused this invasion. He should thank me. He'll go down as an infamous person in history, rather than be erased from it."

"Not if I can help it," growled Ironwood, who took out his pistol, jabbing it directly at Vlad's forehead. "The only one with no need to exist is you, Arc. I should kill you right now…" He pulled the gun away and sighed, "But we have more important matters to attend to."

"How? What happened?" asked Nebula.

"Those three ambushed Jaune while I was busy with my fight. They wanted to kill him with no witnesses," sniffed Pyrrha.

"Apparently, even after that speech and alarm, Vlad wanted to kill Jaune still, stating that he didn't care about others," scowled Ren. He had taken the time to interrogate Boyd. When Boyd refused to answer, he had Nora hold Boyd over the edge, threatening to drop him. When he said that they were bluffing, Nora dropped him. It was only because of Pyrrha that Boyd was alive, as she suddenly jerked him back onto the ground with her Semblance. After that, Boyd confessed to everything, hence why he was being so upfront about their crimes.

"When we got to him," said Nora sadly, "Jaune had just defeated them all. Vlad's sword was broken in half. We were about to reunite when it happened."

"It?" asked Neptune.

"More White Fang attacked, aiming for Jaune specifically. Adam Taurus, the leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang, shot three of the Mutant Creepers that had snuck up on Jaune. They exploded before Jaune could do anything, and he fell out of the Colosseum. We saw his Aura around his body dissipate," finished Ren, "The only good thing was Pyrrha ripped the ship apart with her Semblance before sending it hurtling towards the ground.

They all stood there silently, trying grasp the concept that one of their fellow Huntsmen-in-training was dead. All because of the selfish whim of a man.

Upon hearing the situation, Ironwood's anger flared once more as he grasped Vlad by his collar, looking him dead in the eye.

"I won't let you dishonor Jaune's death. I'll be sure to have you rank, your license, everything stripped from you," growled Ironwood, "I'd shoot you right here and now, but I don't have time for this."

Ironwood turned to his ship, stopping before addressing to the students, "You have two choices. Defend your Kingdom and your school... or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave."

He climbed up to his personal ship, intending to seize back his battleship.

The students looked at each other, before nodding. They would fight. They all quickly got on a ship that would take them to Beacon. They dragged the Arc family along with them. They all debated on just abandoning them, but they were Huntsmen and Huntresses. It was their job to protect humanity. Even scum like them.

As they were flying down, Pyrrha was with Dew and Ruby, slightly crying for Jaune.

"What are we going to tell the others?" asked Pyrrha.

"We'll have to tell them later," sniffed Ruby, "They won't be able to focus if they learn Jaune may be dead."

"I'm surprised any of us can focus," remarked Dew, "He was our boyfriend. Our future husband… we loved him… and he's… gone"

"I don't know," murmured Pyrrha, "I feel like he is somehow alive. That he would find a way to survive. But for now, I fight to make those who caused this incident to pay."

Sun was sitting next to Gwen. Both of them looked at each other before clasping hands. They would fight and survive through this. Jaune would want that. Ren, Nora, and Octavia were in the same boat.

Everyone looked ready to do what they had been trained for and fight.

* * *

Meanwhile, Roman Torchwick was fidgeting around the controls of the airship with glee, pressing random buttons. Neo then gave Torchwick a special black Scroll, who giggled.

"Oh-ho-ho! Now this one, this one's gonna be fun!"

The Scroll's screen had the same background with the black queen piece. The program inside it had a special virus in it. It quickly spread inside the ship, hijacking all the main commands. As it was the only flying Battle Airship, it had complete control over all the robotic soldiers except for Penny.

A Squadron of Knights were shooting down Grimm, with Glynda and Qrow backing them up. Suddenly, they stopped, their visors and LEDs turning crimson. The robotic soldiers suddenly turned around and aimed their weapons at Qrow and Glynda before firing, surprising them.

All over Vale, the Atlesian Knights all turned rogue, all with the same crimson color, and firing at all humans and Faunus alike.

In Ironwood's ship, he was quickly flying towards Blue Two when he noticed the robotic soldiers all suddenly turned around and pointed their weapons at him. Before he could do anything, they fired, destroying the ship. The ship came crashing down to Vale.

Ruby gasped as she saw Ironwood's ship go down, as did the rest of them. Ruby slowly started to walk then run towards the exit. She was stopped by Ren.

"Let me go! I need to do this," said Ruby.

"I won't let another person die on my watch," said Ren solemnly. He would make it his mission to make sure that all of Jaune's mates made it through this disaster alive, to honor Jaune's memory if nothing else.

"We need someone on that ship!" exclaimed Ruby.

"I'll come with you," chirped Penny, "I have extensive knowledge of the ship's blueprints, and I can help fight."

"Please, Ren," begged Ruby, "We need to get someone on that ship to stop this. Me and Penny can do this."

Ren could only stare for a bit before stepping aside.

"Thanks. I'll make sure to come back alive," promised Ruby. With that, she and Penny jumped off the ship, back onto the Colosseum. They quickly ran to where all the lockers where both of them grabbing one. Ruby hooked her weapon onto the locker while Penny stabbed a few swords into the locker to lock herself in. They both nodded to each other, and Ruby punched in a code. They both immediately took to the skies. As the rocket locker went near the stolen airship, they both jumped onto the ship. The rocket locker fell onto another part of the ship with a thump.

Roman had been busy having fun when he heard the thump, along with Neo.

"Ugh... go see what that is," groaned Torchwick, gesturing to Neo. She nodded and quickly left the bridge.

* * *

Back at Beacon, the rogue Knights continued to fire at people, but they were being destroyed by a flurry of slashes. Weiss was taking down knights with _Myrtenaster_ along with her Glyphs, speeding and gliding through them while cutting them down. She used one as a bumper to jump back to the courtyard, where White Fang members were charging in.

Blake gave no mercy, fighting her... ex-brothers and sisters of the White Fang. She would no longer recognize them as such, and fought to protect the citizens. Weiss suddenly appeared and fired, helping Blake blast half of them away. As they stood back to back, they noticed a group of human Atlas soldiers trying to shoot down a rogue Atlesian Paladin. The virus had infected them too.

Weiss and Blake were about to help when they noticed a Bullhead crashing down. An Alpha Beowolf jumped off the ship, crashing down to the ground before chasing after innocent civilians. Weiss and Blake exchanged looks and nodded.

"Be safe," warned Weiss.

Blake nodded and ran off, chasing after the Grimm. She stopped right outside the cafeteria, looking around to find the Grimm. It leaped onto the walls, climbing up. Blake was about to give chase when she heard a yell of pain from inside the cafeteria. She looked inside and gasped, her face drawn in horror. For inside the burning interior of the cafeteria, was a person she never thought she would see again. The person had just thrown an Atlas soldier to the ground before stabbing him right in the heart.

"No... Adam?" gasped Blake.

Adam turned around, looking straight at her, "Hello, my darling."

* * *

Across Beacon Academy, various students were fighting the Grimm. All teams that had been fighting in the Vytal Tournament were now fighting to help others to live. It was a fight for their lives. However, they couldn't do anything as more and more people continued to die, either from the rogue Knights or Grimm. And Cinder was broadcasting this to the whole world.

"Beautiful," she murmured before wondering where Mercury and Emerald was. They were supposed to be here already, broadcasting this for her.

A few seconds later, she heard footsteps and turned her head to see her faithful pieces coming before frowning. The two of them looked like they had just gone through a fight for their lives. That, or they had been busy with... something inappropriate.

"What took you two so long?" demanded Cinder.

"Not... our... fault," gasped Mercury, "Crazy Faunus leader almost got us killed."

"Explain," demanded Cinder.

"Adam Taurus decided to stick around the Colosseum a bit longer instead of dropping us off, as planned," explained Emerald, "Apparently, he had a hit for the boy toy you wanted. Jaune Ryu-Long."

"And?" asked Cinder impatiently.

"..." Emerald remained silent.

"Adam basically killed him," remarked Mercury, when it was clear Emerald, didn't want to say anything, "Blew up his aura with those mutant creepers before it launched him out of the Colosseum. Last I looked, he was unconscious without any Aura when falling."

"Only problem was," started Emerald, "Was that the rest of his team was there to witness it. Pyrrha Nikos used her Semblance to hold us still and rip apart the wings. Ren and Nora provided covering fire, so we couldn't shoot back. After that, Pyrrha threw us towards the ground as hard as she could. Only me, Mercury, and Adam managed to escape before the explosion. The rest couldn't even move from all that sudden positive G-force, trapping them into the wall."

"And what was Jaune Ryu-Long doing?" asked Cinder with a frown. She had hoped to convince him to join them. His wings were certainly beautiful, fit for her. She could imagine herself flying in the air with him once she finished draining Amber of her power.

"Apparently, fighting his old man," commented Mercury, "We saw all three of the Arcs down for the count. Apparently, they wanted to kill him and manage to isolate him. He won, but that was when Adam struck."

"Disappointing," sighed Cinder, "We'll have to remind him not to act out of orders. But no matter. Adam has proven his use, and will continue to do so."

She glanced at Mercury and Emerald, and they quickly understood, grabbing their scrolls to broadcast the violence, focusing on the Atlesian Knights. Cinder put her Scroll away and started to walk away, looking to the mountains. The ground started to tremble.

* * *

Ozpin was watching the battle from three different video feeds, his teeth grinding in anger. He could see a group of Atlas soldiers, trying to take down a Deathstalker, while another video showed citizens crying for help while Mutant Beowolves were trying to climb up to them. Reese was there, trying to transport as many people as she could to safety.

"Merlot. So you managed to live and join Salem's faction," scowled Ozpin. He grabbed his cane, swinging it, ready for battle when he stopped as he felt the ground shake.

Glynda and Qrow were fighting both Grimm and rogue Knights. Taiyang had managed to find them and join them. They stopped when they felt the ground shake. Glynda looked to the mountain, her face in horror.

At the courtyard, Sage and Scarlet were piggyback riding and Ursa Major, trying to take it down when all three of them stopped to look up to the mountain when they felt the grounds tremor. So did the rest of the students.

The mountain started to shake violently, crumbling and breaking apart. Inside, various black body parts could be seen. Suddenly, the mountain completely broke apart, and a titanic Grimm Dragon flew to the skies, roaring at it had awakened from its slumber. It flew over Mt. Glenn, heading right towards Beacon, towards the tower. As it flew, it exuded black, tar-like substance that dropped to the ground. Upon impact, Grimm spawned forth from it. Ozpin looked at to the window and noticed it. He had no choice now. He quickly went down the stairs, skipping 2 floors each time. Elevators were nice, but not fast enough.

Teams gathered again once more, ready to fight. Weiss had never been so thankful for backup. They quickly divided themselves into new sections, covering as much ground as they could. NPR was ready to go when Pyrrha noticed Ozpin standing at the entrance of the tower. His face looked grim. Pyrrha nodded in understanding before walking off to Ozpin, causing Nora and Ren to be confused.

"Where are you going?" asked Ren, grabbing Pyrrha's hand, "I can't let you just walk off like this. I need to… we need to make sure that you're safe."

"To hopefully turn this around," answered Pyrrha, "You two, continue fighting here. Ozpin will be with me all the way. He'll protect me."

Ren could only sigh as he let go. This was twice, now, that he was letting Jaune's mates go their own way. He could only grit his teeth at this feeling of helplessness. Nora calmly patted his back before prodding him. He nodded and ran off with her to fight as many Grimm as they could, to save as many civilians as possible. They could trust Ozpin. He was one of the strongest Huntsmen, after all.

As Pyrrha went with Ozpin, in the distance, Cinder had her eyes locked on them.

"So that's where she is," smiled Cinder. Soon, her powers would be complete.

* * *

 **Jaune remains nowhere to be seen! Where could he be? Find out soon!**

 **Short, I know. But next chapter will be up Friday for sure, same as before. Felt like ending the chapter here as it would be a perfect.**

 **On a side note, a guest review left an interesting comment. If anyone wants to do a RWBY reaction story on my story, go ahead. I'd be interested to see how it writes out.**

 **On another note, I can't decide whether to name the giant Grimm a dragon or a wyvern. It should be a wyvern, based on the model, but the wiki has it named as a dragon.**


	33. Chapter 33 Potential Awakening!

**After thinking about it, I'm going to just name it a dragon for now instead of a wyvern, even though the model is a wyvern, I know.. Merely following the wiki, and it also plays into my story a bit better if I name it the Grimm Dragon for now.**

* * *

As the Grimm Dragon flew past the hijacked Airship to the tower, Ruby and Penny were dealing with random Griffons that decided to attack them. They made quick work of them before noticing a short woman in Atlesian uniform. Suddenly, her clothes changed from the bottom up, light washing over her. Ruby could now easily see it was Neo. Neo took a photo of Ruby after winking before sending it to Roman, with a little text saying 'Guess Who?'.

Torchwick looked at the photo and groaned in misery, "Oh, you can not be serious!"

He picked up his cane and Scroll to walk to the top of the airship. He seriously had enough on his plate, and this girl kept showing up every single time! It was really getting annoying! He wouldn't mind her if she would learn to just mind her own business, and maybe even become acquaintances.

Outside Beacon's cafeteria, Blake slowly backed away from the shattered window as she stared in horror at her old partner and ex-boyfriend.

"Running away again?" sneered Adam, "Is that what you've become, my love? A coward?"

"Why are you doing this?" asked Blake in horror.

"You and I were going to change the world, remember?" replied Adam, "We were destined to light the fires of revolution!" He drew out his sword, ready to stab a nearby Atlas student who nearby in the chest, "Consider this… a spark _."_

Before he could do so, Blake charged at him, sword drawn, slashing at him. Her blade clashed into his as she pushed him away from the student. The student quickly got up and ran. The two of them stood still, their blades locked together.

"I'm... not...running," grunted Blake, trying to force her blade down.

"You... will," grinned Adam before he tried to kick her. His back suddenly seized up in pain, making his kick a bit weak. Blake dodged it before trying to slash him, but he dodged it before backhanding her away. A Grimm Creeper tried to attack Blake, but he shot it before it could reach her.

"But _not_ before you suffer for your betrayal, my love _,"_ said Adam as he smiled and began walking towards her.

As they began fighting, Blake noticed that Adam's clothes seemed... dirty. He looked like he was slightly tired, but couldn't figure out why.

* * *

Back outside the Beacon courtyards, Velvet groaned as she tried to get up, only to be knocked back down by Coco after being punched from an Atlesian Paladin. The students were dealing with rogue Atlesian units, Grimm, and a few stray White Fang members. Luckily, no Grimm of the mutant variety had shown up yet. Reese and Neon were going around fights, providing backup to those in need as they were the most mobile. They froze a Paladin's legs, leaving it stationary for Weiss to charge forward. Suddenly, Weiss was hit by a punch from the Paladin, flying to the side. Yatsuhashi immediately stepped forward, using his sword to block the Paladin from doing any follow up attacks on Weiss, only to be sent flying back. The Paladin then stepped towards Ren, who was busy dealing with the Knights.

"Look out!" yelled Nora as she pushed Ren out of the way, taking the hit instead.

Ren looked in shock when he saw Nora flying away into the ground. She didn't seem to be getting up. Before Ren could do anything felt himself being pushed once again, this time by Octavia. The Paladin had used its previous momentum to swing another punch from its opposing fist. She took another hit for Ren, flying into a pole, her spine hitting the pole first. She crumpled up in pain, unable to get up. The pain was too much for her. It seemed like both Nora and Octavia had fainted.

'No.. NO! NOOOOOOO!' roared Ren in his mind. He wouldn't allow this. He had already failed so many times. First his family, then his friend and leader. He had let two of Jaune's mate to leave, and now his own mates were in danger. He would not stand for this. He will NOT stand for it!

"Ren!" shouted Nebula, seeing the Paladin winding up for another punch. The Paladin threw its punch at Ren. Ren merely glared at it in fury, raising his right hand as he put the right Stormflower into his sleeves, his hands already forming the dragon claw. He stopped the punch completely with his right hand, with his fingers starting to claw into the Paladin's fist, crushing it.

"What the?" gasped Flynt in surprise.

"Dude, that's wicked sick," complemented Brawnz.

Ren wasn't listening. His emotions were completely visible on his face. At the same time, the two Dragon's Marks on his hands were glowing in black and white. Dragons ran on emotions, and the stronger emotion, the stronger they get. And Ren wasn't playing around anymore.

With a roar, he pulled the Paladin forward before slicing off the offending hand with his left Stormflower. The blades on the weapon were glowing with Aura. Without missing a beat, Ren threw a fully loaded Aura punch into the Paladin's face-plate. Upon impact, he let the Aura explode, sending the Paladin flying away.

* * *

Ren was not the only one was using his Dragon's Mark to the fullest. Sun was busy dealing with another Paladin when he heard a scream of pain. He looked behind to see Gwen falling to the ground, taking a shot to the shoulder from the rogue Knight. Instantly, a Grimm Griffon landed in front of Dew. This Grimm was larger than the other Griffon. It was a Griffon Prime, the Alpha series of the Griffon. And it had its sights on Gwen.

"Get away from her!" roared Sun, charging forward. Neptune would've complained about being left alone to fight a Paladin when the two of them were having trouble, but seeing Sun's face in anger, he decided not to comment about it.

Time slowed down for Sun as he was running to help Gwen. She was helpless as the Griffon Prime opened its mouth, intent on swallowing her whole.

'No. NO! NO!' roared Sun mentally. His Dragon's Mark on his chest began to glow brown. His team noticed the mark on his chest, where it was usually hidden by his clothes.

Sun immediately summoned clones and had them charge forward. One clone transformed himself into a staff, while another threw the staff.

Gwen had her eyes closed at her impending death when she heard something. She opened her eyes to see a glowing staff stuck between the Griffon's beak, unable to close it. Another clone quickly carried her away from the danger, putting her next to Nebula. The clone inside the mouth transformed back to normal, letting the Griffon eat him before exploding inside its body. The Griffon was stunned, letting Sun kick the Griffon up into the air, where another clone was waiting with a staff. The clone smashed the Griffon back to the ground before spinning. Another clone jumped to the spinning clone, using its swing to shoot itself towards the Griffon before transforming into a ten-ton anvil, smashing itself onto the Griffon.

However, the Griffon shrugged off the damage before roaring, dispersing the clones away.

Sun fell to his knees for a bit, tired. However, he looked at Gwen, who was bleeding from her shoulder and felt his fatigue go away, to be replaced with anger. The Dragon's Mark began to shine even brighter. And deep within him, something broke open. An old legend, about a monkey who declared himself equal to the heavens. His power was indeed, comparable to the heavens above. But the legend faded as time passed, but the name was remembered. And Sun had been given the same name as the legend, as his mother wanted him to become someone like that. Sun had no idea he was actually a descendant from that legend. And with the Dragon's Mark, the legend came back to life.

With a roar, he stepped forward, and a pulse of light went off, with him being the source. The roar itself didn't sound human, but rather something….. primal and powerful. The earth began to shift and gather around Sun, glowing brightly. Soon, Sun was no longer wearing his usual open shirt and jeans, but rather a suit of armor. His head as now adorned with a crown with two long feathers coming off it. With a wave of his right arm, fire bellowed forth from his back before fading into a red cape. Overall, it gave him a regal look.

"That's... impressive," admitted Roy.

"OMG he looks soooo hot!" said Neon, "Think he's single?" she asked Flynt, who rolled his eyes.

Sun glared at the Griffon Prime, who started to step back in fear. Sun wouldn't let that go. He rushed into the Griffon, his whole body glowing like a meteor, crashing into the Griffon. He kicked the Griffon up and summoned 3 clones, who jumped to surround the Griffon. He split his staff into Nunchaku, his clones doing the same, and wailed on the Griffon. The last attack, they all slammed their Nunchaku down, crashing it into the rogue Knight that had shot Gwen. The Clones quickly formed a platform for Sun to step on, and he pushed off them, quickly forming his weapon back into a staff.

"HIIIYAAAA!" yelled Sun as he slammed his staff right in front of the two enemies, shooting out a beam of energy that cut right through both of them.

With the enemy finished, he walked up to where Gwen was, who was being bandaged by Nebula. She blushed as she saw a serious Sun, ready to protect her. Sun twirled his staff before breaking it back into its mobile form and put it away. Sun smiled, glad to see Gwen was alright before collapsing right in front of her. The armor disappeared, as did all the cape and hat, leaving him back to his normal clothes. Gwen quickly ran to Sun, feeling his pulse, and sighed as it was beating strongly. Sun was just exhausted from that. She gently put Sun's head onto her lap, becoming his pillow.

"My brave hero," whispered Gwen. Meanwhile, Neon Kat was looking at Gwen in jealousy.

* * *

Coco whistled at what Sun had done. She looked back to a Paladin to see Ren was handling it by himself, massacring the war machine. He was punching, kicking, slicing, and ripping parts of the Paladin. It looked like it was on its last legs, but so did Ren. Ren gave one last roar before kicking the Paladin away. The Paladin twitched and then remained silent. Ren then broke its knees for good measure before slowly walked back to Nora and Octavia, stumbling almost every step. These first years were seriously showing them up. It was quite a blow to her pride as the upperclassman. So she decided it was time to take out the big guns.

"Well, I guess now's a better time than any. Velvet!" she ordered.

Velvet looked excited when she heard it "Really?"

Coco nodded, "Just make them count."

Velvet nodded as she walked up to the remaining Paladin. SSN, noticing Velvet walking confidently in front of them all, scooted back, interested to see what she was going to do.

Weiss had just gotten up, witnessing Sun and Ren's fight. She looked at Velvet in worry before asking, "What are you doing!? She's going to get hurt!"

"Just watch," grinned Coco.

Velvet held out her right hand, and the box behind her opened slightly, drawing a hard light copy of _Crescent Rose_. Velvet had spent a whole year just making this weapon. She had designed it in her first year at Beacon. She started to create it during the second semester. She didn't finish it until a year later. It was the perfect weapon, complimenting her Semblance, Mimicry. Being able to mimic the moves of anyone she saw as long as she was using the same weapon. However, she couldn't just carry 50 weapons with her. So she crafted this with the help of Glynda, Peach, and Oobleck, who also used their contacts to Atlas to help out.

Now, she could carry as many weapons as she could, given that she took photos of the said weapon. The camera would memorize the details of the weapon, and the box inside would bring it to life.

Weiss watched in amazement as Velvet was swapping through weapons with ease, showing that she had no trouble with any of them at all, whether it would be a rapier, gauntlets, staff, or even a Gatling gun. What surprised her was when Velvet copied Penny's weapon and ended the fight with a full Aura blast, just like Penny did back at the docks at the end of the first semester, obliterating the last Paladin. After that, she fell down tired. Yatsuhashi quickly caught her. The downside to the weapon was it consumed her Aura much faster than normal, as she was supplying Aura to form her weapons.

The remaining students still standing looked around, seeing that most of the enemies were gone. Sun had gotten back up after enjoying the lap pillow given by Gwen, but they were still in danger. Nora and Octavia had woken up to see a crying Ren. They hugged him, comforting him. Both were amazed to see Ren had dismantled a Paladin by himself, and for good measure, broken its legs, earning a kiss from Nora.

"So, what was all that about?" asked Sage to Sun.

"I dunno," shrugged Sun, "Something happened to me while I was pissed off."

"What's that mark on your chest?" asked Scarlet. The others who heard it also turned to Sun, curious about the mark. They had also seen it on Ren's hands.

"I'll tell you guys more in private," sighed Sun, "It's not my secret.. well it kinda is, but I can't say it now. Plus, we're not exactly safe here."

Just as he said that the earth shook, and another Paladin appeared, without a single scratch mark and fully powered and functional

"You have got to be kidding me!" gaped Sun.

* * *

Back on the rooftops of Vale, Mercury had been observing the students with interest. He had left the recording job to Emerald, scouting some other situations when he saw the fight. He was quite amazed by Ren and Sun, and vowed to put their names on his personal hit list.

Back on the airship, Neo was fighting Ruby and Penny and was starting to sweat. So far, all her battles had basically ended in ties or losses. And she really wasn't like that trend. If it was just Ruby, she doubted she would have any problems with her. Even if it was Penny at 100% alone, she felt she could handle it. But with the two of them working together, and Penny neutralizing her illusions, she was being hard pressed. Ruby twirled her weapon, forcing Neo back before grabbing it and fired a shot at her. Neo quickly made another illusion, and it shattered, revealing Torchwick, who fired at Ruby. Penny blocked the attack with her swords.

"Little Red, little Red, you are just determined to be the hero of Vale, aren't cha?" commented Torchwick sarcastically.

"Please, desist what you are doing," said Penny, "This ship is needed to help the people."

"Oh, and look! You brought the toy soldier with you! But whatever, that's why I'm here anyways." said Torchwick, although inside, he frowned. He had seen the firepower off this girl and did not want to fight her. Not to mention, she seemed to be unaffected by the virus.

"But why!? What do you get out of it!?" asked Ruby.

"You're asking the wrong questions, Red! It's not what I have to gain, it's that I can't afford to lose!" replied Torchwick.

Ruby charged at him, just to see Neo vault over Roman to with a powerful kick. Ruby managed to block it but stumbled backward. Neo ran towards her while Roman began shooting at Penny to distract her. Ruby tried to slash at Neo, only for her to block it with a swift kick before flipping and hooking _Crescent Rose_ with her umbrella. She pulled it down, sliding under Ruby, causing Ruby to lose her balance at the sudden shift of weight. She then pulled, flipping Ruby while disarming her. As Ruby was spinning midair, Neo was about to finish it with a roundhouse kick to the abdomen when she had to use her illusions to dodge a shot from Penny. Penny was using three swords to fend off Roman defensively but had time to shoot an Aura blast at Neo. Ruby ended up landing on her face, but she quickly got back up and grabbed her beloved scythe.

Just as Penny fired, though, Torchwick managed to get through her defense and land a hit on Penny's face, followed by a shot, sending Penny flying back. Ruby quickly dashed to her side, intercepting her from falling off. They stared off each other in a stalemate.

"I may be a gambling man, but even _I_ know that there are some bets you _just don't take_. Like it or not, the people that hired me are going to change the world! _You_ can't stop 'em, _I_ can't stop 'em!" began Torchwick.

Ruby and Penny began to fire, but Neo easily blocked them all.

"You know the old saying, 'If you can't beat 'em-;" rambled Torchwick when he noticed heard something falling. He looked up to see a transport airship above them, and Junior descending down with his bat.

"Oh CRAP!" shouted Torchwick, shoving Neo out of the way and dodging Junior's strike. Neo got back up and was ready to attack Junior when the Malachite twins showed up, slashing and kicking at her.

"Junior! Melanie! Miltia!" shouted Ruby excitedly.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," nodded Junior, "Most of my men are helping the citizens."

"Junior, my old friend," began Torchwick, "Cmon, let's not do this, for old time's sake? I can get you on the winning team."

"Sorry, but I'm already on that side. If you want to join, though..." began Junior, to which Torchwick laughed.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."

"That's fair enough," grunted Junior, shifting his bat to a bazooka.

Roman laughed nervously when he noticed he was surrounded by Junior's men, all pointing their guns at him.

"Neo, if you could?" asked Roman.

Neo nodded and was about to flourish her parasol when Penny's sword came flying at her, forcing her to dodge. Ruby took this chance, using her Semblance and charged at Neo, drop kicking her in the stomach. Spit flying out of her mouth, Neo flew back just to be intercepted by Miltia and Melanie. They attacked her, causing Neo to lose consciousness. She slumped down onto the floor, defeated.

"NEO!" shouted Torchwick in worry.

As Miltia and Melanie tied Neo up, Junior grunted, "It's over, Roman. Just come with us, and stop this madness."

Torchwick sighed, knowing he had been defeated. He dropped his cane, allowing Junior's men to handcuff him. One of them bumped into him, almost making Torchwick lose his hat. Before he could snap at the man, Junior beat him to it.

"Watch the hat. He likes it a lot."

Torchwick grinned at that just for a second. As Junior's transport airship began to descend, Ruby gave one last message to Torchwick.

"I don't care what you say! We will stop them! BET ON THAT! _ **"**_ shouted Ruby.

"Well, good luck with that," grunted Torchwick, "You wanna be a hero!? Then you'll have to play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history."

Junior smacked his head for that comment as Ruby began to remember her own mother.

"Cmon, let's get out of here," sighed Junior, "Melanie, Miltia, go with Ruby and Penny to see if you can stop whatever is going on."

"Uncle, can you later head down to Beacon? We wanna see if Ren is alright," asked the twins.

Junior nodded, and as Neo and Torchwick were escorted onto the transport ship, the Grimm Griffons decided to attack.

Junior shifted his bazooka and pointed it at the majority of Grimm, annihilating quite a bit of them. Junior's men were back in the ship, shooting as many as possible. Ruby, Penny, Melanie, and Miltia were doing their best to deal with the Grimm while trying to head to the door that led to inside the ship. However, when Ruby had jumped above one of them Grimm and kicked it towards the airship, it crashed and caused an explosion. A chain reaction occurred, causing many other explosions before starting to fail and fall towards the ground.

"Uncle! Just go, we'll be alright!" shouted Militia.

Junior nodded and signaled his pilot to launch. The four of them jumped off the airship, freefalling for a bit. Ruby rolled and used her weapon like a Pogo-stick, shooting bullets to halt her descent. Penny shifted her swords into wings, flying downwards slowly. Melanie and Miltia had parachutes ready and opened them, floating down. They all landed safely onto the rooftops of Vale.

* * *

Back in the city, Glynda was using her riding crop and Semblance to destroy a few Creepers, while Qrow was slicing through some rogue Knights. Taiyang was bashing a few Beowolves on their head, and team CRDL was backing them up. Cardin giddily knocked an Ursa's head off with his mace, but found himself staring at the muzzle of a few rogue Knights. The rest of his team quickly destroyed a few of the knights, but they found themselves all staring at guns pointed at them. Suddenly, the Knight's heads were shot off. As the smoke cleared, Ironwood was walking out of the smoke, showing his resilience as he had survived the crash. His uniform was damaged, showing to the world that the right half of his body from the neck below was cybernetic. Without hesitation, he shot the rogue Knights, putting in some explosive Dust rounds in his revolver to take out groups. The last one he flipped his revolver around, using it as a blunt weapon and smashed the last one.

"This area's secure! We need to-" began Ironwood as soon as he saw Qrow, Glynda, and Taiyang.

Suddenly, Qrow's expression changed to what seemed to be anger, transforming his sword into a scythe and charging towards Ironwood.

"Qrow! This isn't my doing!" shouted Ironwood, trying to explain.

Qrow looked like he was completely ignoring him, charging forward still. Ironwood flipped his gun in his hand, ready to defend himself from what seemed to be an attack. However, Qrow leaped _past_ Ironwood, confusing him until he turned to see a large Griffon lunging at him. His eyes opened as he understood that Qrow was saving him as Qrow sliced the Griffon into two.

Upon landing, he turned around and scoffed, " You idiot. I know you didn't do this."

"You should know him better than that," remarked Taiyang, "The two of you have been butting heads forever, but he'd never blame you for something like this."

Ironwood could only sigh, lowering his head and putting his hand on his forehead. It had been a very stressful day for him. Glynda placed her hand on his shoulder in sympathy.

"So what now, General?" asked Qrow.

Ironwood began to snap back to attention, acting like a General again, "Someone's done the impossible and gained control of _my_ machines. And that enormous Grimm seems to be fixated on the school. Glynda, form up the local Huntsmen and establish a safe zone here in Vale. We need to evacuate Beacon. Qrow, Taiyang, I'm leaving that to you and my men. I still need to get to my ship. Team CRDL, accompany them."

Then, all of them heard a loud noise and turned to see Ironwood's rogue airship nose diving into the ground and crashing.

"Well, it won't be much of a walk," remarked Qrow.

The rogue Knights all around them powered down as the command center for them all was destroyed.

Ironwood could only sigh as all the Knights were down. At least this was better, as now the rogue Knights couldn't hurt anyone, along with the rogue Paladins. Still, he would've preferred if he could take back his ship, so the robots could actually do their jobs.

"Guess I'll be with you guys to establish a safe zone."

Back at the Beacon courtyard, the students were ready to fight the charging rogue Paladin when it suddenly powered down, sliding to a stop in front of them. They all lowered down their weapons upon seeing that.

"Hm. That went better than expected," commented Sun. He found his left arm being glomped and looked over to see Neon holding onto it.

"Mmm, but I'm sure you could've handled it," whispered Neon.

Before he could say anything, Gwen had taken his right arm, glomping herself onto it while staring at Neon with a glare. The two girls were at a stare off, and sparks could easily be seen crashing.

Yang and Zwei suddenly appeared before them, running over to Weiss, "Weiss! You're okay! Have you heard from Ruby?"

Weiss shook her head at that, and Yang asked about Blake.

"She went after an Alpha... and some members of the White Fang," replied Weiss, pointing her in the direction.

Yang nodded, "You look for Ruby. I'll meet up with Blake. I'll leave Zwei with you."

Yang hurried off in the direction Weiss had pointed, while Weiss gave her a thumbs up. She was still tired from all that fighting. Ren tried to move, but he was still exhausted from the fight. He could only groan and hope nothing would happen to Yang.

* * *

At the Beacon vault, Pyrrha and Ozpin were quickly running towards the machine. Pyrrha quickly got into the pod, ready for the transfer. She wanted, no needed, the extra boost if she wanted to find Jaune, or at the very least, get revenge for him. She shuddered to think that. She could feel it. Somehow, Jaune was still alive somewhere. And she wouldn't give up hope.

Ozpin quickly typed into the machine's hologram. As he started up the program, he looked over to Pyrrha. He never wanted this. He had hoped to never bring the fight to his students, but it seemed as though fate would not be so kind.

* * *

Back in the cafeteria, Adam was yelling at Blake, " This could've been o _ur_ day! Can't you see that!?"

"I never wanted _this_! I wanted equality! I wanted _peace_!" screamed Blake back as she slashed at Adam. She jumped back to dodge his attack, folding her blade into the sickle mode and shot two bullets at Adam. He blocked both shots with his sword, getting empowered from the kinetic energy.

"What you want is _impossible_!" shouted Adam as he sheathed his sword and backhanded Blake. She dodged it and tackled Adam. Adam fell back with an oof, feeling his back burn. The injuries on his back were still there from dealing with that accursed Redhead. She was next on his hitlist. Adam grabbed Blake by her head and smashed her head into the ground. Blake could see stars as Adam flipped her over on her back.

"But I understand because all I want is _you_ , Blake," growled Adam as he kicked _Gambol Shroud_ from Blake's hand.

"And as I set out upon this world and deliver the _justice_ mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy _everything_ you love," laughed Adam, pointing and gesturing at Blake. "I've already taken a certain someone you care for from this world…" He told her, making her eyes widen in horror.

Soon, Yang's voice calling for Blake was heard by both of them. They looked both looked at the broken windows to see Yang appear, looking around before punching a White Fang away.

"Blake! Where are you!?" shouted Yang.

Adam looked at Blake to see her terrified expression before returning his gaze back to Yang.

"And she'll be the second sacrifice," grinned Adam.

* * *

Ozpin was rapidly typing in the controls when he looked at Pyrrha and asked: "Are you ready?"

Pyrrha gave him a nod, but Ozpin shook his head. "I... I need to hear you say it."

Pyrrha understood and told him, "Yes," before laying her head back, ready for the transfer.

"Thank you, Miss Nikos," said Ozpin before raising Amber's pod up. Amber began glowing orange, her eyelids fluttering as the Aura transfer began. The orange glow traveled along the pipes connecting the two pods, and soon, and orange glow surrounded Pyrrha, who began to scream in agony and pain.

It felt as though thousands of needles were stabbing her nerves, but she held on.

'For you, Jaune,' whispered Pyrrha mentally as she pressed on.

"I'm... so sorry," sighed Ozpin, to both Pyrrha and Amber.

Suddenly, an arrow pierced through the glass of Amber's pod, striking her in the chest. Ozpin turned around, his eyes open in shock as he saw Cinder standing halfway down the corridor with her obsidian bow in her hand. A smirk crept across her face. She had managed to sneak in while all the students were busy trying to deal with the enemies.

* * *

"Second?" gasped Blake. Adam ignored her and stabbed his blade into left hip, causing her to shriek in pain. Yang turned around to see Adam and her blade in Blake's hips before pulling it out and facing Yang.

"Get away from her!" shouted Yang.

"No... please.." whispered Blake helplessly.

"Come, human. You'll be nothing but another to fall to my blade in my quest for justice." sneered Adam, "You're the second one I'll be taking out today. The first one was Jaune Ryu-Long. Made him fall off the Colosseum with his Aura shattered."

At this, both Yang and Blake's eyes opened wide at this. Their boyfriend was dead!? And by the hand of Adam, no less!

Yang screamed in rage, her eyes turning red and a burst of flame erupting from her as Adam sheathed his sword. Yang completely forgot about controlling her anger as soon as she heard Blake was in danger and that Jaune was possibly being dead. She leaped towards Adam, her right fist drawn back to land the biggest punch she had ever done. Adam sneered and drew his blade, swinging it through the air at Yang, with his Semblance fully active. He had gained enough energy from Blake's shots, as well as a few others from soldiers trying to shoot him. His blade sliced right through Yang's protective aura and arm. Yang flew through the air, her right arm detached from her whole body from the elbow down. The pain was too much for her that she lost consciousness as she landed on the ground, crumpled. Blake could only helplessly watch her partner's arm slowly separate from the attack.

* * *

Amber was struggling to breathe, the machine's alarm going off. Suddenly, Amber's eyes glazed over, all breath leaving her. Her head tilted to the side, her body going limp. The green flames that lit the vault suddenly all snuffed out. Pyrrha frantically beat against the glass of her pod, but the orange glow left Pyrrha and traveled back to Amber. The orange Aura left Amber, shattering the glass, and entered Cinder. She began to float, gaining long trails of flames around her eyes as the orange energy swirled around her. Pyrrha used her Semblance to blast the pod's door off the hinges, throwing it at Cinder, who blocked it as though it was nothing.

Pyrrha quickly summoned her weapons back to her, ready to fight Cinder when Ozpin stopped her.

"Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall!" ordered Ozpin.

"But I can help," protested Pyrrha.

Ozpin slowly turned his head to look Pyrrha in the eyes, "You'll only get in the way."

Feeling helpless, Pyrrha nodded and quickly ran around Cinder. Cinder ignored her, focusing all her attention on Ozpin.

* * *

Adam was walking slowly towards Yang's unconscious body, swinging his sword to the side to get rid of the dirty human blade off his beautiful blade. Before he could reach her, Blake suddenly threw herself between them, giving him a rather determined and hate-filled stare.

Adam frowned at this and asked, " Why must you hurt me, Blake?"

"I hate you!" shouted Blake, "I thought you could change, but who am I kidding? No wonder I fell for Jaune so easily, he's more of a man than you'll ever be!"

Adam flinched at that, his rage skyrocketing, "At least I'm alive, and he is dead! But that does confirm the information from my spies about your new boyfriend."

"You didn't even have the courage to fight him head on! And he's gone much farther than I'd ever let you!" sneered Blake.

At this, Adam saw red. He had always wanted to go further with Blake than mere kissing, but she would never allow it. To hear that somebody else, a human no less, had gone to where he hadn't before. He swung his sword at Blake's neck, separating her head from her body. However, both her body and head vanished after a few seconds. Adam turned around to see the real Blake dragging Yang away to safety, tears in her eyes. He began to walk after her, slicing a Grimm Creeper without even looking at it.

His lieutenant, Edward Talutah, quickly ran up to him.

"Sir, most of the civilians have gone to what they deem a secure location to be escorted to a safe zone in Vale. There are quite a few Huntsmen and Huntresses at the evacuation area. If they reach the safe zone, we lose them. What should we do?"

Adam pondered about it for a little. That would be where Blake would be running off to. The White Fang alone couldn't handle professional Huntsmen and Huntresses. But if what the information was true, both the elder Schnee and the middle child Schnee were there. It was worth taking the chance to kill them, and further drive a wound into Blake.

"Get the Alpha variety Grimms, and try to herd them there. Once there, give them the mutation vials. And see if you can't get a Deathstalker and Goliath there, and give those the special mutation vials. And get me a healing salve, I'm going to need it. That damn red-headed bitch did a number when she force crashed my ship," ordered Adam.

Ed nodded before barking orders into his communications device while handing one of the special healing salves to Adam. This salve was created by Salem's own doctor, Arthur Watts. As he sat down to put the salve on his back, he heard footsteps, along with a cackling laughter.

"Tyrian Callows," sighed Adam, knowing the scorpion Faunus had been sent for as backup.

"At your service," giggled Tyrian, "You're going after the girl, aren't you?"

"Of course, once I get this wound close," grunted Adam, feeling the salve working its magic. Soon, he felt good as new again.

"Oooh, I'm coming, too. I want someone good to fight, but since you said you killed devil boy, I'll have to find someone else to keep me busy. Perhaps Glynda Goodwitch, or Ironwood. Both are quite tasty targets," snickered Tyrian, his tail twitching in excitement. "Too bad, I was looking forward to fighting that kid."

"Do what you will," replied Adam as he started walking towards the 'safety' area. It wouldn't be safe for much longer.

* * *

"This whole time... right beneath our feet," growled Cinder. She had been looking everywhere for this, and couldn't imagine that this place even existed. It was almost like hiding in plain sight. Yet, Ozpin didn't seem to have the proper defenses to make sure nobody made it here. "She was right about you. Such arrogance" taunted Cinder.

Ozpin merely tossed his cane up before grabbing it like a sword, ready to fight. He would make sure that his students get to safety, and win. Even if he didn't he would do his dam best to make sure Cinder was weakened enough to not harm his students.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Review if you can! So Sun has awoken his own legend, and Ren soloed a Paladin. Woot! I did hint on Sun and the monkey legend a few chapters back.**

 **Junior to the rescue! Along with the Malachite twins and the... cannon fodders! Well, maybe a bit higher now since they all had to undergo training.**

 **And yet, at the same time, as hope seems to grow, the plot seems to also darken. Yang still lost her arm, and now Tyrian's here to play! I did originally think whether or not I should have Yang keep it, but I decided that her personality would cause her to loose it still. She dives in without any thought still. This plays onto the future chapters, so yea. Yes, it will involve Raven, so just be patient.**

 **And Jaune's still missing! What has happened to him, muhahaha. Next upload date... might be pretty fast. Could be tommorow, could be the day after.**


	34. Chapter 34 And then a sound

**Thanks for continuing to support me! Here's the new chapter! And the title... well just read on.**

* * *

Cinder and Ozpin stared off at each other for a few seconds as darkness overtook the Vault. Suddenly, flashes of green and orange colors illuminated the darkness, clashing with each other. One could see the orange belonged to Cinder, while the green belonged to Ozpin. The two of them struck at each other, trying to get the upper hand when Ozpin managed to land a thrust at Cinder's stomach. She slid back, her hand on the ground melting the floor below her while rocks flew up into the air from her hand. Using her new powers, she used the flying pebbles and transformed them into ice crystals, sending them flying at Ozpin. Without even moving his feet, Ozpin blocked them all, faster than most people could even see. He dashed towards Cinder, landing fourteen stabs onto Cinder, who couldn't even block it in time, before punching her away.

"That's IT!" shouted Cinder as she used her newfound powers, halting her momentum and floating in midair.

She became the center of a ball of fire, shooting out streams of flames everywhere. She started to concentrate all her power to wipe Ozpin from the face of Remnant. Ozpin quickly slammed his cane into the floor, forming a spherical force-field around him, made of pure Aura. Cinder unleashed a powerful flame blast, using her favored element, fire. Ozpin leaped into the attack with the barrier protecting him, pushing forward. Cinder tried to force more power in, but Ozpin was getting closer and closer. Suddenly, Ozpin's shield shattered, and the blast hit him, sending him flying away in a bright flash of light.

Cinder chuckled as she saw Ozpin laying on the floor, groaning in pain. Cinder frowned as she did a body check of herself and found that a lot of her own Aura had been consumed. Ozpin had definitely proven that he was no ordinary man, and the title as Headmaster of Beacon, as well as one of the leaders of his little group, was not for show. If she had only half the Maiden's power, she would have had definitely lost. To be honest, she felt like she had only won because Ozpin had gotten a little too overconfident with that barrier move.

"So it ends... wizard," laughed Cinder as she used her powers to shake the Vault.

The ceiling began to cave in, burying Ozpin in it. Even though he managed to live through the rock fall, he wouldn't have the energy to escape. He would die from the lack of air, causing him to die a slow death. Cinder walked to the elevator, looking at Ozpin's burnt body as the rocks fell down. A large boulder landed right between them, closing off Ozpin from her sights. She grinned. Her job with Ozpin was done. Using her new powers, she launched herself to the top of the tower, using fire from her hands as propulsion. She needed to be at the top for the next phase.

"I have failed..." coughed Ozpin.

He had tried his best, and thought for a second with the Aura shield, he could get close enough to land a killing blow. He underestimated how much control Cinder had over her new powers. Most likely from training from Salem and her cohorts. He looked up to see another large rock falling towards his head. With no energy left to move, he closed his eyes, ready to welcome death, to the void. It never came. He slowly opened his eyes to see the falling boulder had been split into two.

"Told you, Oz. You needed to be careful."

He smiled as he recognized the voice.

"Raven. Didn't think you'd be the one to rescue me."

"Don't get used to it," growled Raven, "I suppose the one time deal can be applied to you, too. You were the one who convinced the others to accept me and Qrow into Beacon, even though our backgrounds stated we came from a bandit clan."

"I couldn't have children be so carelessly tossed into the darkness," sighed Ozpin, "My hope was that you, along with team STRQ, would be part of the ones to lead Remnant to continue peace."

"That's a fool's dream," retorted Raven, "The world is not so kind."

"Even so, it's a dream worth pursuing. As all Huntsmen and Huntresses do," replied Ozpin, "Summer so dearly wished for it, and that dream has passed down to her daughter."

Raven briefly twitched at the mention of Summer, but chose to lift Ozpin up, putting his arms around her shoulders before slicing open a portal. She put on her mask, as she didn't want anyone to recognize her.

"I'll drop you off at where Qrow and Tai are at. They're busy acting as guards for the evacuation area. You should be fine once you get dropped off to Vale. They'll treat your injuries."

Ozpin remained silent as they walked towards the portal. Just as they entered, Ozpin muttered, "Thank you."

* * *

Back out on the docks outside of Beacon, air buses were quickly picking up all civilians and students. To Ironwood's surprise, he saw Junior leading his men out, helping secure the perimeter as well as delivering a bound Roman Torchwick and Neo. For now, they would stay on the ground, as they needed the civilian and students too scared to fight to escape first. Ironwood had always suspected Junior of a few crimes but was unable to pin them on him. Now, he was here helping them out, giving them much needed medical equipment and supplies. He supposed that even underground criminal lords would rise to defend Vale when threatened.

"That's it! Everybody on board! This is a mandatory evacuation!" shouted Port, as he was patrolling the area.

"A safe zone has been established in Vale! Please, remain calm and listen to Atlas personnel!" announced Oobleck.

Saffron, Xanthe, and Winter had managed to make it to Beacon to became part of the guard to defend the evacuation zone. They were dealing with a few stray Grimm every now and then.

"Where's Jaune?" asked Saffron in worry.

"Haha you don't have to worry about him anymore!" Answered the mocking voice of her 'father.'

Saffron and Xanthe looked to the source of his voice to see him tied up with Aurelian and Boyd.

"What do you mean?" questioned Xanthe, her eyes narrowed.

"The brat's dead!" laughed Vlad maniacally.

Ironwood instantly kicked him in the head, silencing him, but it was too late.

"No... You're lying!" shouted Saffron.

"Father is right," sighed Aurelian, "Jaune Ryu-Long is most likely dead. After defeating father, he was ambushed by the White Fang. Three of those Mutated Grimm Creepers exploded at point blank range from where he was. He was blasted out of the Colosseum, dropping towards Vale, unconscious and with his Aura shattered."

"Brother?" asked Boyd in shock at how Aurelian seemed to be expressing... regret?

"I'm tired of this," answered Aurelian, "To be honest, I was afraid that somehow, Jaune Ryu-Long would somehow become Jaune Arc again. That he would steal that title from me. But seeing him defeat father and still rejecting the Arc title has made me see he had no interest in it at all."

After that, he became silent, along with Boyd. Saffron and Xanthe were crying. They had just finally reunited with their little brother, and their damn sperm donor had caused his death. How were they going to tell the rest of the family now?

One of Junior's henchmen had heard this outburst and quickly ran to tell Junior. When he heard it, he did his best not to march over to Vlad and swing his bat on his head over and over and over again. There would be time for that later. Right now, he needed to at least fulfill what Jaune would've wanted; escorting these people to safety.

Another horror came when Blake was carrying Yang, both of them bleeding from their wounds.

"Oh, no... Blondie," murmured Junior softly before barking for medical supplies.

"Taiyang, Qrow! I think you two need to see this," said Ironwood when he noticed the two newcomers.

"What is it, somethi-" Taiyang trailed off when he saw her daughter missing her right arm.

"No... NO!" shouted Taiyang, running to Yang, putting her head on his lap as he could only cry.

Blake was having her injury wrapped up, and she could only lay down next to Yang, placing her hands on her only hand.

"I'm sorry," cried Blake, "I'm so sorry."

Weiss had arrived a few minutes later, and Winter went to hug her tightly.

"I was so worried," whispered Winter, "With the White Fang and their grudge against us Schnee, I was terrified if they caught you, or you end up like your friend Yang or Jaune."

"What? What happened to Yang? And what about Jaune?" asked Weiss. Winter could only point to Yang sadly. As for Jaune, Ironwood had told her. She gripped her saber hard when she heard about his death. It only made her resolve to fight against the White Fang much more. They had taken so much from the Schnee family. They had made a mistake to take Jaune.

Weiss looked over and gasped in disbelief. One of the strongest fighters she knew, one of her close friends, was crippled. She couldn't believe that such a thing could happen.

She heard her name being called and turned around to see Ruby running up to her, with Penny, Miltia, and Melanie behind her.

"Ruby!" shouted Weiss in happiness. She had been very worried about Ruby, too.

"Oh, I found you!" panted Ruby.

"Salutations!" waved an armless Penny, "Lieutenant Schnee! Good to see you, too!"

"The feeling... is mutual," replied Winter, unsure how to reply back to a quirky girl who seemed to have no problems with missing limbs.

"Ruby, where have you-" began Weiss, but Ruby interrupted her.

"Don't worry, I'm fine! What's going on?"

"Blondie," gasped Melanie and Miltia.

Ruby looked at them before turning her head to where they were looking before gasping in horror. Her sister was missing an arm. And unlike Penny, she couldn't just grow it back or have someone fix her up. Ruby ran next to Taiyang and began talking to her sister, before glancing at the last member of RWBY.

Blake, who was still curled up, was still crying while repeating "I'm so sorry," each time. Taiyang was slowly drifting his hands through Yang's hair, trying to comfort her. Glynda was kneeling beside Blake, telling her it would be all right.

* * *

Suddenly, a portal opened up and out came Ozpin and Raven, with her mask on.

"Oz!" shouted Qrow and Ironwood.

"Get him to a healing station, asap," replied Raven. Seeing as her job was done, she was about to turn around and leave when Qrow grabbed her on the shoulder. She felt herself being turned before being punched in her face, knocking her mask off.

"What was that for?" asked Raven in annoyance as she picked up her mask, looking at it. There was a slight crack from where Qrow had punched her. "You better have-"

Qrow didn't respond, giving her another punch to her gut before pulling her head, forcing her to look at Yang.

"Where's your rule of one? Didn't you say you would honor it!? That you wouldn't break it!? Then where were you this happened to your DAUGHTER!" roared Qrow.

Raven slowly looked to where Yang was before feeling her heart stop. Her hands stopped working, dropping her mask to the ground. It landed on the crack, shattering her mask. But she didn't care. Her blood ran cold at the sight. She could barely breathe. Her world was turning upside down on her. For laying before her daughter, missing her right arm and in so much pain.

"Y-y-yang?" stuttered Raven, slowly walking forward to Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang, stumbling at almost every step.

Raven was prideful. She was powerful. She would always fight for what she wanted. But she was also honorable to her own code. To always follow through, and keep her word. And now, she had just broken it. She had established that her rule of one for Yang was still in play. That she would save her once before letting her fend for herself. If Yang got over her head again, then it was her own fault for not learning the first time. But this was Yang's first time in true danger. And she had not been there to protect her, like she should have.

But more importantly, feelings she thought she had discarded or locked away came back to the surface. The feeling for her beloved daughter, laying in front of her. The emotions of being a mother. She had been afraid that those feelings would weaken her. But she could not ignore them now. Ozpin was right, 9 months of carrying Yang inside her uterus could not be so easily forgotten. Her own flesh and blood, was now laying there without an arm. Something she could have…. no, should have prevented it.

She kneeled down directly in front of Taiyang, raising her hand towards Yang's face before recoiling. She had no right to do so. But Taiyang understood, and gently guided her hands onto Yang's face.

"Yang, sweetie," said Raven softly, "Please, tell me who did this?"

Yang groaned as if slightly hearing Raven's voice before replying, "Mom? Dad?.. It hurts so bad... I can't feel my right hand.." She was still in a dazed state, unable to tell what was happening.

Raven's tear ducts, once to have thought to sealed away as she believed crying was for the weak, was being released now. She knew that when Yang said mom, she meant Summer. But just for a moment, she could feel that it was also being directed towards her.

"Don't worry, baby. You'll be alright, my sunny little dragon," whispered Taiyang.

"Sis, I promise you'll be okay, I promise! I'll make it right somehow!" Ruby said nervously, trying to calm herself down.

Raven noticed Blake was saying sorry over and over again before walking to her.

"Blake, was it?" asked Raven. Blake looked up and nodded. "Can you tell me who did this to my daughter?"

"So, I hit the jackpot!"

Everyone looked to see Adam was walking towards them slowly, surrounded by his elite guards. Anyone still able to fight got ready to fight. Junior had his men point their weapons at Adam specifically.

"The Headmaster of accursed Atlas. Two Schnees. And some filthy traitors," said Adam, looking at the Faunus that was ready to fight them.

"Adam Taurus, you are under arrest for deliberate genocide to the people of Vale," announced Ironwood, "Throw down your weapons, and give yourself up."

"Like we would listen to a man working with a Schnee," sneered Adam, taking a step closer.

Ruby glared at Adam, her usually kind and playful eyes filled with sorrow and anger.

Raven noticed Blake was trying to scoot back from the said man, her eyes locked onto the blade Adam was carrying. Raven looked at the wound on Yang and Blake. They both seemed like clean cuts like a katana had gone through them. The leader of the invading group was carrying a katana. She stood up, walking a bit forward.

"You're outnumbered and outgunned!" shouted Ironwood, "I repeat, give yourselves up, and you may be given a lighter sentence. Don't, and die."

"Who say's we're outgunned?" smiled Adam as he snapped his fingers. Instantly, cages dropped down in front of them. With a tap, the cages revealed the Alpha series of Beowolf, Boartusk, Beringel, Ursa, and Beoyeti. Before they could do anything, the Alpha was sprayed with the green liquid, transforming them all into the Mutant variety.

"That's not good," cried Neptune.

"We got this," said Sun, though not as confident. Suddenly, a huge Deathstalker appeared and started to walk towards them. It was a mutant variety, and Weiss paled. It had taken two teams just to kill one. And now, they were also dealing with Alpha Mutant Grimm varieties. To make matters worse, a Goliath appeared, also having green markings over its body to signify it was a mutant. Both the huge Grimm had also been an Alpha variety.

"While I may hate humans, Dr. Merlot certainly provides good tools," laughed Adam, "These mutant Grimm won't aim for us. Just you. Have fun dying! Though don't worry Blake, I made sure they won't aim for you. I still need to take everything you love. Including that armless girl."

Suddenly, Adam felt that he was in danger. He quickly raised his sword just in time as Raven slashed down with hers. Adam's knees buckled from the impact, a loud ringing noise could be heard around them. The ground below them caved down, blowing most of the White Fang away from them.

"So, you're the one who took Yang's arm?" asked Raven coldly.

"You mean the blonde bitch?" clarified Adam, "Yes. And I would've done more. Perhaps take her legs, and her dignity as a woman. Her body doesn't look too bad, and could offer some comfort for my men."

"Then die," snarled Raven.

Before Raven could do anything, shots were fired at Adam, who quickly jumped back to dodge them. He wasn't in the best position to absorb them. He looked to see Ruby had fired at Adam. The other teams that were still here had engaged the enemy and were busy fighting the Grimm and the White Fang. Port and Oobleck were dealing with the Deathstalker. Glynda and Ironwood with the Goliath. Penny was staying back, offering supporting fire as she tried to make sure the people evacuated safely. Ren, Nora, Weiss, NDGO, the DSC of DSCO and SSSN were working together with Xanthe, Saffron, and Winter to deal with the Grimm and White Fang while the O of DSCO was in the medical area using the station function of his weapon to use his semblance and use the songs he has for healing to treat the wounded and transfer a bit of his aura to them. Taiyang and Qrow were also dealing with the stronger members of the White Fang. Junior, Miltia, Melanie, and his men were all trying to herd the civilians and students into ships for safety.

"Ruby, stay back!" ordered Raven.

"I'm fighting too!" shouted Ruby, "He hurt my sister! He hurt my friends!"

At that Ruby charged forward, slashing as fast she could at Adam. He scoffed at this, easily blocking before kicking Ruby away. He followed up with a slash, only to be blocked by Raven. Suddenly, she heard a giggle, and quickly rolled away, grabbing Ruby in the process. A stinger scratched her shoulder plate before Raven jumped away with Ruby.

"Aww, you got lucky."

Raven looked to see a crazy looking scorpion Faunus man, with many scars on his body. She knew instantly this man was skilled.

"Ah, Raven Branwen, leader of the notorious bandit clan! Allow me to introduce myself," grinned the Faunus, "I am Tyrian Callows."

"The assassin," replied Raven, knowing this man was dangerous. She had heard rumors about him. The crazy assassin that loved to play with his prey.

"Oh, so you do know me!" grinned Tyrian, "Oh, I'm so happy, the infamous bandit leader knows me! But, right now, my interest is in that little girl with silver eyes."

Ruby gulped, slightly taking a step back, "What do you want with me?"

"Tell me, did your mother also have the same colored eyes? And a cloak like yours, but white?" asked Tyrian.

At this statement, Taiyang, Qrow, and Raven stiffened and focused their attention at Tyrian.

"Ummm, yes?" replied Ruby, confused on how this man knew what her mother wore.

"Ohh. OHOHOHOHOH!" laughed Tyrian maniacally, "I knew your mother quite well."

"You did?" responded Ruby clearly not knowing what he was about to say.

"Oh yes" nodded Tyrian, "Quite intimately. She was so strong. She took out Grimm in a flash. Then one day, we ambushed her. I managed to sting her when her guard was lowered. Even then, she killed 5 of our hired guns while being poisoned before I stabbed her with my weapon. She still even managed to injure me, right on the chest. She was still breathing until I slashed her throat, throwing her to the Grimm to finish the rest off."

Ruby felt her world spin. She was staring at the murderer of her mother. Raven quickly picked Ruby up, bridal style, before jumping to where Yang and Blake, setting her down. Yang had awoken from all the clatter before looking up to see Raven standing before her in shock.

"Mom?" gasped Yang, not even bothering to correct herself.

"Yang, Ruby. Leave this to me," said Raven softly, patting both their head before turning back around. She felt someone running towards Tyrian behind her.

"Taiyang, you can take him. I got Adam here. Go get-"

She didn't finish as the person who had run past her was NOT Taiyang, but Qrow. And on his face was pure rage. Fury beyond what she thought Qrow was capable of. And it was all being directed at Tyrian. Qrow slashed down, to which Tyrian blocked with his wrist blades. The same thing almost happened with Raven and Adam, except Tyrian's knees wasn't buckling.

"You... YOU!" roared Qrow,

"Me?" smiled Tyrian, his head tilting in glee.

Qrow leaped back, standing on the ground. The two of them looked at each other for a bit before clashing again.

"I knew it," frowned Raven, "There's something that's being hidden from me. And I intend to find out later. But for now...," Raven turned to Adam, her fury raging, "I'll take care of you."

Yang gulped as she could feel Raven's rage. And yet, she was calm, controlling it easily. She could learn from this if they all managed to live through it. Ruby was trying to figure out why Qrow was so angry at Tyrian. From his face, it was like he had stolen something precious to him. Something that he loved a lot.

Winter gulped when she saw Qrow attacking Tyrian. The ferocity of his attacks showed that when they had fought, he had been holding back quite a bit. She growled and continued to fight the White Fang Lieutenant, who seemed eager to have his chainsaw feed on her blood. She would not allow that.

* * *

 _A few minutes earlier_

Pyrrha has just run out the front door of Beacon tower. She could hear and feel the energy from Ozpin and Cinder's fight. She shivered slightly. Ozpin was right, she most likely would've been a distraction for Ozpin. She quickly pulled out her scroll, trying to look for Professor Goodwitch's number when her heart stopped. When she opened her Scroll and accessed her contacts, she saw Jaune's number. Hoping for the best, she dialed that number. The Scroll rang once before it gave off a buzzing noise, telling her that the Scroll she called wasn't in service. She cried at that. It meant the Scroll Jaune had was broken, and it could possibly mean that he was indeed dead. Then the ground shook.

She heard an explosion behind her and turned to see Cinder flying up to the top of the tower. Ozpin had been defeated, she surmised. She looked out the courtyard before looking back to the tower. She made her decision. She slowly walked towards the tower, her fists clenched, her face showing she was determined.

She walked to the nearest elevator, standing inside the broken elevator. She closed her eyes, mustering all her strength and will. The elevator shook, and the elevator shot up to the top of the tower, with her in it. She was using her Semblance to control the elevator to reach to the top. Pyrrha Nikos would make damn sure that woman paid for her crimes, for taking her love from this world.

At the top of the tower, in Ozpin's office, Cinder strided across the room to the window. As if sensing her presence, the Wyvern climbed up to the top of the tower and peered at her through the window.

"Shhhh... This is your home now," said Cinder with a soothing voice, "She sent me here."

The Grimm dragon continued to stare at her before uttering a short quiet screech. Cinder merely grinned before stepping back, creating a fireball in her palm to show it her power. She revealed her new powers. She could feel it welling inside her. The fight with Ozpin had drained her a bit, but she could feel herself recovering. From the 33% she had left after fighting Ozpin, she was back to around 40%.

Then she heard something grinding behind her, and turned around to see sparks coming out of one of the elevator doors. She looked at the closed elevator door suspiciously, the fire in her hands disappearing. The sound come to a stop, as well as the sparks. A few seconds later, the elevator door was flung towards Cinder, who blocked them with her hands, bathed in fire. A javelin followed right after Cinder had tossed the doors away, causing Cinder to lean to the right to dodge it. It cut through some of her hair as it passed by. Right after that, a shield came right for her face. Cinder raised both arms to block it, just to discover Pyrrha was right behind it, trying to drop kick it and add weight. Cinder easily pushed her back. Pyrrha flipped back to her feet, summoning _Akouo_ and _Milo_ back to her, ready to fight. She glared at Cinder while Cinder casually started to float in the air, fire spouting from beneath her. Cinder's eyes started to glow with fire and with a swipe of her hand, sent an arc of fire at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha blocked it, and Cinder followed up with a stream of fire. Pyrrha dodged it easily. Cinder sent two more streams of fire towards her. Pyrrha dodged the first one and used her shield to block the second one. Feeling confident, she charged forward, shield up, getting closer and closer to Cinder. When she felt the Cinder stop her attack, she spun and swung her xiphos right towards Cinder's face. Cinder caught the blade with ease, infusing a little Aura into her hands so the blade wouldn't give her a cut. She pulled the blade back, causing Pyrrha to move forward a little before thrusting her palm at Pyrrha's stomach. Pyrrha, who had felt herself moving, immediately let go of _Milo_ and used her Semblance to re-position herself, dodging the palm thrust. Pyrrha transformed _Akouo_ into another xiphos and slashed at Cinder again. Cinder used her other hand to block it, but Pyrrha had already expected that. She let go of that weapon, landing on her feet before spinning and delivering a back thrust kick at Cinder's stomach. Cinder, who had both hands occupied, was surprised by this move and was sent flying back a little, letting go the weapons.

Cinder slid on the ground for a bit before stopping herself with a blast of fire from her hands before lifting up stray rocks, turning them into ice shards and fired them at Pyrrha. Pyrrha responded by moving the broken elevator doors in front of her to block the shards while summoning her weapons back to her. The doors suddenly burst apart, and Pyrrha eyes widened as Cinder had propelled herself forward towards her, flames jetting from her hands. Cinder tried to elbow Pyrrha's abdomen with the momentum, but Pyrrha leaped into the air above her and wrapped her arms around Cinder, abandoning the attempt to summon her weapons for now. Cinder slowed to a stop to avoid smashing into the wall, letting Pyrrha land perfectly on the wall with her feet, feeling her knees bend. She pushed herself off from the wall, flipping over Cinder before throwing Cinder across the room.

Cinder hit her back once but used the momentum to do a back handspring to get herself back up. As she landed, she looked up just to see Pyrrha bash her in the stomach with _Akouo_ in shield form. Pyrrha followed up with a spin, slashing at Cinder's stomach and legs. Cinder responded with a somersault kick, but Pyrrha managed to dodge it with a back flip before transforming _Akouo_ into a xiphos again and slashed with both weapons, only to be blocked by Cinder's weapon. She had created two swords from Dust.

"So.. the 'Goddess of Victory' isn't just a showy title," smirked Cinder.

Pyrrha just growled and pushed down harder, causing Cinder to fall back a little.

"What's wrong? Are you mad because I denied you power? Or that I killed that fool Ozpin?"

When Pyrrha didn't seem to react to any of this, Cinder thought back for a bit before remembering the end results of the 2v2 for JNPR.

"Or... is it because of me, that your beloved leader died," whispered Cinder.

That did the trick. With a fierce war cry, Pyrrha managed to tilt _Milo_ so the blade was pointing at Cinder, and made it fly, transforming it into a javelin before letting the blunt end of the javelin shoot out flames. Cinder looked surprised and took the hit, flying back a bit. Pyrrha gave chase but found herself flying back from a flying fireball that Cinder had shot out. She groaned in a bit of pain before throwing _Akouo_ in shield form towards Cinder, who blocked it. She manipulated _Milo_ to fly behind Cinder, but Cinder easily turned around to block it. When she turned to face Pyrrha, the girl had launched herself towards Cinder, tackling her her while grappling. The two of them spun, trying to counter grapple and be the one on top. They both landed hard inside the room, filling it with white dust and smoke. As the dust cleared away, Pyrrha had Cinder in a choke hold with her left arm, and her right arm wielding _Milo_ , trying to slit her throat. Cinder had both her hands gripping on _Milo_ , trying to prevent such a result. Even if she was the Fall Maiden, she had no doubt she would die if her throat was cut open. As if responding to this, the Grimm dragon shrieked before flying off to gain some distance before turning around, flying straight for the two of them.

Cinder's eyes began to glow again as she channeled heat into _Milo,_ hoping to melt it into pieces. To her shock, though, the blade was still solid, not even melting or even shifting. She put more heat, but the blade refused to budge.

'What's with this sword!?' shouted Cinder inside her head as she channeled more Aura to her hands.

"Surprised?" whispered Pyrrha as she drew her blade closer to Cinder's neck, "This was crafted with a material that Jaune gave my uncle to create this weapon. It's only fitting that your death comes from this weapon, gifted to me by the man whose death you had a hand in."

Cinder was starting to get pissed and was losing oxygen from the chokehold. She let her left hand go of the weapon, well aware that this was giving Pyrrha a chance to drive the blade even closer to her throat. It was almost touching her skin when Cinder lowered her hand, placing it right at Pyrrha's stomach.

Pyrrha got distracted when she heard a loud screech to see the Grimm dragon flying towards them. She growled at this. This Grimm copy was nothing like the real dragons she saw with Jaune. Suddenly, she felt something was hot, and looked down to see Cinder's hand already coiling with fire at her stomach. As the Grimm dragon crashed through the room with its wings, Cinder let off a blast of fire at point blank range, sending Pyrrha flying into a wall. Her blade managed to cut Cinder at the side of her neck, but not lethal enough to kill. Cinder gasped for breath as she put her hand on the neck wound, feeling her Aura working to heal it. She added a bit of heat in her hand to sear the wound, just in case. She would deal with burn wounds later so that it wouldn't detract her beauty. She was a woman, after all.

Giant cogs and debris came crashing down as the structure containing vital CCT transmitters fall. The tower itself was now running on its emergency power to keep it working. Something Cinder wanted. As soon as this CCT finally fell, then Vale would be in the dark from all other major kingdoms. But there was still something she wanted to broadcast to the world.

Pyrrha shook her head, trying to throw off the concussion she felt in her head. She looked up to see her _Akouo_ right in front of her, and _Milo_ across the room. Cinder was watching her from her position, levitating off the floor again. Pyrrha took a quick glance around the room, noticing the cogs all around as well as plenty of metallic objects. With a quick wave of her hand, Pyrrha launched Ozpin's desk flying at Cinder, who hadn't expected it and was thrown sideways. Pyrrha quickly grabbed her shield and tried to summon _Milo_ , but Cinder was up already, throwing balls of flames at Pyrrha, but the young champion dodged two of them, and blocked the last one, but was sent tumbling back, forming a wall of flame. Cinder smirked as she levitated off the ground, drawing closer when suddenly Pyrrha threw her shield at her. Cinder blocked it without worry, but suddenly noticed a multitude of giant cogs floating in the air around her in surprise. Pyrrha was using her Semblance at full power, manipulating all the cogs. With a wave of her hand, Pyrrha had her shield knock Cinder's feet from beneath her before driving a cog down at Cinder's abdomen, pinning her to the floor. She called _Akouo_ and _Milo_ back to her before using all her strength bring the cogs together on top of Cinder, hoping to crush her to death.

Cinder didn't like it, and channeled her power, creating an Aura barrier around her. Still, Pyrrha tried even harder, trying to break through it.

"Enough!" yelled out Cinder, throwing her hands out. The barrier blew up, dispersing the cogs as well as sending a shockwave all around her. Pyrrha opened her eyes in shock before throwing her javelin just before the shockwave hit her. She flew right into the wall as it hit her, taking away the last remaining bits of her Aura. Cinder, however, did not come out unharmed. She felt the javelin stab her in the hips, taking a bit a flesh before flying off into a wall. Cinder put her hands on the wound and seared it quickly, grimacing in pain. She had been quite surprised to see Pyrrha's last attack cut through her own Aura.

Cinder quickly summoned her bow, ready to fire while Pyrrha quickly got up and threw her shield at Cinder just as she released her arrow. Pyrrha was hoping to hit the arrow to block it when it shifted back into Dust upon impact, going over and under it, before reforming again and hitting her right on her right heel. Pyrrha groaned in pain as she fell down, unable to stand. Not wanting to take the chance, Cinder quickly fired another arrow right at Pyrrha's right shoulder just as Emerald and Mercury reached the top of the tower. They all saw the arrow somehow miraculously bounce off Pyrrha's shoulder. Frowning at that, Cinder tilted her head at them, telling them to subdue her and find out. They quickly approached Pyrrha, each grabbing one arm as Cinder looked at where she had shot. She then noticed Pyrrha suddenly wearing a white shirt. She touched it before understanding what had happened.

"I would've never thought you managed to get a Mithril shirt. I certainly didn't see it on you before," murmured Cinder, "Perhaps a special enchantment that doesn't cover your skin unless it's needed?"

Pyrrha could only just glare as her ankle was still searing in pain. The tip and the shaft had broken off, leaving removal of the arrow impossible for her for now.

"What should we do about it?" asked Emerald.

"Remove it, of course," smiled Cinder, "Such a valuable item could prove useful for me."

At this, Mercury smirked as Emerald cut the ropes that held Pyrrha's vest together. Her protective vest fell off, leaving her with just the Mithril shirt. Pyrrha struggled, but it was useless as they removed the shirt from her body, leaving her with just her strapless sports bra.

"Don't suppose we have a bit of time?" leered Mercury, getting himself a good view of Pyrrha's bountiful cleavage.

"No," replied Cinder, "I want to broadcast one last thing before the CCT shuts down."

A few seconds later, Pyrrha found her arms locked in place by two stone pillars. Emerald had toss several drinks to Cinder, who began drinking it. It tasted disgusting, and it was made by that horrid man, Arthur Watts, but she could not deny his skill in medicine. Cinder felt her Aura regenerate faster than normal. She would soon be back to full power. Her wounds were healing nicely. The only downside to the medicine was that she was basically using up the reserves for tomorrow. She would be weakened for at least three days. But it wouldn't matter, once they were finished here. Emerald was broadcasting one last time for everyone to see. She was sure to position the camera so it wouldn't reveal any of their faces. Anytime she had to point the camera at Cinder, she would make sure the head wasn't revealed.

* * *

Back in the courtyard, the students and teachers were slowly being pushed back. Sun had adorned his new form again to fight, and Ren was using his marks to the fullest, as well as Nora and Junior. However, it was not without damages. Dew had been bitten on the shoulder by a Mutant Beowolf, sending her flying back with a flick of its neck. A Mutant Beringal grabbed Ruby when she wasn't expecting it and threw her into the floor, shattering her Aura. Luckily, Taiyang was able to dissuade it with brute force while Saffron took her to safety. There was blood spilling from her head as she laid unconscious. Ozpin had managed to wake up and slowly walked towards the few injured considering he had been somewhat healed, Onyx had yet to heal. Once Ozpin got close enough he slammed his cane down to form a protective barrier around them, just in case. Other members of SSSN, DSC and NDGO were also sporting injuries that they couldn't ignore, while the Mutant Grimm pushed on, Onyx was starting to get quite tired since his Semblance drains a lot of Aura depending on how many Aura strings his weapon and semblance produces are connected to. Raven and Qrow were fighting their hardest against their opponent. Qrow was allowing his Semblance to spread wildly around Tyrian, causing him to feel unlucky. Qrow had shifted to his scythe, showing he was quite serious on killing Callows.

Adam, however, wasn't doing so well. He felt like his opponent kept getting lucky with all her hits or dodges. Already, Raven had broken through his Aura and stabbed him 5 times, one on each thigh, one on his right shoulder, and two on his left hip. Not to mention Raven was also a user of Iaido, so she could easily predict what Adam wanted to do.

"That's it!" shouted Adam, calling his ally to shoot a charged beam at him. The said minion obeyed, and Adam was able to charge up to use his Semblance.

"Hope you're ready to die, you filthy human whore!" shouted Adam.

Raven merely sheathed her blade once more, letting her special sheath spin for a bit before drawing out a completely new blade. This one looked as though a multitude of Dust had gone into it, as it had different colors at different parts of the blade. They stared off for a bit before everyone heard a loud static noise. Adam grinned as he knew it was Cinder, wanting to play out one last moment of despair. He called the remaining Mutant Grimm to back off with the White Fang.

"Look to the broadcast, and see one last despair. The act that will drive your race to extinction!"

Everyone turned to look to the broadcast to see Pyrrha, stripped down so she was wearing only her sports bra and her shorts. They gasped as they saw her trying to struggle.

* * *

Back in Mistral, Leonidas, Golga, and Hephaestus could only gasp as they saw their daughter/niece trapped in what seemed to be an execution ground. Leonidas couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene. His hands gripped his chair tightly, breaking the wood. Hephaestus was no better, as he was holding a metal bar and bending it with just his strength of rage.

"As you all know, this is Pyrrha Nikos. The famous 'Goddess of Victory'," began Cinder. "She was a worthy foe, managing to hurt me, granted I had just fought dear old Ozpin and killed him."

On the courtyards, they all glanced at Ozpin, who was clearly still alive. Cinder must not have known that Raven had intervened.

"But she was promised power that didn't belong to her. And yet, she fought me for revenge for her lover, who died at the beginning of this war."

"What?" shouted Weiss. She looked to Winter, who could only look away. She looked to her future sister wives, who had the same expression. Ruby had woken up from the concussion in time to see the broadcast. Weiss could only cry as the only boy she had come to love just to be dead.

Leonidas, Golga, and Hephaestus could only gasp as they knew who they were talking about. They had seen the 2v2 fight and had cheered Jaune on. To hear that their future son-in-law was dead was maddening. Hephaestus hadn't mustered the courage to tell them that Jaune needed multiple wives, but that was beside the point. Right there and then, Leonidas swore that he would hunt these murderers down.

"Pyrrha Nikos. The pride of Mistral. Known to never lose a fight... until now. And it's a shame, but as legends fail..."

Cinder drew her bow and arrow, aiming it at Pyrrha's chest.

"They must die."

She released the arrow, striking Pyrrha right at the chest.

Wails of agony, of misery, of sadness was heard all around Remnant. A mother's scream could be heard all around Mistral as she watched her daughter with an arrow sticking out of her chest.

Pyrrha felt the rocks imprisoning her arms fall, but she couldn't do anything. She could barely breathe. She felt her hand flop uselessly, her life fading away before her eyes. She looked at Cinder to see her walking closer and closer, her hand going for her head.

'I'm sorry, Jaune,' cried Pyrrha, 'I couldn't get your killer. The person who planned this all out. But at the very least, may we find each other again in the next life.'

* * *

In Salem's secret palace, they were watching the broadcast. Salem had a smile, with a touch of pride as she watched her student drive one more wedge into humanity.

"I must say, at least she has a talent for theatrics," complemented Watts, "Though she seems to have been injured. I can tell from the scorch marks around her body."

"Hehe, I just want to see more of my beauties running around!" grinned Merlot. He had seen his mutant Grimm tear apart soldiers and even some students.

"It looks like your plan to destroy Vale is complete, Mi'lady," complemented Hazel Rainart.

"Indeed. I look forward to seeing Cinder soon," replied Salem.

* * *

Cinder was grinning. This was the moment. When the sparks of war would fly. Kingdoms would be pointing fingers everywhere. Vale was dead. Atlas and Vacuo at Mistral for having someone from Mistral mastermind this plot. Mistral and Vacuo at Atlas for having their soldiers slaughter innocent civilians and foreign travelers from their lands. Mistral and Atlas at Vacuo for not providing any help with the tournament. Mistral at all the lands, pointing that their rising star, Pyrrha Nikos, was dead because of them. And with Adam fanning the sparks, Menagerie would be pulled in. And the Grimm would rise in power.

She approached Pyrrha to touch her head. She was planning to detonate the fire Dust that was streaming in Pyrrha's blood. The arrow had been composed of pure fire Dust, and when entered into a human body, she could activate it to explode, causing the body to disperse into dust. The shirt, shield, sword, and perhaps the tiara would be useful for her. Her hand approached Pyrrha's faces, inching closer and closer until she was just about to touch her hair. Victory was hers!

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" _ **HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**_

* * *

 **Who's that roaring!? Is it truly the end for Pyrrha? Am I truly that much of a jerk?**

 **Well, now you know where Raven was. At the wrong place!**

 **You know, it would be really evil of me to take a sudden hiatus in this story XD.**

 **Since I've been so nice in rapid releasing... I'm going to take a short break. I'll release the next chapter next week. Of course, I might release it earlier if I was to say... finally hit my 1000 review mark. So either that, or next week. Am I slightly evil for putting it on a cliffhanger like that to demand reviews? Well yes. But I still will release it next week even if I don't hit it.**

 **Just a side note, I released a Justice League x Keyblade crossover. Just a random story that nagged me.**


	35. Chapter 35 Let the World Know Who's Back

**Well shoot. Didn't think that after going to sleep I'd get past 1000 reviews. Guess I better keep my promises. Also celebrating the fact I've hit past 1.5k in follows, yaaa! So new chapter! Find out what happens now!**

 **For those who haven't noticed, this is the 2nd chapter I've released today. So two chapter release today, be sure to read the other chapter and review if you can XD. You don't want to miss out on it!**

* * *

 _Approximately 20 minutes before arrow shot. 2 hours later after being blasted off._

"Ugh..," moaned Jaune as he woke up. He looked around to see that he had somehow crashed through the skylight of an empty furniture showroom and onto what seemed to be a huge bed that was a bit too hard for his taste. Luckily there were only a few shards of glass in him, which he yanked out rather easily, but it could have been a comfier landing, especially considering a large crate of pillows had been right next to the bed.

" _ **Talk about your luck,"**_ commented Othim, _**"If it wasn't for the soft landing, you'd have died."**_

" _ **Indeed,"**_ said Aryz, _**"Are you alright? Do you feel anything wrong? You were unconscious for about 20 minutes. Not to mention you did fall through a rather hard pane of glass and hit some support beams on your way down."**_

"Just sore, not to mention a pounding headache," replied Jaune as he got back up. He forced himself off of the bed and onto the floor of the building and grabbed the edge of the bed to keep himself steady. His shield had somehow stayed on his back, as did his sword and sheath in his belt. He was bleeding lightly all around, as there were some bloodstains on his hoodie. He checked his Scroll just to see it was shattered.

"Damn, not again," groaned Jaune, "This is going to be a hassle. I can't even tell my friends I'm alright. Not to mention my aura's shot because of that stupid blast."

He quickly patched himself up before looking up, seeing Aryz's summarization of his landing had been accurate, and he was lucky the skylight was some years old and that apparently upon falling on the girders, he landed back first, letting his shield take the impact. Some nails had scratched his face and arms, though.

" _ **Jaune. Remember the seeds from the cave back in Sanus?"**_ asked Alaerth suddenly.

"Yeah, you guys wouldn't tell me what they do."

" _ **For good reason,"**_ replied Ryo-Wo, _**"They are called Dragon Seeds. One of those seeds, once consumed, will fully restore your Aura. However, there are some side effects to using these seeds."**_

"Such as what?" Jaune asked carefully.

" _ **Well, for one thing, your instincts will become more like a dragon, and you could make rather rash decisions,"**_ explained Andusk, _**"Emotions will get the better of you quite easily. You will feel pain like no other as your wounds heal. However, since we had you meditate for quite a bit over the years, you should be able to control yourself a little better. Another one is 12 hours after consumption, you will be unconscious for a good 48 hours to heal everything back up naturally. Not only that, but you're also using a bit of your life force to forcefully restore your Aura. So it does shorten your life a little,"**_

" _ **The only problem is what happens after,"**_ grumbled Lung Wang.

" _ **Bah, he can't complain about the last part,"**_ muttered Othim.

" _ **For a lack of a better term, you will go into heat after the battle,"**_ grumbled Fafnir.

"What?" Jaune deadpanned.

" _ **You will find it almost impossible not to find someone to bed with, whether it be your mate or not. All that fighting will accelerate your blood and internal body temperature to its highest. Diving into cold ocean water does not help, past Dragon Clan members have tried so,"**_ sighed Aryz.

" _ **It is essential that you find your mate right after the battle,"**_ continued Lung Wang, _**"Seek out the one that is willing to bed with you. Most likely Pyrrha Nikos, Yang Xiao Long, or Blake Belladonna. They seem to be the one most willing to do so right now. If you do not, you may end up with someone you don't know. And I'm pretty sure from human perspectives that you want to lose your virginity to someone you love."**_

Jaune could only gulp at that last part before reaching into his bag behind him. It had miraculously survived. He quickly ate some food for energy and water before grabbing out the bag of seeds. He took one out and looked at it. It was red, like blood and dark blue vein-like roots going up to the tip, with a bit of yellow mixed in.

" _ **These seeds can be used to grow more, but the requirements to do so is pretty demanding,"**_ commented Fafnir, _**"So make sure that if you do use it in the future, that you keep a few aside to regrow."**_

Jaune took a deep breath and ate it. Instantly, he felt rejuvenated. All his wounds were healing, his Aura reserves replenishing. At the same time, he felt his instincts going wild. His body temperature shot up. Jaune gasped out in pain as he fell to his knees, trying to control himself. He could feel his wounds burn as they healed as if someone was driving hot knives into them. His own nerves felt like someone was driving in needles into them. Quickly, he took a meditative stance, trying to calm himself down. While doing so, he decided it was time. So many things were happening right now. Were his friends all right? Were his mates safe? He would have to make sure the answer would be yes to all those, or there would be hell to pay. So he began to use the full immersion links, linking up to all seven dragons at once. It was rather risky, as he still hadn't properly even mastered 4 of them, but right now he needed every ounce of power he could get.

As he started to link up with each one of his dragons, he could feel himself almost losing control of himself within the swirl of power. And yet, he managed to stay anchored to himself. To not drown in its power.

" _ **Interesting,"**_ commented Fafnir as he was linking up Jaune, trying to make sure he was still himself, as were all the other dragons., _**"I can sense Sun using my power. And it has become the catalyst in reviving a very old legend. I remember seeing the said legend. He was very powerful for just a mortal. Truly, he earned the title Great Sage, compatible with all those other so-called gods."**_

" _ **I remember that,"**_ laughed Lung Wang, _**"He once tried to fight us dragons before. He did pretty well before he lost. But still, we recognized him as someone worthy of respect."**_

* * *

Jaune knew that they were doing this so to distract him from drowning in their power. Nineteen minutes later, he felt as though something was wrong. He had just successfully linked up with all his dragons. But the time it took was too long. His usual full immersion link with three dragons and below took him about 5 minutes. For it to take this long meant he still had ways to go. But he could feel phantom pains for some reason. His lower right arm tingled. His left hip felt irritated. His right shoulder itched. His head ached, although he contributed that to trying to link up with his dragons. Suddenly, he felt as though his chest had been shot. He opened his eyes at this. He couldn't breathe. He instinctively knew that his mates were in trouble. Jaune quickly stood up, expanding golden feathery wings, using Alaerth and Aryz. He flew up into the sky, looking around and noticed he was actually in Mt. Glenn. He had fallen quite far from Vale. He looked for Beacon tower and saw a Grimm dragon nesting there.

" _ **That Grimm,"**_ growled Aryz, _**"I recognize that hatchling thief. To think it's still alive! That fake dragon must DIE!"**_

Jaune shivered at this. Aryz had always been the kind one, so to hear her like this was unsettling.

" _ **Jaune, one of the golden rules for nesting mother dragons is... don't even think about stealing her eggs or babies. Aryz is one of the fiercest mothers, despite her kind attitude,"**_ said Lung Wang seriously.

Jaune nodded and flew towards the tower. He created a sonic boom as he did so. When he got to the tower, he felt Aura signatures he recognized and looked at them just to feel his heart stop. What he saw angered him, and also skyrocketed the rage of all the dragons.

Ruby, bleeding from her head.

Dew with her hand over her right shoulder to stem the bleeding.

Blake, with an injury to her left hip.

Weiss fighting her her life against a Mutant Boartusk.

Yang, missing her right arm.

Sun, wearing armor and dealing with a Mutant Beringel, but missing several pieces of his armor as well as bleeding.

Ren, fighting a Mutant Ursa with just his bare hands as he had ran out of bullets, and the blades on Stormflower broken.

Nora, dealing with a Mutant Beoyeti, slamming her hammer down at its body hoping to do some damage.

Junior slamming his bat at a Mutant Beowolf.

DSC and SSN were trying to fend off a pair of mutated King Taijitus that came late in the battle, both teams taking both heads, their clothes in disarray and badly hurt, with Onyx looking like he was going to faint from using too much aura on healing the injured in the medbay

His friends, trying to fight for their lives to save others. Junior's men, shooting and trying to dissuade other minor Grimm from joining.

His teachers, trying to deal with the Mutant Goliath and Deathstalker.

His sisters, fighting off Elite members of the White Fang, with Winter fighting a 2v1 against the White Fang Lieutenant and his lacky.

Taiyang, dealing with other Apha Grimm that had wandered in.

Qrow trying to murder a scorpion Faunus, who seemed to think it was just all a game.

Raven, with murderous rage, and yet completely in control, fighting Adam as he boasted that he would finish what he had done to Yang, and that she would meet the same fate as the red-headed bitch.

He noticed that Pyrrha wasn't amongst the crowd, and quickly looked around and found her at Beacon Tower.

His heart stopped at what he saw.

Pyrrha was kneeling at the tower… with an arrow to her chest.

As she kneeled there, looking into death's door, Jaune saw Cinder approaching her, with Emerald and Mercury watching, one recording what was happening, and the other just smirking.

He would not stand for this. He WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!

" _ **That… woman..."**_ growled Lung Wang.

" _ **Is trying..."**_ continued Ryo-Wo in fierce anger.

" _ **To kill..."**_ huffed Fafnir in rage.

" _ **Your mate!"**_ roared Othim.

" _ **Show them..."**_ scowled Andusk.

" _ **What it means..."**_ announced Alaerth in fury.

" _ **To steal..."**_ shouted Aryz with animosity.

" _ **FROM A DRAGON! PUNISH HER FOR CAUSING ALL THIS PAIN TO YOUR MATES AND FRIENDS!"**_ roared all seven dragons at once, their rage hitting past critical.

Jaune took a deep breath and roared in anger, letting it all go. Letting all his enemies know what they had just provoked. Just what they had just done. And to show them what will happen. He let his Aura fluctuate so everybody could feel it. Just what they were going to deal with. This was the roar of an ancient one whose anger had reached critical. The roar of someone who had seen someone commit a terrible crime against it. The roar of fury of a loved one being taken away. The roar of an angry dragon!

" _ **HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**_

Jaune's roar didn't even sound human anymore. Will his full immersion, it sounded like a dragon's roar.

* * *

Adam was getting ready to strike at Raven, who had drawn her multi Dust Sword, shifting her position so that her weapon seemed like she was dragging it on the ground. Her body was positioned so her right side was facing Adam.

Qrow and Tyrian were panting. Both had their Auras drained, but Qrow was still pushing on. For years, he had secretly searched for the one who killed his wife, Summer. And now he was right here in front of him. There was no way he was going to let this opportunity pass. Sure, Ruby and Yang might have questions for him, but it would be worth it to drag him to the grave, even at the cost of his own life. The girls were strong enough. They had Taiyang.

Suddenly, all the fighting stopped when they heard the roar. Even the Mutant Grimm stopped fighting in fear, as did the White Fang. For the other side, it was fearsome and yet protective. Ren could only smile as he looked up, knowing just who it was.

"Renny! Is that who I think it is?" asked Nora.

Ren smiled and nodded before saying "I knew you wouldn't die so easily," grinned Ren.

"Da **mn** , and **h** e **r** e I t **h** o **u** gh **t** I yelled l **oud** when I'm p **iss** ed," muttered Soul as half his face was covered in his semblances dark aura making him have a two faced look considering his aura was low.

"Ditto, only I don't think my vocal cords would handle trying to copy that roar, I'd go mute!" stated Coral, who's part of his mark was chipped off where you could see strands of Aqua colored hair and an orange colored eye on the right side of his face

"I swear if Sun knows what that Roar is as well, we're seriously gonna have to talk to him about not keeping secrets from his team!" Shouted Neptune as his goggles lenses were cracked, and his hair was a mess, his other two teammates couldn't help but agree before looking towards the sky shocked to see what was making that roar.

Dandy whose Afro had a hole in its side giving it a crescent moon like look considering the mutated King Taijiu could apparently spit acid in its mutated form, was huffing and puffy while having a sly grin "Seems you're more than meets the eye...heheh..show em how Groovy you really can be." Dandy said after looking up to the sky upon hearing the roar, as did the rest of his own team.

Everyone at the Beacon courtyard looked up to the source.

* * *

At Vale, in the safety zone, CRDL, CFVY and a few other teams were making sure the safety zone was safe, dealing with stray Grimm when they heard the roar. They saw the Grimm stop in fear. For once, the manifestation of fear had something to fear. Seeing the opportunity, they quickly wiped them out.

"What's making that roaring?" shivered Velvet, her ears bending down.

"Another Grimm monster!?" shrieked Russel.

"I do not know, but I can tell you this," answered Yatsuhashi, although his voice was also quivering, "The one who is doing it is furious. His anger threshold has burst open."

"Hold on, I'll take a look with my scope," said May, zooming in to whoever was roaring. She quickly found someone in the sky and zoomed in closer before her eye opened wide. "Holy crap. It's… it's J-"

* * *

Cinder had been ready to disperse Pyrrha into dust when she heard the roar. So did Emerald and Mercury, both of whom collapsed onto their knees in fear.

Cinder received the worst of it; she could feel all this anger while being directed in all of Vale, was concentrated on her.

She didn't know what was going on!

Whose anger could be affecting her like this?! She had the Fall Maiden's Power! She had a Grimm dragon on her side! She had been taught by Salem, the most powerful woman she ever met. And yet, all of this was dwarfed by this new player. She had awoken something far more ancient. The three of them looked in the same direction, to the source of the sound.

Pyrrha, who felt her life fading, could only smile. She knew who that was, and was thankful he was alive, and that he be able to continue his life. Her only regret was that she wouldn't be there to share it with him.

The Grimm dragon was terrified. It remembered in the past, how it provoked the real dragons. Of how it was forced to flee from their wrath in terror. That its own creator could do nothing but bow to their power.

* * *

"JAUNE!" shouted everyone who knew him and was his friend. They were relieved to see him alive. To seem him well ready to fight.

Vlad, who was awake, was glaring at Jaune. That pest would not die!

"Father, that's enough."

He turned to see Aurelian, looking tired.

"He has already stated that he is not interested in the Arc family. That he would deny he is related to the Arcs. There's no point in continuing this grudge."

Vlad merely sneered and looked away. That boy did not deserve so much power! He would bend Jaune under his will one way or another. He would have him father children before killing him, taking the power for the Arc clan!

* * *

Cinder gaped at the flying Jaune, who had yellow feathery wings now.

"How?! He's the angel and the devil!?" shouted Mercury.

Before anyone could respond, the Grimm dragon screeched and flew towards Jaune, hoping that this human was merely faking the dragon's energy signature. That it wasn't powerful enough. It had to squash the threat before it was too late.

"Watch out!" shouted Saffron in worry.

There really wasn't any need. Jaune's wings changed. He now had eight wings. Two red-scaled, two yellow scaled, two green feathery, one black scaled and one white scaled. All were smaller than his usual wing style, but still enabling him all the abilities of each Dragon King. His skin gave off what seemed to be a scaly look, with tints of blue and brown.

Jaune roared loudly once more before flying straight at the Grimm dragon, creating a sonic boom. The Grimm dragon didn't have time to react as Jaune, his fists glowing with immense power, punched it in the face, sending it flying into the Emerald Forest. Trees upheaved into the air as the Grimm Dragon slide on the ground.

Torchwick gaped at this display of power. Junior noticed before chuckling at him, catching his attention.

"I told you. I'm already on the winning side."

Torchwick could only mumble about his luck as he continued to watch, with Neo by his side, who was now awake, intrigued by the power Jaune had, she wondered if he was by chance hiring.

* * *

Jaune landed right behind Pyrrha after he punched the Grimm dragon. He spat at the sight of the creature struggling to recover. That Grimm was nothing like the dragons he was contracted with.

Cinder shook as she saw him, standing right there. She took a deep breath, hoping that somehow, she could seduce him to her side. Emerald had been scared so much that her Scroll was unintentionally recording everything, including Cinder's face.

"Hello, Jaune," purred Cinder, "It's good to s-"

She didn't get to finish as Jaune grabbed her head with his right hand. Cinder gasped, trying to remove his hand before channeling her Aura to throw a fire blast at him. Jaune had no plans to take it, and with a roar, lifted her up and threw out of the tower, flying like a meteorite, right towards where Adam was. He would take care of her later, along with Adam.

Emerald and Mercury could only gape at this. Cinder, their leader, a Fall Maiden, had just been tossed like a ragdoll. Mercury started to run forward, doing a jump kick at him. Jaune caught his leg and began to spin him like a rope,

"Stop! I'll hu URP!" shouted Mercury before he had to close his mouth in fear of hurling. Jaune then threw him right after Cinder.

Emerald quickly used her Semblance, make a hallucination that she was going left when in reality she was going right.

'Almost out of here,' thought Emerald when she noticed something that horrified her. Jaune was staring at her, not her hallucination.

'It's not working!?' screamed Emerald in her mind. Jaune slowly stepped towards her.

"Ummm, I can leave if you want!" stammered Emerald, "No need to throw me off like the other two. Right?"

"Sure you can," smiled Jaune, causing Emerald to lower her guard. He then disappeared from her sight. A second later, an uppercut from Jaune smashed into Emerald's jaw, sending her into the air. Jaune didn't stop there. He grabbed her legs and threw her away from the tower, right towards where he had thrown Mercury. Emerald's Scroll, which she had been holding, was launched up into the air as landed at one of the walls still standing, still recording and giving a perfect view of Pyrrha.

Jaune quickly ran over to Pyrrha, and knelt down next to her, taking her into his arms, gazing into her eyes in worry.

"Hang on. You'll be alright," whispered Jaune.

"Don't … lie," coughed Pyrrha, "I'm dying... I'm sorry I couldn't go on further... But promise me this... You'll remember me... And find someone who will take …. my marks. Don't leave your dragons hanging. Jaune, I… I love you…"

At this last sentence, she spat out blood. She could feel her life fading away. Her last thoughts were that at least she got to see Jaune.

"No," replied Jaune strongly, "You'll live through this. I promised I'd save you. And I'm not breaking it."

With a roar, his wings changed to Alaerth's wings, with brown scales on his body, and bit her on the left side of her chest, right where her heart was. At once, his Aura glowed around his body. Two colors glowed brilliantly, brown and yellow. The two colors merged, becoming bronze, and was slowly transferring from Jaune's body to Pyrrha's, causing her to twitch from a surge of Aura being poured into her body.

* * *

Cinder had landed in a newly made crater, just inches from Adam. She shook her head at the sudden throw. She had created a flaming barrier just before she crashed, so she was unharmed. She looked back to the tower to notice Mercury coming right towards the same location. Mercury had quickly adjusted himself and blasting as many shots as he could to kill the momentum. It was just barely that he managed to do it to a manageable level that he could just roll upon landing. After landing, he quickly went onto his knees and threw up.

As he got up, he was just in time to have Emerald crash into him, forming another crater beneath them.

"Owwww," groaned Mercury.

"Shut up," grunted Emerald as she got up. She had felt her Aura shatter after that impact. If it wasn't for Mercury acting as her cushion, she was sure there would've been much more severe injuries.

"Well, well. Not so mighty now are you?" taunted Adam, keeping his eye on Raven. For now, they were sitting at a stalemate, uncertain what to do now, "You couldn't even kill Ozpin."

"What are you talking about?" growled Cinder, "I left him crushed under tons of rocks."

"Then who is that?"

She turned to where Adam had pointed to see Ozpin quite alive, although heavily bandaged and protecting anyone injured with his barrier while Onyx kept on healing, even giving Ozpin an aura boost so he could keep the shield up more longer.

"Can't seem to kill anyone correctly," shrugged Tyrian nonchalantly, "Though I will admit, the girl should be good as dead."

The teachers of Beacon could only growl and look away in shame. They had failed to protect their students.

"I doubt it," grinned Junior, overhearing Tyrian, "Young master won't let her life end like this. In fact, look at the screen right now!"

They all did so, noticing that the broadcast was still on them. Emerald looked for her Scroll before remembering letting it go after being kicked.

They looked just in time to see Jaune biting onto Pyrrha's chest, where her heart was.

* * *

"What the hell is he doing?" shouted Leonidas. Was Jaune seriously love biting his daughter's breast as she was dying?! Jaune better have a good reason why because he will surely bring Tartarus to Jaune if he was just doing that just for his own pleasure!

"Wait, look carefully, brother," stated Hephaestus which quickly calmed Leonidas' rage that was building.

The Nikkos family looked closely at the broadcast and gasped.

"Is he nuts? Why is he giving her a love bite at this time!?" shouted Bolin.

"Wait, look at her chest!" gasped Coco.

Everyone watching the broadcast could only stare in awe at the miracle that was happening.

* * *

Pyrrha felt his Aura rushing into hers, mixing and growing. Jaune had his right hand on the arrow and was slowly pulling it out. As soon as it came out of her chest, the wound began to close and Jaune crushed the arrow into dust, so as not to be reminded of what happened. Then his right hand trailed down to her right ankle before touching it. He sent some Aura into that injury, destroying the shaft that was inside her ankle before her own Aura healed it. The fire Dust in her bloodstream faded away. Soon, Jaune pulled away from her chest. On her chest, was one bronze colored insignia of a dragon's head.

"Jaune?" gasped Pyrrha, feeling even better than before. She touched her chest and felt no wound. She looked down to it to see no hole. She saw on her upper left breast, right above her heart, was a tattoo of a dragon's head.

"You are mine, now and forever, just as I am yours. My mate. My goddess. Nobody will steal me from you ever again," whispered Jaune before hugging her.

Pyrrha immediately knew she had been given the Mate Mark and was happy. She had been wanting to receive one, but Jaune had been always noble and not push for it.

"Just as you are mine, I am yours, now and forever," whispered Pyrrha back, "I suppose we need to mate after you are done with this. Maybe tomorrow?"

"After I take care of things here," replied Jaune quietly, "I ate a special seed that restored my Aura, but apparently one of the side effects of it is that I'll go into a sexual frenzy. My whole body temperature rises and my instincts act out. To be honest, I'm starting to lose control of myself here. I mean, you only have a bra on your chest and… gods I want to just take you and ravish you right now. But there are people to be saved, and I need to make sure my other mates are safe, as well as my retainers."

"Then go," smiled Pyrrha before she gave him a brief kiss, "Show them what it means to provoke you, to attack us. After you're done, I'll be waiting with open arms."

Then, they both hear a loud shriek. The Grimm dragon had woken up and was charging towards them again, eager to take another shot. Pyrrha noticed the Scroll that Emerald had dropped and summoned it to her, quickly the pointed the camera to the Grimm dragon as Jaune walked forward a bit.

"I don't have time for this," grunted Jaune as he drew it, _Crocea Mors_. He quickly cut himself, putting some of his blood on the blade before spinning it in front of him. He stopped after spinning it four times, making the blade parallel to the ground, dragging two fingers across the blade. The blade started to shine brightly, and Jaune continued, swinging his blade around him once before raising it over his head, spinning it once more. He slammed the blade down into the floor after finishing his strange ritual, according to the people who saw it. Instantly, there were lines and ancient letters that came out from under his sword. They split off into different directions until they formed circles within circles, with various characters on four circles that were positioned in the North, West, East, and South positions. Four lights came out from each circle, rising up into the air, to the heavens above. A few seconds later, a black dot was coming down. It was getting bigger and bigger until it suddenly spread its black scaled wings for everyone to see. It was a dragon! It's jet black scales covering its body, though with its chest and belly covered with light brown scales. It looked down at the Grimm dragon in disgust. Pyrrha, who was in shock, was unintentionally broadcasting the dragon itself.

" _ **Whoa,"**_ said Lung Wang in awe, _**"Didn't think you'd be able to summon him of all dragons."**_

'Who?' asked Jaune.

" _ **That, young one, is arguably the strongest dragon in existence. Many dragons tend to use a specific element to fight. That is why each one of us has the title King, as the strongest dragons of that element. That dragon you summoned, though, is special. He was born without being able to use any elements. All his attacks were based off his Aura, and dealt with non-elemental damage,"**_ explained Aryz.

" _ **When he was a hatchling, he was picked on for being so unusual. Over time, he grew in power, and found out something special,"**_ continued Fafnir.

" _ **Just as we are kings of our elements, we do have some slight weaknesses. Lung Wang is a little weaker to water, as I am weaker to earth, and so forth,"**_ said Ryo-Wo, _**"He, however, does not share that weakness."**_

" _ **Because he is non-elemental, he is not especially strong to any element, but nor is he weak to any element,"**_ stated Alaerth.

" _ **Over time, he grew and challenged others until he was the indisputable top dragon of all dragons,"**_ grinned Andusk.

" _ **As we are kings of an element, he is the king of all dragons,"**_ remarked Othim.

" _ **His glorious name is Bahamut, King of Dragons!"**_ roared all seven dragons.

Cinder was shocked to see Pyrrha suddenly fine again after that weird ritual Jaune had done. She was irritated that she had been denied two of her kills. When she heard the Grimm dragon screeching and coming for Jaune again, she grinned. She knew that punch was nothing more than a lucky shot, or rather she hoped.

However, everything changed when Jaune slammed the floor with his sword, drawing weird insignia. Then, from the heavens above, the true dragon appeared, ready to shred its enemies. The Grimm dragon actually stopped, trying to change its direction before fleeing for its life. The black dragon wasn't going to let it go so easily. It took a deep breath and roared to the heavens.

All of Remnant could hear it. They could feel its power!

* * *

At Salem's palace, they were watching the broadcast in awe before they heard its roar and felt its power.

"That's quite powerful," mused Watts. Suddenly he heard glass shatter behind him. He looked back to see Salem had dropped her wineglass, her hands quaking in... fear?

"Mi'lady?" asked Watts in concern. He had never seen her like this before. Nor did any of her people, and they were looking at her in concern.

"I-im-impossible!" stuttered Salem, her eyes shifting in fear, "The dragons are back!?"

"You know of these creatures?" asked Hazel.

Merlot was also interested. He had never actually seen a dragon in real life before. They were all in kid fairytale that was made up.

"The true rulers of Remnant," whispered Salem, "The ones that threatened to drive Grimm to extinction for one minor crime."

"If they were so powerful, how did they go extinct?" asked Merlot.

Salem shook her head, "They weren't driven extinct. They simply left because they felt like it was time for others to shine in Remnant. However, they left the accursed Dragon's Clan in Remnant, though I have done my best to stamp out all descendant of that dreadful clan. From A-Z, anything to kill them all, for they were my greatest threat. And now they're back."

"In that case, it might be prudent for Cinder and Tyrian to consider retreating now," mused Watts, "The only problem is, will they know to do so? And will they have the chance?"

* * *

Everyone watching the broadcast gaped at what Jaune had summoned. It was fearsome, it was powerful, and it was majestic. The epitome of a king.. or an emperor perhaps.

Bahamut flew right towards the Grimm dragon, grabbing its wings with his claws. The Grimm shrieked in fear, trying to escape. It had Grimm spawning from its wounds, trying to use them to distract Bahamut. He merely shrugged them off before flying up into the air with his prey. Then he dove back down, spiraling before letting go of the Grimm, pile-driving it into the ground. Bahamut landed, gazing at the Grimm dragon, that was trying to crawl away now. He growled as he took a few steps forward, grabbing the Grimm by its neck with his claws and tossing it up into the air. He took a deep breath, gathering power for all to see in his mouth. A huge ball started to form in front of him. The Grimm dragon finally managed to right itself before shrieking in fear at the ball of doom. It tried to fly away, but it was too late.

" _ **MEGA FLARE!"**_ roared Bahamut, and fired a beam of destructive energy right through the Grimm dragon, annihilating it completely. The beam went on for at least 5 seconds before Bahamut stopped it. He snorted after finishing the Grimm off before looking at Jaune directly.

" _ **So. This is the newest member of the Dragon Clan,"**_ grunted Bahamut, talking directly to Jaune only, _**"I can sense... seven contracts to dragon kings. Intriguing. Nobody has had that many to such powerful dragons. And you've taken a Dragon seed for now, and I can feel your rage from earlier. Not to mention that blade you're using is amplifying your power. No wonder you were able to summon me. But take this as a warning. You are not worthy of summoning me yet. I only came out because I was interested of the newest Dragon Clan member, one that would bring the clan back into existence. That, and I personally wanted to deal with that fake dragon."**_

At that, Bahamut flew up into the skies and disappeared from sight. Everyone had been watching Bahamut easily rip apart the Grimm as Pyrrha had been recording the whole thing. It was at that point, the CCT's emergency power system failed and cut the broadcast, leaving the other major kingdoms and small villages in the dark.

" _ **He's right,"**_ sighed Lung Wang, _**"Although you've gotten more powerful, it's only because of the Dragon seed and other influences that allowed you to summon him. We still need to up your training. I'm surprised Bahamut didn't ask you to sacrifice something in return. He must really have wanted to deal with that Grimm fake."**_

Jaune nodded before expanding his 8 wings. He reached into his bag before getting a blanket out, covering Pyrrha's body before picking her up bridal style. His instincts to take Pyrrha here and now were almost overcoming his sense of reason. The only thing standing him from doing so was that his other mates were in danger. He would not lose any of them. With a flap of his wings, he flew towards where all his friends were.

* * *

Everyone at the evacuation area just gaped at what just happened. The Grimm dragon, one that was supposed to have brought despair and destroy Beacon, as well as Vale itself, had just been annihilated by a being much bigger and stronger than it, and without any trouble! When it disappeared, Cinder and her faction could only breath a sigh of relief that it didn't turn to them. As they turned to face each other again, Cinder was already gathering power in her hands. She would make sure at least Ozpin died!

"Foolish old man. Just die already!" shouted Cinder as she sent a huge fireball towards him and the injured he was protecting, including the rest of Jaune's mates.

Ozpin quickly summoned all his Aura he had left to fortify his barrier. He swore he would not let anyone die anymore on his watch! As the fireball approached, Junior suddenly ran forward with his bat ready.

"Hei Xiong! What are you doing!?" shouted Ironwood.

"My job!" replied Junior as he lifted his bat, winding up as if ready to hit the fireball like a baseball. With a roar, he swung his bat at the fireball. To Cinder's shock, the fireball actually halted upon contact. But Junior was starting to give ground. His swing was being forced back, and he could feel his arms burning just for being close to the fire.

"Boss!" shouted his men.

"Uncle!" shouted Melanie and Militia, dealing with some Grimm. Adam had commanded the Mutant Grimm to attack again.

His white sleeves were burning up, leaving skin that was also turning red from the fire. Junior struggled, trying to bring more strength, but it wasn't enough. The fireball was starting to push him back further. Flickers of fire lashed at his face, leaving burn marks.

"C'mon Junior!" shouted Torchwick, "You told me you're on the winning side. Prove it to me!"

He looked at himself in shock for saying that, as did Neo.

Junior glanced back to see the wounded trying to drag themselves away while Onyx held up his shield ready just in case the fireball go through Junior and Ozpin's barrier, but there wasn't enough time. He looked to see Cinder grinning at what seemed to be her victory. Adam and Tyrian had tried to shoot Junior to distract him, but Qrow and Raven were preventing that. He looked up and saw Jaune closing in fast. He closed his eyes, 'At least young master is here. Everything will be fine, even if I die.'

At that, he remembered that Sun and Ren had proven themselves. Nora, the excitable girl, had gone stronger. He was blessed with the Dragon's Mark. And yet he hadn't proven himself worthy yet. Just providing information, and yet not defeating any of his enemies orprotectd someone. At this, his inner fire began to burn. He will prove himself. He will win this. HE WILL NOT LET JAUNE'S TRUST IN HIM BE IN VAIN!

With a roar and strength he didn't know, Junior began to shift the fireball back slowly. His Dragon's Mark on his right shoulder began to shine. Tendrils of fire wrapped around him, and yet it wasn't hurting him. They coalesced around his hands, but he didn't care.

"WOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" roared Junior.

With a final spurt, he finished his swing, batting the fireball away, right into the Mutant Goliath.

The Mutant Goliath roared in pain after being hit by a speeding fireball, collapsing onto the ground before dissolving away.

"Ha! Take that!" panted Junior, using his bat as support. He looked to see he now had gauntlets that burned with fire, and yet, never hurting him. Cinder responded in frustration with a stream of fire, aimed at Junior, but Jaune had made it. He dove down and smashed his foot down, up heaving stone to block the fire.

"Good job," grinned Jaune.

Junior could only weakly smile, "What took you so long?"

"I'll handle the rest. Make sure the private house is ready for me and Pyrrha after this fight," instructed Jaune. Junior looked over to Pyrrha and saw the dragon head on her chest, above her heart, and nodded. He wanted to question why do it right after the battle, but he figured there was a reason.

As Junior took Pyrrha to where RWBY, Dew, and anybody else injured, he stepped forward, glaring at his enemies. The Mutant Boartusk spun in place, gathering speed and fired itself towards Jaune.

"Look out!" shouted Nora in warning.

Jaune gazed at the spinning Boartusk before swinging his leg back.

"Wait, he's seriously not going to?" questioned Neptune.

Jaune kicked the spinning Boartusk like a soccer ball, sending it flying right into a Beoyeti. With a quick flick, he swung his sword at them, creating a blade beam made of fire and cutting right through them while burning the corpses. The Mutant Beringal charged at Jaune, screaming its battlecry as it winded up its fist and punched downwards at Jaune. However, before Jaune did anything, Sun jumped in and slammed the fist away with his staff.

"Can't let you have all the fun," grinned Sun. Ren and Nora walked forward, agreeing with the statement.

"It's our duty as your retainers to fight with you," added Ren. Jaune could only nod in reply.

"Day and Knight!" shouted Jaune, rushing forward at the Beringal. Sun ran forward with him, creating clones and firing them forward. Each clone hung on to Beringal's limb, preventing it from moving easily. Jaune stomped the ground, letting a pillar rise from behind him with Sun on it. Jaune dashed and sliced at the Beringal's legs. Sun slammed his staff onto the Beringal's head, causing it to fall to the ground. Jaune finished it off with a shotgun blast infused with the wind element, creating multiple holes in its head before it dissolved.

Several White Fang members and Grimm charged forward to attack them, hoping to do something, along with the Mutant Beowolf.

"Lightning wrath!" roared Jaune as he channeled electrical aura into his arms. He blasted it up into the air, right into where Nora was. She had already jumped into the air, putting her hammer in front of her. She felt the surge of electricity go through her body, empowering her. With a maniacal laugh, she spun towards the ground and slammed into the Mutant Beowolf into the ground with her hammer. Electricity sprouted forth from the hammer impact and shocked everyone around the Beowolf. Grimm faded away while White Fang members felt the shock going through their body, and unlike Nora, they didn't get a power boost from it.

At this point, the Mutant Deathstalker viewed Jaune as the biggest threat and quickly skittered towards him and plunged its stinger. Jaune's shield glowed white, and completely repelled the incoming stinger with his shield. Ren immediately followed up by jumping up, grabbing the stinger that was still in the air before plunging it down on its own head. The Deathstalker wailed and shook in pain. It tried to find Ren and Jaune, but they somehow suddenly disappeared from its sights. In reality, they were still in front of it, but Ren had activated his Semblance. It took awhile, but he was able to encompass any Grimm variants with his Semblance. Jaune put away his sword, and the two of them charged forward. With a strong step forward, the both of them punched the Deathstalker right in the center. They weren't done yet, though.

The two of them dashed forward again but split off. Jaune jumped high into the air, sprouting wings to fly up. As Ren took to the right side, Sun had appeared on the left side. They both ran forward, loading their leg with as much Aura as the could, and kicked the Deathstalker up. As the Deathstalker went up, Nora and Junior both jump and spun perpendicular to the ground. They slammed their weapon from under the Grimm, shooting it even higher. Cinder summoned ice crystals and fire them at Jaune, hoping to do something. Jaune moved his hands with grace and manipulated the ice crystals, guiding them in a Tai Chi fashion, and turning them to water, reshaping it until it was a sharpened arc and fired it at the Deathstalker, cutting it in half. He had originally been ready to dive down and stab the Deathstalker, but seeing as Cinder was trying to attack him, he might as well use her attack to help him instead.

As for the finale, he dove to the ground before punching the shadows of the Taijutus. The snake Grimm looked confused until shadow spikes slammed into their flanks from their own shadow.

"Now!" shouted Dandy as DSC and SSN finished off the Grimm while it was distracted. Sage cut off the white head while Dandy slammed his Disco ball into the black head, crushing it.

"Kill him!" shrieked Cinder, now utterly terrified. Just one man, with some minor help, had taken out most of the Mutant Grimm with ease, and Cinder now realized that Jaune had more power than she could imagine…

She quickly put on her special glove. It was a white glove with Salem's special insignia on the back of her hand, the same one used on Amber. Cinder had requested another one just in case. If she got the chance, then she would drain the boy of his power and add it to hers. The Mutant Ursa and Mercury immediately dashed forward, along with Emerald trying to provide backup. Immediately, Ironwood and Glynda ran forward to help.

* * *

Adam started towards him, but Raven blocked his path.

"That's it! Just die!" roared Adam as he got into his stance. Raven, using the same stance as before, started to run forward. Adam smirked as he saw her coming. This match was his. He drew out his blade, activating his Semblance Moonslice, aiming for Raven's head when something went wrong. His whole body was wracked in pain as he did it, and completely messed up his aim. Raven managed to duck under it before doing an upwards slash, slicing his right arm off.

Adam howled in pain as he felt the cut suddenly burn, freeze, electrocute, and be stabbed by what felt like thousands of tiny needles. As he slumped down onto his knees, Raven pointed her blade at his neck.

"You fool. You think I gave you those stab wounds for fun earlier?" stated Raven, "I know your style, and its weakness. Each stab wound I gave you plays a vital part in utilizing the style. The thighs for balance and power. Right shoulder for pulling. Hips for turning power. All which I disabled. And now.. you are just as armless as my..."

She saw two pieces of her hair fall off. Adam had managed to slice a bit of her hair.

"Oh boy," sighed Taiyang, "He's in trouble."

Yang then saw where her temper and protectiveness of her hair came from.

"You..." growled Raven, "You little bastard!"

"What?" gaped Adam, trying to figure out what was happening. Raven began slicing all over his body, causing him even more pain before she ended it with a dropkick towards Blake.

"That's for my hair!" shouted Raven. Yang could only chuckle as she saw just how much she had inherited from Raven.

Adam could only slowly crawl, seeing Blake stare at him with hate.

"Please," gasped Adam, "I did all of this for you, my love."

"No," replied Blake coldly, "You did this all for yourself and your perverted sense of justice. In reality, it was all about revenge. I was just a crutch for you to use, an excuse. I said it once, and I'll say it again. Goodbye."

At these final words, Adam succumbed to the darkness, his eyes dimming. Raven picked him up before tossing him to where they were keeping the prisoners. Some of the Atlas soldiers still remaining tied him up before stripping him of his weapon. They made sure he wouldn't die from his wounds.

They all turned around to see the final fight.

* * *

 **Alright, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Didn't think I'd actually get up past 1000 reviews when I woke up. Next chapter WILL be next week, uploaded on 6/26/2017 at probably somewhere at 10 am PCT. I do need the week to plot out what else I'm going to do. But feel free to leave a review still!**

 **And now, for some random Omakes I made up!**

* * *

Omake-Right before taking the seed

" _ **In summary, you're about to be a Gary Stu character!"**_ announced Othim.

"Who?" asked Jaune.

" _ **Male counterpart of Mary Sue,"**_ replied Lung Wang, _**"You don't want to know."**_

" _ **That goddess was almost invincible in her own territory,"**_ grumbled Aryz.

" _ **Thankfully, once she's out of it, she's quite easy to deal with,"**_ added Fafnir.

* * *

Omake 2-A specific Goliath Herd

Far off from the city of Vale, where an invasion was taking place, a small group of Grimm Goliaths was not invading. A younger one looked to the leader before asking its question.

"Why are we not invading like the rest of them?" asked the young one, "We should be there trampling over humanity. We have been given the perfect chance! Even the Grimm dragon has woken up to invade!"

The leader merely gazed at the younger one before replying, "Because, there is the presence of the true dragons exists in that human city. We will not take that risk."

The young one pouted before yelling, "I doubt that was true! Just a bluff we sensed those months earlier!"

Some of the other Goliaths seemed to agree, and the young on was about to lead anyone who wanted to go with it to Vale when they all heard a roar. A presence washed over them, causing them all to shake. They looked to see Bahamut roaring in the skies, ready to fight. The Grimm dragon looked ready to piss itself before trying to flee. They then all witnessed Bahamut beating the crap outta it.

"That… is why we didn't invade," said the leader, "Would you rather face that or exist to fight another day?"

The young one didn't answer.

* * *

 **Anyone forget that small herd back a few chapters, the one I had Jaune scared? That's where they were lol!**

 **On a side note, I'd like to thank UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever as my betareaders. Couldn't have gotten these chapters out this fast.**


	36. Chapter 36 Battle Of Beacon Finale

**New chapter, as promised. Enjoy! And yes, I will still be writing after this. This is not the end for me. Now, I have a free reign on what to write! Except I'm going to have to plot this out.**

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath as he was dealing with Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald as Ironwood and Glynda were keeping the Mutant Ursa at bay. Mercury was kicking as fast as he could, with Emerald trying to get behind him to slash his body with her weapons while Cinder was providing support by shooting as many arrows as she could while spamming fireballs as quickly as she could. Unlike his fight against the Arc family, this one proved to be at a much higher level. The three opponents were working together to form one cohesive unit against him.

But it meant nothing to Jaune. He was fighting against the people who had caused all this destruction. Who had harmed and killed innocent people for their own greed. But most importantly, the ones who dared to harm and kill his friends and, most unforgivably, his mates.

Mercury went for a high kick while Emerald went for a low sweep with her weapons. Jaune jumped over the sweep and met Mercury's kick with his own, clashing briefly before overpowering his. Mercury used the momentum of being forced back to land a reverse kick, but Jaune tilted his head down to dodge it while spinning before swinging his sword at Emerald, who blocked it with her blades. She felt her arms go numb before jumping back while switching to her guns and firing away. Jaune jumped down, landing on his back, sweeping his leg towards Mercury who jumped before bringing his shield up to block it.

Cinder shot a stream of fire at Jaune, hoping that his manipulation of the elements did not extend to fire, but she was utterly horrified when she saw Jaune thrust his sword towards the fire, shooting out a torrent of flames to meet it. Mercury, who was in the air, flipped himself to axe kick him, seeing as he was occupied with both sides. Jaune stomped the ground, causing the earth beneath Mercury's position shoot up and hit him. Mercury went tumbling back, and Jaune took this chance to swing his sword right towards Emerald, firing a blade beam. Emerald yelped and dived away. Cinder summoned her two swords, charging towards Jaune when a flock of stones went flying towards her. She quickly blasted the stones into obliteration before looking at her side, seeing Glynda, glaring with her wand held up, she had decided to help Jaune's battle while Ironwood finished off the Mutant Ursa.

Mercury, getting some distance, started to fire as many blasts into the air. If he could get a good chance, he could have all the blasts slam into Jaune and maybe weaken him so Cinder could finish him off. Jaune snarled as he charged towards him, unleashing a fury of slashes. Mercury dodged, ducked, and sidestepped as best as he could when Jaune suddenly slammed his shield into him, knocking him on the head. Jaune quickly swung the shield around to block Emerald's chain sickles.

The illusionist spun, swinging it down as hard as she could, landing multiple hits on the shield. Jaune slashed at the sickles, knocking them away before ducking under Mercury's flying kick. Then, one of the chains managed to wrap around his right sword hand. Emerald quickly gripped her weapon as tightly as she could, trying to prevent Jaune from moving anywhere. Mercury jumped into the air, spinning and firing shots at him while all the blasts in the air converged, diving down at him.

'Gotcha!' thought Mercury.

Jaune looked up, taking a deep breath, and roared, creating a powerful cyclone from his mouth. The blasts were negated instantly. Taking this chance, Jaune channeled electricity on his right hand and grabbed the chain. The current of electricity traveled from his hand to the chain, and back to Emerald, who immediately dropped her right-hand weapon. Jaune quickly unwrapped the chain and slammed his blade to the ground, firing out rocks. Mercury kicked them all, protecting himself and Emerald. He saw in time Jaune rushing at him and switched legs to try to thrust kick him. Jaune spun from the kick, bringing his sword up, and using the spin momentum, slammed a slash into Mercury's chest from his left hip to his right shoulder. Mercury coughed out horribly as the impact slammed his Aura levels down to critical levels. Jaune wasn't done. After he finished his swing up, he swung his left arm and backhanded Mercury on his cheek with _Dragonscales._

Emerald raised her sickle and drove it down to Jaune's back, managing to land a cut that was several inches long before but was suddenly kicked up on her chin by Jaune with an almost vertical backward kick as he pivoted around. Jaune quickly flipped himself back into position and dashed toward Mercury once more.

* * *

Cinder summoned balls of fire and shot them at Glynda, who dodged them before reforming the chunks of rocks that had scattered from the blast and fired them at Cinder. Cinder, learning from her past fight with Glynda, quickly blasted the rocks into dust, not letting her manipulate it. She flicked her hand, and several pits of fire exploded below Glynda. Glynda immediately rolled forward before firing bolts of Aura at Cinder. She countered by upheaving rocks and sending them flying at the bolts, blocking them. She then had the rocks reform into glass shards and fire them all at Glynda.

Glynda immediately summoned a barrier to block the attack but felt herself being forced to her knees from the powerful force of the attack. Cinder took her chance and began to close in, forming two swords. Glynda noticed and canceled her barrier, rolling away. Cinder saw her chance and quickly fired three arrows around Glynda. Glynda looked around and noticed the screams again, and knew it wasn't good. She quickly jumped as high as she could, summoning her strongest barrier below her. The arrows exploded, sending Glynda upwards. She quickly turned, expecting an attack. She wasn't wrong, as she saw Cinder coming down at her with both blades. Glynda quickly formed another barrier, but it was instantly shattered by Cinder. Having no other choice, she used her crop and held it across her like a shield. Cinder slashed, and Glynda was sent flying into the ground, coughing. Her glasses fell off her, and her hair came loose. Before she could get up, she felt two arrows hit her arms, forcing her to drop her crop. Cinder was soon hovering over Glynda, grinning, before noticing Jaune had just kicked Emerald in the chin. She was running out of time, and she doubts that she could use the glove on Jaune fast enough… so she would just have to settle for the next best thing: the Vice-Headmistress of Beacon would do nicely, and perhaps give her enough power to deal with Jaune. She raised her gloved hand to Glynda's face.

A Grimm looking parasite suddenly came out of her glove, staring right at Glynda. Glynda's face took on an expression of utter horror at the sight of this… thing, instantly realizing that this was what Cinder had used on Amber. She couldn't move, though, she was too injured to do anything. The Grimm parasite spat out its black goo at Glynda as Cinder's hand got closer and closer...

Glynda felt her life flash before her eyes. She saw everything in slow motion. The black sticky goo was flying towards her face. Ozpin was yelling, so were Port and Oobleck. Raven was running with her blade drawn. Qrow was in a deadlock against Tyrian, shouting for Glynda to move. Her students were watching in fear. She closed her eye, almost accepting that fact she might die. Then, she felt her body shoved away, colliding into the ground.

Glynda shook her head and looked up to see who had just saved her... It was Ironwood!

He had punched the Ursa away and was already running towards Glynda when he saw her in the air, helpless. He had taken a nasty swipe across his chest, and could feel his injury burn. The Mutant variety all had something that could cut through Aura unnaturally. But it didn't matter. He had to save Glynda! He wouldn't admit it, but he admired her and found her quite attractive. But he had his opinions, and she had hers. That was what kept separating them, but by Oum, that only made her more attractive to Ironwood.

Ironwood held is right robotic arm up, blocking the black goo with it. It was mostly attached to his hand and wrist. The Grimm parasite started the drain, but found out the stuff it was attached to had only small amounts of Aura to consume. Cinder herself looked shocked at this sudden interference. But none the less, the Grimm parasite was starting to drain some of Ironwood's Aura. Ironwood, with no hesitation at all, grabbed his gun with his left hand, pointed it at his right hand and fired. The bullet went right through his hand and exploded as it touched the black goo. He had loaded a very unstable and experimental fire Dust bullet, and let it explode in between them. Both Cinder and Ironwood were sent flying back. Ironwood rolled on the dirt for a bit before stopping. He didn't get up. He showed no signs of moving at all. His right arm from the elbow down was just a mess of wires.

Cinder, however, was conscious and looked furious. She immediately raised her left hand, intent on ending the General's life, the life of the man had just prevented her from gaining more power! She was going to kill all of these people for getting in her way...

And then the ground began to shriek again, and flames starting to come, Glynda dove to Ironwood, hoping to tackle him out of the way, but they didn't get far enough. She closed her eyes, expecting the pain to come when she felt Ironwood's body suddenly move, dragging her with him.

Cinder growled in frustration and saw Ironwood's metallic body have a familiar black glow. She looked to see Pyrrha standing back up.

"Round Two," growled Pyrrha before raising her arm to the skies. Cinder looked a bit confused at this gesture when the broken robots suddenly started to fly towards the sky, gathering together. All the broken Atlesian Knights and Paladins were starting to gather, forming a rather sizable ball.

Pyrrha roared and threw it at Cinder. It was too fast for her to dodge, so she opted to summon up the same amount of Aura she did when blasting Ozpin and fired at her. The blast met the iron ball, halting its path and slowly melting the massive projectile. Pyrrha grunted in effort before taking some of the metal off the ball, forming another projectile and fired it at a different angle. Cinder took one hand off her stream of fire and launched another blast at it, disposing of it. Pyrrha tightened the ball of steel, making it as dense as possible and put all her power and effort into throwing it at Cinder. The ball started to move forward, much to Cinder's surprise. Cinder cranked up the power, hoping to blast through and kill Ozpin and all of the others.

* * *

Jaune had just dodged another kick from Mercury before narrowing his eyes at the battle between Pyrrha and Cinder. He couldn't let his love fight that witch alone. So with spin, he grabbed his sheath with his left hand and threw it at Emerald, it bashed her in the head, knocking her unconscious. Jaune gripped his sword and raised it to block the middle kick from Mercury. He pushed Mercury off and stared at each other for a bit as if it was the final showdown. Mercury then blasted himself forward with his boots, adding extra momentum to himself before launching his horizontal air kick towards Jaune's head. Jaune jumped, spinning in the air going counterclockwise. As Mercury's kick drew near, Jaune used his left leg to force the kick downwards. Mercury, not expecting this, felt his whole body tilt at impact until his head was now pointing at Jaune. Jaune then used his right leg and did a thrust kick in the same breath, landing it right on top of Mercury's skull. The impact was so deadly that it shattered all his Aura and the remaining damage fractured his skull. Mercury went down and wasn't getting back up.

The Mutant Ursa that had been fighting Ironwood suddenly appeared behind Jaune, intent on killing Jaune. Before Jaune did anything, four fireballs and three heavy bullets hit its flank, forcing it back. Jaune turned to see Oobleck and Port, with their weapons out.

"Can't let you have all the fun and glory, dear boy!" grinned Port.

"Indeed, and I look forward to your explanation about your dragons, young man," intoned Oobleck, lowering his glasses to inspect Jaune, "Although many have forgotten, I have not."

Seeing his student's confusion, Oobleck explained further, "I have a doctorate in the History of Remnant. I have seen and studied many aspects of culture. One of which I found was the extinct Dragon Clan. Not much is known about them, but I can see you are part of it. Which means, there are dozens of ancient historical relics that you must know!"

Jaune could only sweatdrop at this but nodded before dashing towards Cinder.

Cinder was concentrating her Aura into her hands, cranking up the heat and power. The ball had halted, but it was still hard to just melt it away. The Atlesian metal technology had been built to withstand high temperatures. Cinder shouted in frustration and poured on even more power. Soon, the stream of fire went right through the ball and straight for Pyrrha. Pyrrha quickly summoned her shield, ready to block when Jaune stepped in front of the flames. With his free hand, he put it in front of him before closing it, as if grasping something in the air. The flames halted, no longer obeying Cinder's commands.

Cinder quickly pelted Jaune with stray debris transformed into glass, but Jaune snapped his finger, causing the fire that was floating in the air to explode, catching all the glass shards and reducing them to slag.

Cinder was already diving forward, slashing with her two swords. Jaune parried them with _Crocea Mors_ , entering in a battle against Cinder. As they stared at each other, Cinder got a good look at him and allowed herself to grin. She had one more chance to try and pull Jaune to her side. With so much power, he would be worthy to be her king while she would be the queen.

"Why do you fight for them?" asked Cinder as she spun, attempting a vertical slash to his head with both swords. Jaune blocked both of them with his blade, halting their path. "Join me. We could rule this world. We can take those unworthy of power for ourselves. We can become the rulers of this land. I would be queen, and every queen needs a king. That could be you," she whispered with a tantalizingly smooth voice.

Jaune pushed her blades off before spinning to launch a back kick at her. Cinder jumped back to avoid it. A second later, the two of them clashed again, striking and stabbing each other while dodging, each of their weapons bringing bright flashes of light. After what seemed to be the tenth clash, Cinder tried once more.

"What is it you desire? Power? Wealth? Beautiful women? All which you can get if you join up with me. And surely you can see with my body, you can enjoy it much more than any other women," continued Cinder seductively.

"What I desire," growled Jaune, "Is your death! For having a hand in hurting all of my mates! For attempting to kill my MATES!"

At this, Jaune fired off nine simultaneous strikes at her. Cinder managed to block only two of the nine hits, the rest hit her hard, forcing her back. He followed up by spinning like a windmill, his sword striking with an overhead slash. Cinder blocked it with both swords, but the impact caused her to fall on her knees.

She quickly began to think of her next course of action, when she felt something wet fall on her face. She looked up to see Jaune was sweating heavily. Cinder smiled as she recalled earlier. Surely summoning the dragon to deal with the Grimm, fighting the Mutant Alpha Grimms, dealing with her pawns Mercury and Emerald, and saving Pyrrha had to have taken a toll on the boy.

"What's wrong?" she mocked, "Tired from all those heroic deeds earlier? You still have a chance to live. Just join me."

This shot Jaune's temper even higher as he let go of his sword suddenly and spun to kick Cinder in the face. She noticed it and blocked it by crossing her arms in front of her. As she was thrown back, she slammed her hand down on the ground, dragging and melting the ground. With another flourish, she sent rocks transformed into ice at him again. Jaune put his hands out, halting them before waving his hand in an intricate manner, guiding the ice around him before firing it back at her. Cinder released an explosive pulse around her, melting it. She brought her arrows up and quickly fired at Jaune, but he dodged most of them and caught one before hurling it back at her. She quickly dodged it before noticing Jaune was already near her, with just his fists. She sneered at first, but suddenly realized he could be dangerous even when unarmed. Jaune raised his right knee, trying to knee her in the chest. Cinder dismissed her swords, knowing that at this close range, hand to hand combat would be better. She raised her left arm, blocking the attack while raising the right hand, full of fire, ready to strike Jaune. Before she could punch Jaune with it and blast him, she felt something shift. Her guard was being broken through. Before she knew it, Jaune had somehow turned his knee into a thrust kick, breaking right through her guard and slamming it home on her ribs. She could feel her ribs cracking even though she still had Aura to protect her.

Jaune wasn't done yet, though. Before Cinder could be sent flying, he grabbed her hand, spinning her around before slamming her into the ground. Right after, he jumped into the air before trying to drive her into the ground with a kick, spinning his body like a corkscrew. Cinder quickly shot flames from her hands, rocketing herself away while dodging the kick that cracked the ground she was just at. She quickly took to the air, hoping for some breathing room. Jaune hunched over before letting his wings sprout up behind him again and flew right towards Cinder. He was not letting her get away that easily. With a wave of his hands, his sword and shield flew back at him. The ground beneath the two items shot out towards him. Jaune caught them with no hesitation as he flew towards Cinder, intending to end her life.

Cinder was up in the air, hoping for breathing space when she heard the flap of wings. She paled as she momentarily forgot Jaune could also fly! She turned around and quickly flew to the right, dodging a slash from Jaune. Before she could retaliate, Jaune was already out of her view. She looked around before getting a slash from behind. She growled as she turned to swipe him, but Jaune was already flying away from her. She shot fireballs, but Jaune dodged them with ease. With each clash, it was very obvious that Cinder was at a huge disadvantage in the air. She did not have the speed nor mobility that Jaune did. She dove for the ground, only for Jaune to intercept her and send her flying back into the air. He had no intention of letting her get back on the ground.

* * *

"That's it!" shouted Cinder as she gathered all the Aura she had left in her body. She also quickly used the item Salem gave her long ago, in the case of an emergency. This certainly was one, as she drew out the wristbands from her pocket.

The fire burst out from her body, gathering up in front of her. She slapped the wristbands on her wrists, and her fireball tripled in size, power, and heat.

"You had your chance! Now die! Die so my mistress' vision will come true!"

She fired her attack directly at Ozpin and Jaune's mates, knowing Jaune would have to stand in front of them to protect them. And if he failed, then it merely gave her a bonus, taking out Ozpin and any other threats.

Jaune quickly flew in front of the fireball's path, closing his eyes in concentration. Everything seemed to slow down around him. The shouts of his mates to move. The order from Ozpin to move. Sun, Ren, Nora, and Junior trying to help him. Jaune slowly raised his sword to the skies, letting his Aura and dragon powers soak into the sword. _Crocea Mors_ responded by consuming the Aura and tripling the amount he poured in.

" _ **Jaune,"**_ growled Lung Wang, _ **"That Cinder somehow managed to grab a relic from the Dragon Clan. See that you take it off her dead body when you're done."**_

His sword glowed in several colors, bathed in power. Jaune slowly swung his sword around varying arcs and slashes, leaving a stream of light that stayed in the air. To everyone watching, it was a display of beauty. They all soon gathered up, revealing Jaune had just drawn a dragon's head, with it's mouth open, ready to fire. Jaune held up his sword, and it seemed to glow even brighter. As the fireball drew near, Jaune opened his eyes, revealing his pupils had transformed to slits of an angry dragon.

" _ **Seven Dragon King's ROAR!"**_ roared all seven dragons and Jaune.

Jaune fired a huge blast of multicolored Aura right at Cinder. There was no epic clash of attacks as the fireball hit the blast. No attempt to see who could overpower each other in time. Jaune's attack slammed right through the fireball and approaching Cinder.

"No. NO!" shouted Cinder as she put her hands up in a feeble attempt to defend herself. The blast went right through her, blinding everyone. As soon as the blast was done, Cinder landed on the ground, completely weakened and her Aura drained. Her clothes had been burned off in the blast, so she was nearly naked with only a few strips of cloth to cover her modesty, but it wasn't a pretty sight as her body was covered with extreme burns.

Jaune slowly landed in front of her, lifting her chin up with his sword.

"You won't win," hissed Cinder in a feeble attempt to curse him, "Even if I die, there will be others. Her plans will succeed. You think I was the only one in her service?"

"Whoever your mistress is, it doesn't matter," replied Jaune curtly, "If she insists on fighting me, then I will show her just who is on the top of the food chain. But enough. It is time you paid for your crimes. The lives of all those innocent people lost. The attempted assassination of my mate."

As Cinder watched helplessly as Jaune raised his sword, he looked around, trying to think of something. Her eyes landed on Emerald and smiled. Even if she died, Emerald would be the one to take her place. All she had to do was think about Emerald before she died and then Salem, would still have the Fall Maiden under her control.

"It won't work," spoke out Jaune, surprising Cinder, "You're thinking of giving the power to Emerald. Hoping that she would be the last thing on your mind. But you won't. I will not let you. Your last thoughts will all be about me, and how you tried to kill me and my mates. The mistakes you've made. And lastly, to never incur the dragon's wrath."

Cinder looked up into Jaune's eyes in defiance, only for that to turn into fear. For she could see Jaune's anger. And she could see seven large dragons seemingly standing behind him, all furious at her.

"What are you?" whispered Cinder in horror. Her whole mind was focused on the dragons and Jaune.

Jaune didn't bother answering and slashed Cinder in half diagonally. She laid down on the ground, a pool of blood spouting from her body. Her eyes dimmed, and suddenly, an orange light came forth from Cinder's body and shot off into the air. The Fall Maiden's power would be seeking its new host.

* * *

Tyrian growled when he saw this. He would have loved to help Cinder and stab his wrist blades into the boy, but Qrow had no intentions of letting him go. It seemed peculiar, though, as past data about Qrow showed that he was one who played it calmly, always cool and collected, provoking others when he had the chance. However, this fight right now was like a fight to the death, and Qrow wasn't holding anything back. His rage could easily be seen on his face, and to be honest, Tyrian found it both exhilarating and chilling. Qrow still maintained his usual fighting style, but now, every slash, every stab, now had extra power packed into it.

"As much as I want to continue this fight," giggled Tyrian as he blocked a stab, "I must bid you all farewell!"

Qrow responded with a slash, overextending himself at a bad point. Tyrian dodged it, and with a step, shot his stinger out to stab Qrow. However, just as he did so, he stepped on one of the stray metal pieces of Ironwood's hand, slipping and missing his stab. Tyrian's eyes widened at his bad luck and at Qrow's devious smile. Moving too fast for him to react at all, Qrow had put his scythe on his tail and with a swift movement, sliced it off.

"Ahh!" screamed Tyrian in pain as he saw his beautiful stinger laying on the ground, "You bastard!"

Qrow didn't even hesitate and followed up with a slash to his head. Tyrian dodged it, jumping back.

"Didn't think James would be the one to save me," chuckled Qrow. He hadn't imagined his bad luck would be used with Ironwood's missing hand parts.

"I'll get you for this, Qrow Branwan!" shouted Tyrian as he grabbed smoke bombs from his pockets, throwing it down.

Qrow and Raven looked at each other and nodded, both of them charging into the smoke. The smoke cleared, revealing only two of them inside.

"Dammit!" shouted Qrow, transforming his scythe back to his sword, stabbing the ground, "I swear on my life, Tyrian Callows, that I will hunt you down. You want me! Come and get me! I will kill you! I will avenge Summer, the woman whom you took away from me!"

"Qrow?" asked Raven tenderly. She had rarely seen Qrow so... angry.

Qrow looked back to Raven before sighing, "It's a long story. One that Taiyang and I will have to tell you, Yang, and Ruby about the truth."

The battle of Beacon had just ended.

* * *

Currently, everyone was recovering from their injuries. Ironwood woke up just to find his head on Glynda's lap. He started to blush and move, but with a glare from Glynda, he didn't move. Not that he didn't want to anyways. Junior had his men scrounge up every last medical supply and trying to see who needed help as they went to evacuate to Vale. They would return to Beacon to reclaim it later. But for now, they needed to recover. Junior frowned as he did a headcount and saw that at least 4 of his men died, and 10 of them injured. He glared at Adam, tempted to just take his life for all his men and Yang.

Jaune had made sure that all of his mates and his friends were alright. As they were getting on the transport ship, Jaune suddenly scooped Pyrrha off her feet. He gave her a loving but lustful growl while Pyrrha snuggled into his chest.

"Junior. Gonna need that house... NOW!" growled Jaune, already starting to lose self-control. The fight was over, his other mates would be safe. But he needed to claim his current mate now.

Junior nodded, quickly tossing him a key and details of where the private house was at. In return, Jaune tossed the bracelets that Cinder had to Junior, telling him to keep it for now. With a nod, Pyrrha held on to Jaune as he quickly took to the air, flying towards the room with haste. As for Pyrrha herself, she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't hoping for this.

"Where are they going?" asked Glynda with worry.

"None of your business, lady," replied Junior bluntly

Ozpin and Ironwood seemed to want to scold Junior, but he quickly held up his hand, "Young master has some... important business he must conduct now. It can not wait. You can ask him yourself after."

Sighing, they accepted it, stating that they would want to speak to Jaune as soon as possible.

* * *

At another corner, Raven, Yang, and Ruby had cornered Taiyang and Qrow.

"Later has come and gone, speak now," threatened Raven.

"Yea, why were you so angry at the Tyrian dude?" asked Yang.

"Can't you tell us, Uncle Qrow?" begged Ruby with puppy eyes. It would've been effective if it weren't for the fact there was dry blood and dirt caked on her face.

Taiyang and Qrow looked at each other for a bit before deciding to do the most honorable thing they considered in their bro code.

"Just... wait for tomorrow, when we're all rested and not in shock from battle," they both replied before they turned to each other, punching each other in the face and knocking themselves out.

The girls looked in shock at what the men did to escape questioning, looking at them before looking at each other, and then looking back at them again.

"Guess we'll have to wait till tomorrow girls," sighed Raven. Ruby nodded, sitting right next to Raven and putting her head onto Raven's shoulders before falling asleep.

"They have so much to answer for," sighed Yang as she tried to raise her right hand to her head, just to remember it wasn't there anymore. She stared at the wound. She had been so distracted by everything else that she forgot about it. But the horror of losing her arm came back. She started to quake in fear when Raven gently pulled Yang towards her, hugging her with her free hand.

"It's alright now," whispered Raven, "He won't hurt you anymore. I'm sorry I didn't protect you like I was supposed to. But I promise I'll still be here when you wake up."

Yang couldn't say anything against that, as she felt herself becoming drowsy. She soon caved into the world of dreams, with her birth mom by her side.

Blake had been slowly nearing the edge of the ship. Just a bit more and she would get away. From all of them. From her friends. From her team. From Jaune. It broke her heart to do this, but she didn't want to be around them. All she did was bring misery. Even though Adam was captured, there was no telling who else from the White Fang would come seeking vengeance. What if the leader of the White Fang was in on this attack? She couldn't risk it. She was about to run out when Ren and Sun grabbed her arms, preventing her from escaping.

"Let go of me," struggled Blake, trying to get free.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked Sun.

"Away from all of you," exclaimed Blake, "I don't want anyone getting hurt because of me. Yang lost her arm because of me. Jaune almost died because of me! I can't stand watching my friends and loved ones getting hurt because I exist. Even if Adam is caught, there are still others."

"That's stupid. Friends are here for you because they want to be," replied Sun.

"Agreed," said Ren, "Blake. If you ran now, it would break Jaune's heart."

"Better to be heartbroken and finding another mate to replace me than to watch him die because of me," cried Blake.

"That's bullcrap," retorted Sun, "I can tell you Jaune won't accept that. He'd just fly and find you even if you left."

"Blake Belladonna, was it?"

They turned to see Raven asking the question. On her sides were both Ruby and Yang, who had just fallen asleep.

"Let her go, boys," Raven ordered calmly.

The two boys glanced at each other before letting her go, though still blocking her path.

"Were you the one who swung the sword that took my daughter's arm?" asked Raven calmly, directed at Blake.

"What?... No! Though it's my fault that-" started Blake, but Raven wouldn't let her finish.

"You were not the one to cut it," interrupted Raven, "Do not feel that it is your fault. If anything, it's mine for not upholding my rule of one. If I had paid attention, then Yang would not be missing an arm. Things happen. It is up to use to do what we can now. Whatever happened in the past has already happened. We can't change it. But we can still fight for the future."

Raven then smiled at she rubbed Yang's head affectionately, "Plus, I don't think any of your teammates would like it if you left so suddenly, especially Jaune and most of all Yang. They'd hunt you down."

Blake remained silent at this. She was sure that Raven would be furious at her, for being a reason why she was missing an arm. And yet, here she was, telling her that none of it was her fault. Weiss came up next to her.

"Don't worry. We'll get Yang a new arm. One of the best Atlas has to offer," whispered Weiss, "Plus, you can't leave now. Not after this. Friends and teams stick together. Get some sleep. You should be tired from fighting and your injuries weren't exactly light."

Blake nodded before feeling drowsy. She slowly sat on one of the chairs and soon fell asleep.

* * *

Jaune had arrived at the room Junior had made for him. Hidden from others, the room had a king size bed with the most comfortable mattresses and blankets. However, none of that mattered to him. He quickly tossed Pyrrha onto the bed, who squealed in surprise at this. Jaune went to the shower, wiping off all the grim and sweat from the battle. While he was doing that, Pyrrha quickly went through a drawer to find a variety of contraceptive devices. She quickly found the birth pills and swallowed one. She also found a specialized cervical cap and quickly put it in herself. She had learned to use one after an embarrassing talk with her parents. She saw Junior had also put varying sizes of male condoms, but disregarded those. She wanted her first time to be able to feel Jaune enter in her without anything in between them. She wanted it to feel raw.

She turned around to see Jaune had finished his shower and dried himself. He was naked, and he looked ready to pounce. Pyrrha saw his impressive manhood, knowing she would be very satisfied after this was over. She smiled at him and reached behind her back and took off her bra, letting it fall to the ground and allowing her utterly beautiful breasts to spill out, giving Jaune a very good look at her. His blush was a red as her hair and his nose nearly bled and his member stood at attention as he quietly whispered "My goddess…"

Pyrrha blushed before she quickly went into the bathroom and finished stripping, then she entered the shower, wiping off the dirt before drying off.

She came out to see that Jaune was sitting on the bed, twitching. She walked over to him, making sure to let him take in the sight of her body before she sat next to him, and she immediately said, "I'm ready."

At that, Jaune pounced at her.

By the time they finished, it was already past three in the morning. After the beginning parts of intercourse, they had gone at it for at least 3 hours straight. Pyrrha swore she saw stars every time she went off, and she went off more than a few times. She vaguely remembered hitting the double digits after the first hour. They went to sleep for a bit, and woke up, finding Jaune was still inside Pyrrha. He hadn't drawn out, but Pyrrha didn't mind, as she liked the feeling of having him inside of her.

They slowly ate brunch, feeding each other while still being connected. Then Jaune went at it again, feeling the urge to mate again. Pyrrha had removed the cap, knowing the pill was active. She wanted to feel his seeds inside her, even if she wouldn't get pregnant. By the time Jaune seemed to finally cool down, Pyrrha was sore from the waist down. But she loved it. As it was approaching Jaune's time limit, he told Pyrrha that he would need to hibernate for the next 48 hours to heal up. Pyrrha promised she would protect him while he slept. She felt her Aura reserves and polarity control grow much bigger after the mating. She felt she could have gone one-on-one against Cinder with the Fall Maiden powers and win. Of course, she reasoned that she was feeling this way was because of all the lovemaking she just had with Jaune.

She laid against the headboard of the bed with Jaune laying on her body, his head between her breasts. She smiled at him and played with his hair, but soon enough, somebody was knocking on the door, announcing to her that she had guests. She carefully laid Jaune's head on a pillow and got out of the bed. She put on a red robe and was about to answer the door when a voice called out, "It's me. Junior. I just wanted to know if young master is all right. All that fighting must've taken a lot out of him."

"He's fine," replied Pyrrha called through the door, "He needs his sleep, though. He just told me that he needed to rest for two days before coming back."'

Junior rubbed his chin behind the door, "All right. I'll keep Ozpin, Ironwood, Goodwitch, and Oobleck off for now. Nobody knows this place except for me. Don't open the door for anyone. There should be enough food to last you a week. I'll be back to pick you two up. Though Oobleck is really getting on my nerves. He wants to know more about dragons, and his only source is currently hiding." And with that, he left.

Pyrrha sighed as she took off the robe and then laid down next to Jaune's hibernating body. She turned on the holo TV to see the local news was on. The CCT was still down, so communications to the other kingdoms were down. However, local broadcast and wireless functions were still functioning. As some of the news broadcast was about General Ironwood calling in reinforcements from the nearest fleet to help the citizens of Vale and to try to get the CCT back up and running, most of it was all about the dragon that had showed up to destroy the Grimm dragon, as well as the missing hero Jaune Ryu-Long. Pyrrha smiled as she played with his hair again before planting a kiss on his head. She wouldn't be surprised if the world was talking about that now.

* * *

She was right. At Vacuo, people were talking about him and how strong he was. How he would always be welcomed here if he chose to. Several ladies were already discussing on how to seduce him to stay and give them strong children if he ever chose to visit. The headmistress of Shade was plotting on how to lure Jaune Ryu-Long to Vacuo, and possibly transfer to Shade.

At Mistral, there were songs and dances being written, dedicated to the hero. Within all the celebration, the Nikos family was getting drunk with happiness. Their daughter/niece, Pyrrha Nikos, was alive, thanks to Jaune Ryu-Long. Many of their coworkers were already asking if Pyrrha was dating Jaune, to which they happily replied yes. It was only when Hephaestus managed to lure Leonidas and Golga into his private forge room where nobody would overhear them that he spilled the secret. That Jaune needed multiple mates due to special circumstances he refused to say. He told them that they needed to talk to Jaune themselves for more details.

Leonidas' first reaction was to grab his spear, sword, and shield and challenge Jaune to see if he was worthy. Surprisingly, it was Golga who managed to calm him down, stating that Pyrrha had been waiting for Jaune for so long after their first meeting, that it was bound to happen. Not to mention that their uncle Zeus had his own little harem, and according to Hephaestus, Jaune's was justified while Zeus' wasn't.

"Fine," growled Leonidas, "But we're taking the first flight or ship to Vale as soon as possible!"

At Atlas, Jacques Schnee was reviewing over the footage of Jaune Ryu-Long. Watching him win his battle against ARLN. Watching summon the mighty dragon. Looking at him saving Pyrrha Nikos from what seemed to be certain death.

"My daughter claims to be dating him, and yet it seems to me that Jaune Ryu-Long and Pyrrha Nikos are an item. So which begs the question, is she lying to me, along with Winter? Or is there more than meets the eye?" mused Jacques out loud as he drank his tea.

"Perhaps she's in a harem, sir," suggested Klein, causing Jacques to spit out his tea, choking on what he had already inhaled.

"What!?' rasped Jacques, "She wouldn't put herself in such a position... would she?"

"Something you should ask," replied Klein, "You did tell her to try to date him."

Jacques grew paler than he thought he could before standing up.

"Klein! I need-"

"Already have your private jet ready, Master Jacques,"

"Good," complemented Jacques, "Have my son Whitley come with us. This will double up as a family meeting."

At the said room, Whitley was throwing a tantrum. How could that damn man win? He had not received any contact from Cinder, so he had to guess she was dead. If she was dead, then his plans to have his 'dear' sisters removed from their position so he would be the heir was ruined. He looked over the footage again on his own television. How saw how Jaune Ryu-Long was hugging the hot Pyrrha Nikos. He gritted his teeth on that. He had requested her to be one of his 'play toys', but Cinder had denied him, saying they needed her to make a statement. He was free to choose the other choices on a list she had given him.

Whitley scrolled down the list, looking at it. There were quite a few eye-catching Huntresses. He saw one that was younger than the others and made his decision.

"Somehow, I'll take you," whispered Whitley. The Scroll was showing an enlarged image of Ruby Rose.

* * *

 **Dun Dun DUNN! Cinder be dead! Whitley is now interested in Ruby Rose. What will happen next!? Thanks for reading. Review if you can.**

 **As stated, this story is not complete. It won't be for a while. I think my end game will be around their 3rd year. I'll have to see how I plot this out. I'll borrow some elements from Volume 4, but not a lot. Now for the bad news. Since I have to plot this out, I might have to take a small hiatus on how I'm going to do this. Technically, I have 6 chapters plotted out after this already, all with random sidenotes. But I do need to make corrections and etc. That being said, you can all still expect the next chapter up around Friday morning.**

 **I've had requests saying KILL VLAD! I might, I might not. Haven't decided his fate yet. I could play a spin on him for later chapters, but for now, he's alive. Plus, I could make him use all his connections to get out of jail and live, though poorly and disgraced.**

 **After that, I will be taking a week to maybe two weeks break from writing this story. I promise I'll be back, but I do need a break. All depends on how my muse works for me. So far, it's been pretty efficient.**

 **The Lemon section for Pyrrha will be posted on a new story, Jaune of Lemons. Every time there's going to be a lemon scene, it'll be posted there. Being honest, this really should have a T rating.**

 **On a side note, I wrote a one-shot again using the same scenario with my other Jaune one shots, this one being... Jaune of Lantern! Go check it out for fun. Putting a poll whether to combine all my Jaune oneshots into a single story. Being honest, I was considering writing a Godzilla Rwby fanfic, only to discover someone already did it. So I threw that idea away.**

 **Other than that, hope you've enjoyed the story so far. I have lots more to come still! I might do a Q &A A/N on the next chapter. Review if you can! I eat them for fuel for my muse!**

 **And Finally, I'd like to thank UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever once more as my beta readers! UGX7 as chief editor for making edits on any grammatical errors while helping improve the style of writing, TheMischieviousPuppy for being chief editor, though a little below UGX7 as he's really good at that part, and pitching out random ideas, and Jauneforever for glancing through the whole thing as a whole to see if it flows right.**

 **Also, celebrating the fact LordHellPhoenix, a fellow writer and friend, has hit 1k follows on his story Jaune Arc: The Elemental Swordsman**


	37. Chapter 37 New Horizons and Enemies

**Here's the new chapter! And so far, plotting out my future chapters are going pretty well. I have a good idea of what I want, but I'll still probably need that 1 to 2-week hiatus. Need to take a little break from writing this, and probably use it to continue my Big 4 Hogwarts story a bit. Enjoy!**

* * *

While Pyrrha looked over Jaune as he was in his healing trance, the others were recovering from the harrowing experiences of the previous night as well, Qrow and Taiyang woke up from their knockout punches just to find themselves strapped to the bed. They struggled for a bit before they heard coughs. They slowly looked over to see Raven, Yang, and Ruby, all waiting patiently.

"So?" asked Raven, "It's been a day, and we're all out of battle mode now. Time you gave us something of an explanation."

Taiyang and Qrow looked to each other before deciding that they couldn't hide it anymore.

"In simple terms, sis," grunted Qrow, "Ruby is your niece by blood. Figure it out from there."

Yang and Ruby tilted their head in confusion at that. Raven closed her eyes for a bit before opening them in shock.

"Ruby's not related to the Branwen family," stated Yang, "She's dad's and Summer's daughter. What do you mean?"

"It means," began Raven slowly, "That these two have kept a secret for a very long time, hiding from all of us."

"I don't get it," cried Ruby, "Uncle Qrow! What do you mean by that?"

"I didn't want to shatter the illusion," sighed Taiyang, "But you all were so comfortable with it, that we decided to keep playing on."

"Just tell us already!" shouted Yang and Ruby.

"What I'm saying is... You two aren't half sisters at all. Just cousins," answered Taiyang, finally dropping the bombshell.

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Qrow finished with "And while Yang is Taiyang and Raven's daughter, Ruby is Summer's... and mine."

At this, Yang and Ruby could only feel their world start to spin. They had to both sit down upon learning the truth, it was just too much.

"Why?" asked Yang finally, "Why did you keep this lie for so long?"

And so Qrow and Taiyang explained to what they had told Jaune before. All three of them were a bit mad that someone not of the family knew the truth, but Qrow told them that the light dragon Andusk had somehow managed to connect Ruby to Qrow, and was about to reveal it to them until he begged them to not tell, that he would tell them himself if the day came.

"And so," finished Qrow, "That's why I got so furious when Tyrian confessed to killing Summer. It was mortifying to hear that the one who robbed my daughter and my niece of a mother was that insane maniac."

Qrow looked to Ruby, who had tears streaming down her eyes.

"Listen, I know that I haven't been there for you the whole time. I know I don't deserve dad of the year, just as Raven doesn't get mom of the year," Raven glared at Qrow on that, but Qrow went on,, "but-"

Qrow was interrupted when he felt Ruby run right into his stomach, hugging him.

"Somehow, I knew," whispered Ruby, surprising them all, "I think it was when you taught me how to use the scythe. I knew that something was wrong when I had trouble learning how to fight like Yang and... Taiyang?"

Taiyang felt a small bit of heartache at this, but it was only natural that she would be unsure what to call him anymore.

"You can still call him dad," answered Qrow, "He was there more for you than I was. I'll stick with my title as Uncle Qrow."

Ruby shook her head, "I want both. I'll call him Dad Taiyang while I call you Dad Qrow."

At this, Qrow could only smile while feeling his heart stop. He had almost given up hope of being called dad by Ruby. Just hearing her say that made him hug her, letting out the emotions he had locked up inside.

However, as soon as he did, he could feel his Semblance reaching around him. It was only because Raven was around him that it was being neutralized. He slowly pushed Ruby off.

"I can't," croaked Qrow, "My Semblance... It's too dangerous."

"Bullshit," snorted Raven, "They're Huntresses-in-training. They can handle it."

"Maybe Jaune can help," piped Ruby.

"And how would he do that?" asked Qrow, actually interested on seeing how dragon boy would be able to help him with his situation.

"Dragon's Mark," replied Ruby. Yang nodded, trying to put her right hand to her chin before she remembered again that she didn't have one. She frowned at that. That would need some time getting used to.

"Dragon's Mark?" asked the three adults, curious on what they were.

"Ask Ren for more details," replied Ruby, "Sun managed to go all shiny and got armor because of it, Junior got gauntlets, Ren and Nora got sooo much stronger because of it. That, or maybe Jaune might have some sort of relic to control it."

Qrow tilted his head in confusion. There had to be a drawback to it. Still, he was interested.

"So where is dragon boy now?" asked Qrow.

"Apparently somewhere private," pouted Yang, "He gave the Mate Mark to Pyrrha, and so they had to go bang for a bit to make it official. Junior won't tell me where he is."

"And for good reason young lady," lectured Taiyang sternly, "I am not ready hear my daughter having an active sex life. Either of you, especially Ruby."

Both Yang and Ruby pouted and looked to Qrow, who shook his head, "Don't look at me, I agree with Taiyang here. I have a number of inappropriate stories, but they didn't start until near the end of my second year in Beacon."

They turned to Raven and blasted her with the full puppy eye treatment. Raven was unprepared for such a combined assault from her daughter and niece. Still, she held on. She had built a resistance to such things when she was partnered with Summer Rose and her pleads for more cookies.

"Sorry girls," smiled Raven, which was a rare sight for them all, "Summer gave me my immunization to the puppy eyes while we were still at Beacon."

For them all, it was rare to have such a family moment to which they all enjoyed, even Raven.

* * *

Ozpin sighed as he leaned back in his chair in a room. He had been fully prepared to die when Raven came in. And yet, he had to bear witness to see his students fighting against an evil that he and the other adults should've been fighting. His brain froze when he witnessed Pyrrha getting shot in the heart. His mouth went numb when he saw Yang missing an arm. All these students who were supposed to be under his care had gotten hurt, and some even killed. Perhaps he was stretching himself too thin.

He looked around to see his staff also taking a well-earned break. Oobleck was writing out a series of questions he wanted to ask Jaune, while Port was chuckling and hoping the lad himself would let him share stories to future generations about him. The fact that he kicked a Boartusk right into a Beoyeti and finishing it off was one of his favorites. The other one was when Jaune and Ren teamed up and proceeding to stab a Death Stalker with its own stinger. Peach was overseeing a few other operations.

As Ozpin went through his thoughts on how he could've prevented this, he could only imagine how furious the Vale Council would be about this. He doubted that he would have his job as headmaster for allowing this, but perhaps it was time to pass on the mantle to somebody else. Preferably Glynda, as she had the most experience with running Beacon. As for him, he could devote his time to fighting Salem full time, even take some Huntsmen mission to break him out of his rust. It had been a long time since he had taken any missions.

"Ozpin? Are you alright?"

He shook out of his thoughts and turned to see Ironwood and Glynda watching him with concern.

"Just thinking about the future," sighed Ozpin, "I doubt I'll have my position as headmaster after this."

"They-" started Glynda, but Ozpin raised his hand, forestalling her argument.

"Perhaps it would be best. It has been a long time since I was active on the field again. And I could focus my attention on dealing with Salem herself. I have been stretched too thin, training upcoming Huntsmen and Huntresses while managing the school and also trying to fight a war. One that should have never come to Beacon and threaten the very lives of the students we are training. Thus, I do not feel guilty if I leave Beacon in your hands, Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch."

Glynda looked shocked while the other staff and Ironwood had their eyes opened wide. For once, Port's eyes could actually be seen.

"Ozpin are you sure?" asked Glynda. Ozpin merely nodded his head.

"Perhaps I should do the same," sighed Ironwood, surprising them all, "I'm a Headmaster of Atlas Academy and General of the Atlas armed forces, making me have two seats in the Atlas Council. Some of this may have been prevented if I had listened Ren and Jaune's warning, as well as making sure the person who infiltrated the CCT during the dance didn't leave any programs inside. It's very obvious she planted some sort of program within, and when they took my ship, they activated it to control all my robotic forces. I'm also in the same boat as you, Ozpin. I'm also stretched thin. Though I might be forced to step down from my position as General. It was also my fault that this almost ended is a disaster. Only problem is I don't have an apparent successor like you do, Ozpin."

In reality, Ironwood wanted to let go of all his positions to be with Glynda, or have Glynda with him at Atlas. But he couldn't throw everything away to be with her, nor could he ask her to throw her new position away.

"You'll still have time to see her," smiled Ozpin, easily deciphering what was going through Ironwood's face, "And perhaps you can transfer yourself to the seat on the council at Vale be with Glynda."

At this, both Ironwood and Glynda blushed at this before Glynda whipped her crop and threw 10 pillows at Ozpin.

* * *

"Umm, guys? A little help?"

Sun was sitting on a chair, and somehow, a chibi Gwen and chibi Neon was fighting over his head, creating a cloud of cute noises. Neon was jealous and wanted to date Sun after his display of power, while Gwen was telling her that he was her boyfriend and nobody else.

"I have no comment," replied Sage.

"Why?! I wanna be loved and admired like that," cried Neptune jealously with tears streaming down his face.

"Like, maybe you should reconsider your attitude and stop trying to be so 'cool'," advised Scarlet.

"I may be her leader, but I've got no control over most of her actions," sighed Flynt.

NDGO, SSSN, Flynt and Neon were all sitting together at another corner in the cafe. They had recovered and were taking their well deserved break.

"I don't have any idea," shrugged Nebula.

"Hmm, maybe Sun can have his own mini-harem?" suggested Octavia, "I'm in one with Ren, and Dew's with Jaune."

"Wait, what!?" shouted the boys except for Sun.

"Octavia! That's suppose to be a secret!" scolded Dew, blushing in embarrassment.

"Hmm, sharing boyfriends... I'm not opposed to it," mused Neon as she dodged a punch from Gwen.

"I am!" shouted Gwen, "At least with you in it! I have no qualms about others!"

"Gwen!" gaped Sun before Gwen continued to keep fighting Neon.

"Speaking of which, you still need to explain that mark on your chest, as well as your apparent new powers," gestured Sage.

"When Jaune gets back," replied Sun, "It's because of him that I have this mark, but I'm not going to spill unless he's here so he can back me up on my explanation."

* * *

"So, the bitches show themselves."

"Shut it, Vlad!"

Xanthe and Saffron stood before a jail cell where Vlad Arc was currently imprisoned. They had been told about Vlad's attempt on Jaune's life by, surprisingly enough, Aurelian Arc himself. When asked why, he merely said he was tired of putting all their attention on someone who didn't even want to contest the title for the Arc family, that it was a pointless fight. He promised them that he would leave Jaune, provided he did the same. Jaune had no interest in continuing the fight with the Arcs.

Xanthe and Saffron had been hysterical when they heard that Jaune almost died, only to somehow been saved by luck. They couldn't inform their sisters and mother of the situation due to the CCT being down, keeping them in the dark until Atlas technicians could repair it, which they had estimated would take at least three to four months. There were still some Grimm prowling about, and they needed able Huntsmen and Huntresses to eliminate the Grimm. Surprisingly, the estimation of how many there were was off, as they had expected much more prowling about, occupying Beacon. What they didn't know was that when Bahamut appeared, the vast majority fled for their lives from Beacon and Vale.

"Why?" breathed Xanthe heavily, "Why are you so insistent on trying to kill Jaune?"

"To erase that stain from my bloodline! Why Else?" growled Vlad.

"You're incorrigible! Obsessed!" cried out Saffron, "Jaune already said he's not interested in being and Arc."

"He has power that shouldn't belong to him! Only to an Arc! To me!" replied Vlad.

"So what? You plan to capture him, have him father some children before just killing him off?" asked Xanthe. When Vlad nodded, Xanthe punched the wall in fury.

"Saffron, we're going. There's no point in convincing this bastard to change."

As they left, Henry Winchester was staring at who was one of his most hated enemies. The political power between them had been going on for ages.

"Know this," stated Henry towards Vlad, "You may be able to get out of jail due to a mere technicality, but Jaune Ryu-Long has the support of the Winchester family if you choose to pursue him."

"As if you can protect him," sneered Vlad.

"Won't need to. He's already kicked your ass, I'm just here to take care of any aftermath," replied Henry before leaving, causing Vlad to steam in anger. He would have his vengeance and justice sooner or later.

* * *

Nora, Ren, and Blake were all sitting at Junior's club, enjoying some food. Their team members were currently busy with family or bonding with one another. The three of them didn't have any or weren't available at the moment.

"So, you decided to stay for now?" asked Nora.

"Yes," replied Blake, "But later, I want to head back home. To see my mother and father again. It's been a long time since I've seen them. After watching my teammates reunite with their family, I want to do the same. I'll still come back to Beacon for the second year, if it's still open."

"Might be hard," stated Junior as he joined in on the conversation, "Lot of stuff got broken. Right now, the Vale government is concentrating on the city and the CCT. The school comes after. I heard rumors that all teams studying in Beacon will have the choice to head over to any other Huntsmen or Huntress Academy, like Atlas, Haven, or Shade academy. The repairs should be done when the first day of the second semester ends. Then, you guys will be able to return."

"Wonder where our team leader will choose to go," commented Nora.

"I think Jaune might choose Haven," mused Ren, "I recall he didn't want to go to Shade because of the Arc family lives near there. That, and Pyrrha's family is at Mistral. I'm sure they want to make sure their daughter is safe and in their sights for a bit."

"Dew won't be happy about that," smiled Blake, "For our team, I think Ruby might decide to go to Atlas."

"Really? Why not Haven?" asked Nora. "I would think your team would want to stay near Jaune."

"True," replied Blake, "But Weiss is from Atlas. This lets her see her family for a bit. Not to mention if Yang still wants to be a Huntress, which I doubt she wouldn't want to, she's going to need a new combat arm. Atlas has the best technology for that, and she would need to make sure to break it in properly. That alone could take a whole semester. That, and Ruby also wants to see Penny up and running."

"Sounds reasonable," nodded Ren, "I'm not sure Jaune could miraculously grow another arm for Yang. If we still had the said arm, it might be possible to attach it back, but her arm was burnt down inside the cafeteria."

As they were about to finish eating, Melanie and Miltia showed up, glomping Ren on either side.

"We're going to be so lonely without you here," whined Melanie.

"Perhaps you can give us something to remember you by," whispered Militia.

"Perhaps an..."

"Unforgettable experience?"

Ren looked at Nora, who nodded. He slowly stood up, making Miltia and Melanie back up. He turned around, and before they knew, Ren had kissed Melanie passionately on her lips. Militia felt the phantom pressure on her lips, and wanted to whine. Before she could, Ren had finished up with Melanie and kissed Militia with the same passion. Both girls were dazed at the end.

"You can remember me by that," grinned Ren before taking his Stormflower out. The blades were broken, and could only fire bullets. He handed them both his weapons. Miltia and Melanie now had one of Ren's weapon.

"You can keep those," said Ren, "I need to have new ones crafted to better suit my powers. Jaune said Hephaestus would be willing to help craft me one."

The girls were still in a daze and could only nod.

Junior nodded and stated "Damn. I've never seen them speechless. Kinda wish you could stay to keep them quiet like this."

"Shut up, uncle," they both replied instantly, causing Junior to cry crocodile tears.

* * *

Weiss was shifting in her seat uncomfortably. Winter was not doing much better. For right in front of them, was Jacques Schnee, who was not amused. Klein was serving them tea silently, but gave the Schnee heiress a sympathetic look. Whitley was not present, as he was in another room studying.

"So. Any of you two want to tell me something?" asked Jacques coldly, causing both of them to flinch.

"Aww don't be like that," moped Klein, his eyes changing colors before he sneezed and changed it back to brown.

Jacques ignored him for now, continuing to glare at his daughters, "I'd like the truth. Weiss Schnee, are you or are you not dating Jaune Ryu-Long?"

"I am," replied Weiss.

"Aye, so you be in relationship with someone who's also dating Pyrrha Nikos?" clarified Klein, his eyes turning red.

"Yes," replied Weiss meekly.

"And you knew about this Winter?" asked Jacques. Winter nodded her head.

Jacques leaned back on his chair and could only sigh while massaging the temples of his forehead.

"Why are you in such a relationship? The paparazzi would thrive on this. Heiress to the SDC, dating a man who is also dating the 'Goddess of Victory'. Though the said man is now being hailed as 'Hero of Vale'. Next, you'll tell me he's also dating two or more girls."

Both girls let out a weak chuckle and looked at each other nervously.

"No..," said Jacques in horror.

"I can't tell whether to be jealous at Jaune for having a harem or pity him for what's going to come next," mused Klein.

"Please tell me you aren't part of the harem too, Winter?" pleaded Jacques.

"What?! No!" shouted Winter at that question, "Father, I still put the same claim as I did in the past. He's far too young for me!"

"Well, that's at least one relief out," muttered Jacques, "But why does he want one? And why did you even allow it?"

"Father. There's actually a very good reason why," explained Weiss, "But I can't go into detail about it unless Jaune is here. All I can say is that it is related to his powers."

Jacques looked to Winter, who nodded and said that Jaune had explained it to her **after** she had chased Jaune around Beacon, threatening to castrate him.

"Fine," sighed Jacques, "Just.. how many does he need?"

"Six," replied Weiss instantly, "And Jaune already has them."

Jacques looked like he was about to faint when Klein splashed a bit of water on his face. He sputtered at the sudden wetness.

"You were about to faint, master Jacques. You need to be conscious to finish this conversation before you can faint. I suggest you get some rest once this conversation is finished."

Jacques muttered a few threats, grabbing a handkerchief to dry his face before turning to Weiss.

"I do hope he has enough money to even support this," stated Jacques, "Because I'm not letting six people leech off you."

"Jaune is doing quite well," replied Weiss, "He actually invested in a few stores that has given him profit."

Weiss didn't want to explain that it was Junior's business that he invested in.

"Reasonable, I suppose," muttered Jacques before clearing his throat, "However, it does put our family in an awkward position. Winter gave up the position of Heiress to become a lieutenant in the Atlas armed forces. You are the supposed Heiress now, but you're part of a harem. This could bring a nasty controversy to the SDC. However, having my daughter dating the 'Hero of Vale' would also bring some positive rep. So I will say this. If you and Jaune can not convince me of why having a harem is justifiable, then I will have no choice to give you an ultimatum. Either give up being with Jaune, or forfeit your position as Heiress, and Whitley will become the Heir."

Weiss and Winter looked at each other, horrified at the prospect of Whitley becoming the Heir. He would just drag the SDC further in the mud. Klein winced at the thought of Whitley becoming the Heir of the SDC. The kid was just full of hot air, even bigger than Jacques most of the time. With Jacques' attitude, Klein could handle it. However, Whitley made him want to let his anger personality take over and give the brat a good smack.

"Don't worry, father," replied both girls.

"I'm sure after meeting him, you won't have any qualms." Weiss assured him.

"I hope not," Jacques said with a sigh. He really did like Jaune, even if he only met him for a day some years ago. Him beating up Aurelian Arc gave him bonus points. He would be the perfect husband and figurehead for the SDC if he married Winter or Weiss. If only he didn't have a harem, though.

"Where is he anyways? I'd like to meet with him as soon as possible."

"He's recovering," explained Weiss, "He spent a lot of energy yesterday. His Aura was even shattered at one point, and fell off the Colosseum after fighting his 'family', the Arcs from a ambush."

"Wait, Jaune is part of the Arc family?" questioned Jacques.

"No. His father banished him when he was ten apparently, and Jaune has no interest in reclaiming the title," replied Weiss.

'Hmm. Something to rub on Vlad's face even more,' laughed Jacques in his mind maniacally, "Give me more details about this."

* * *

"So, what now?" asked Qrow. The four of them turned to look at him. He was looking at Raven directly.

"Now that this is over, are you going back to your little 'family'? The clan?"

Yang and Ruby turned their heads back to Raven. Ruby was confused, as she hadn't been told about the bandit clan Raven was still in. Yang, however, was begging with her eyes not to go. They had just finally gotten a family reunion.

"I... don't know," admitted Raven, "I originally left because I feared I was going soft. That I was going to get weaker by falling in love and having a child. My personal philosophy was that the strong live, while the weak perish. But my own honor was shaken when I saw Yang missing her arm. Not to mention I'm still infamous and not exactly welcome in certain parts of Remnant. It wouldn't do us good for them to know I'm related to you all."

She stood up, grasping her sword and getting ready to leave. She sliced open a portal, getting ready to leave when she felt someone glomp behind her. She looked down to see Ruby's arm had wrapped around her waist.

"Don't go, Aunt Raven!" wailed Ruby, "It's never happened before! All of us being together. I don't wanna have things be left off like this."

Raven sighed, slowly prying Ruby's arms off her before looking at her in her face. As soon as she did, her choice to leave crumbled as she was vividly reminded of Summer Rose. Her silver eyes, her face, the inner light inside her eyes, they all reminded Raven of Summer. She could also see traces of Qrow's features on Ruby's face. The cross the Qrow wears as a necklace could also be seen on her cloak. The cloak was a perfect match of Summer's, except it was red, like Qrow's cape.

"I..." stuttered Raven, "I..."

Yang walked up to Raven, grabbing her hand with her left hand, "I know I said I didn't look to you as a mom, but... is it still possible for us to try?"

Taiyang stood up to give Yang and Raven a hug, "I never told you, but I actually never filed the divorce papers. Raven is technically still my wife, and Yang is still your daughter. It would be good to have you back."

"Cmon, sis. For once in your life, think about this. It's our chance to be a whole family," pleaded Qrow.

Raven stared at the portal she made for a bit. It would directly teleport her to her clan. But she had a difficult choice to make now. Stay with her blood family, or go back to her 'adoptive' family. Raven found herself struggling on her decision. She looked at them one more time before taking a deep breath. She took out an envelope containing a letter she thought she would never have used and threw it into the portal before it closed.

"Does that mean?" asked Ruby, not finishing her sentence.

"I'm... staying," smiled Raven, "I guess Oz was right. I really can't stay away from my real family for so long."

"Yay!" cheered Ruby, "I'm going to get some cookies to celebrate!"

And with that, she disappeared, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her.

"Eager, isn't she?" chuckled Raven.

"You have no idea." Answered Taiyang.

* * *

Outside at a small camp, the bandit clan was eating and waiting when a portal opened. Instead of their leader, a letter dropped out. Duncan raised his eyebrow before picking it up and ripping it open to read it. After reading it, he threw it into the fire before smirking.

"Message received, leader."

He got up before declaring to everyone he was the leader for now, and that they continue to move. Raven would join them in the future again after she was done.

* * *

Ruby was running to the nearest cafeteria in search of cookies when she bumped into a boy.

"Sorry!"

"Watch where you're-!"

The voice stopped before coughing and offered his hand before speaking, "I mean, do be careful where you are going. We wouldn't want a beautiful Huntress like you injured, would we?"

Ruby looked up to see a boy who vividly reminded her of Weiss Schnee. She had just bumped into Whitley Schnee.

"Umm, hi," waved Ruby.

"My apologies. I am Whitley Schnee of the SDC. Soon to become apparent Heir."

"I'm Ruby Rose. Soon to be Huntress," replied Ruby happily until she noticed something wrong with that statement.

"Ummm... I thought Weiss was the Heiress. Are you her brother?"

Whitley made an annoyed face before changing back to his 'charming disposition', "Yes, I am her little brother. As for the issue of the title, it will soon be mine after some... extenuating circumstances. I cannot fathom father still giving her that position after learning that she is in a rather peculiar situation. It would draw in bad publicity."

He had done his research on Ruby. One of the leaders of the top teams in the first year teams. Also a bonus was that she was Weiss's leader. All he had to do was charm her, and she would follow his every whim. And if he charmed Ruby, he would be able control Weiss by her leader. To be able to boss Weiss around would be so... tantalizing.

"So Ruby. How about showing me around Vale? Perhaps we can grab something to eat together, and get to know each other more? Allow me to take you on... a date, perhaps? I can treat you to anywhere you want to eat."

"No thanks," replied Ruby, shattering Whitley's confidence, "I'm grabbing cookies to celebrate with my family!"

"Wait," stuttered Whitley, "How about dinner? Or tomorrow?"

"Na, I'm good," smiled Ruby, "I already have a boyfriend!"

"What!?" shouted Whitley, "Who? I can show you that I'm much better!"

"Nope. I'm dating Jaune, just like Weiss is. I'm sorry, but I doubt you'd be better," replied Ruby. "I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but Jaune is… well he's special. Sorry."

Thus Ruby walked away from a stone statue of Whitley Schnee.

* * *

A full day had passed, on there was still no sign of Jaune and Pyrrha. Ozpin was getting worried that something drastic had happened to them, but Junior told him and the others that he really needed his rest, and that he would be back the next day. Oobleck walked away, grumbling about how precious information about the past was being held from him. As Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda were discussing about repairing Beacon, they had some surprised visitors.

"Leo? What are you doing away from Haven Academy?" asked Ironwood.

"Dory Gale? Why are you here?" questioned Glynda.

The two people that had arrived was the headmaster and headmistress of Haven Academy and Shade Academy, Saijou "Leo" Lionheart and Dory Gale. Leo was a lion Faunus, with a golden mane around his head. He wore an orange cloak with gold lining and a white long-sleeved shirt. Dory had dark hair with braids that went down to her rather busty chest. She wore a white shirt and a blue overall dress, with red heels.

"Just wanted to make sure you were alright," replied Leo.

"And to make sure our students are safe in... _your_ hands," sneered Dory.

Ozpin and Ironwood winced at this, but couldn't really say anything about it. It was their fault that this happened under their noses.

"Anything else?" asked Glynda.

"Well, I did have to bring the Nikos family with me. I swear, I lost a few years of my life when I first said no. Gorga was about to rip my throat out." Leo remarked shivering at the memory of that moment.

"Mmm speaking of that, I was wondering where Jaune Ryu-Long is," remarked Dory, "I was hoping I could offer him and his team a place at my academy."

"No, he'll come to my academy," boasted Leo, "Most likely Pyrrha wants to be back with her family, and she'll take them with her."

"Psh, why would they want to go to your school? Need I remind you that team CMSN was the one responsible for this mess, and they came from your Academy?" sneered Dory.

"That's not true," growled Leo, "The original team CMSN went missing shortly after they left for the trip. I had no idea they had been replaced."

"Now now," said Ironwood calmly, "You two shouldn't fight. It's obvious he'll come to my Academy instead, where they can have the latest technology to help them. Not to mention how many tactics my Academy can develop with his flying ability."

"In your metal dreams!" shouted Leo and Dory. The three headmasters started to squabble amongst themselves, while Ozpin merely sipped his coffee.

Glynda rolled her eyes at the three, knowing full well it was up to JNPR to decide. She looked to Ozpin and asked "You're not joining?"

"No need. Beacon won't be ready for the next semester, so we must send our students to other academies for the while. But we both know Jaune will return to Beacon when repairs are done," smirked Ozpin.

* * *

"Where is my daughter!?"

Junior found himself being lifted up by Gorga Nikos. He couldn't reply as he couldn't really breath with Gorga cutting off his oxygen supply. He could break out of it, but he really didn't want to hurt the mother of one of Jaune's mates.

"Honey, you're not letting him breathe, which means he can't speak," whispered Leonidas gently

Gorga huffed before letting him go. As Junior managed to get some oxygen into his lungs, he found himself staring at a rather sharp end of a spear.

"Now that you can breath, do tell us where my daughter is right now," commented Leonidas, his hand never wavering.

Hephaestus could only snicker at this situation while Junior was looking at the spear cross-eyed.

"Alright, already," grumbled Junior, "Usually I wouldn't let anyone even close to the two right now, as Jaune is still recovering. But since you two claim to be Pyrrha's parents, I guess I can take you to them."

Pyrrha had been doing some stretches in the room. She looked over to Jaune, sighing in relief to see he was still breathing, but was still asleep, recovering from using the Dragon Seed. She stretched over to him, feeling his pulse to be still going strong.

"I think you could use a bath," smiled Pyrrha.

She quickly went into the spacious bathroom and began filling the tub with warm water, afterwards she came back out and slowly stripped Jaune of his boxers before carrying him to the bathroom. After gently placing him inside of the tub she also stripped herself of her clothes She used the shower head in the shower to quickly rinse Jaune and herself before lathering herself with soap. She was about to wash Jaune with her hands when she had a naughty idea and decided to use her whole body in washing Jaune, rubbing herself against him erotically.

After making sure every inch of Jaune's body had been washed with soap, she leaned into the tub with Jaune laying against her and began to rub the soap off of both of their bodies to get them clean. At this point, certain parts of her anatomy were either hard or rather quite wet.

"If only you were awake now," sighed Pyrrha, "Then we could make love again."

She had to admit that when doing it, she had been stretched deliciously, and couldn't wait to do it again. She had reached her peak quite a few times before Jaune even reached his. Pyrrha was strong and had a lot of stamina, but she admitted to herself that she wouldn't be able to handle and satisfy Jaune alone. Her stamina would go out before his. Even that night, she saw stars too many times. It was only her willpower and love for Jaune to force her to keep going after her own stamina was shot until Jaune finally stopped.

As she closed her eyes and hugged Jaune, she heard a door suddenly open.

"We're in the bathroom Junior!" shouted Pyrrha, "I'm washing up Jaune."

She heard a raucous laughter, followed by a woman's shriek.

"PYRRHA NIKOS! YOU COME OUT RIGHT NOW OR YOU'RE SO GROUNDED YOUNG LADY!"

"Mom!?" gasped Pyrrha before looking down, remembering she was completely naked with Jaune, "Umm give us a minute!"

She quickly picked Jaune back up, trying to towel him off when the door burst open, revealing Gorga, Leonidas, and Hephaestus. Junior had wisely decided to stay away, preferring to stand at the entrance like a bodyguard.

"I can explain," blushed Pyrrha.

Hephaestus looked down at Jaune's body, or rather more specifically, at his lower region and whistled, "Well, least we know you'll be satisfied on that part of your life."

Gorga slapped Hephaestus on his head for the comment, nearly knocking him down, before turning her attention back to Pyrrha, "Well? Please, do explain."

Leonidas was looking at her daughter's body before noticing the mark right above Pyrrha's heart and raised his eyebrow at that. That mark had certainly not been there when she left for Beacon.

"And how is Jaune still asleep after all this noise?" asked Hephaestus in slight worry.

"He's in a healing trance right now," explained Pyrrha, "I was just washing his body. Can we… can you just give me a minute to dry off and put clothes on both me and Jaune? We can talk after."

A few minutes later, Pyrrha had managed to put Jaune back in bed before heading to the kitchen area, but not before giving him a quick kiss to his lips. Upon arriving, she saw Gorga already cooking up some food while Leonidas and Hephaestus were sitting at a table.

"So," started Leonidas, "Explain that new mark on your chest."

"And please tell us that arrow through your chest was just an illusion. I almost lost it when I saw you stripped down and shot at," shuddered Hephaestus at the memory.

"That was real, uncle," answered Pyrrha. Upon that answer, they heard a crash, and turned around to see Gorga drop the frying pan.

"What?" paled Gorga.

"I was dying when Jaune save me," explained Pyrrha, "It's why I have this mark on my chest now. It's why I... slept with him the other day. I guess you can say we consummated our marriage finally when we 'married' back at Mistral four years ago."

"Start from the beginning of the tournament," demanded Leonidas, "Spare us no details."

* * *

Salem was staring off to the distance. Communications had fallen, but she knew that the mission had failed. She couldn't feel Cinder's Aura.

One of her personal apprentices. Dead.

Because they hadn't expected dragons to intervene.

At the mere thought of dragons, she shuddered. She remembered the stories of the dragons, true rulers of Remnant. She was just a young Grimm girl when they left. She had heard about their powers, and witnessed firsthand on some of them. When they left, she was ecstatic. Her plan could come true with them gone. However, the accursed Dragon Clan made it difficult for her to proceed. She had spent centuries on her plan, being hindered by the Dragon Clan as well as other people. When the Dragon Clan had been scattered, she slowly pushed her plans forward. In fact, she was one of the causes of the Great War.

After the end of the war, sure the 4 kingdoms banded together, but the damage had been done. More Grimm overtook lands and claimed them. Humanity's light began to shrink. Now, with the dragons here, no doubt that light would become stronger. Not to mention she had to find the next candidate for the Fall Maiden all over again. They were still trying to find the Spring, Summer, and Winter Maidens.

"Mistress..."

She turned around to see Tyrian slowly walking to her, his tail cut before bowing to her.

"I'm sorry! Forgive me, mistress! I failed my mission, and Cinder died in front of my eye while I was busy dealing with the Wizard's Eyes."

Salem sighed as she turned back to the distance. She really couldn't blame Tyrian. The appearance of the dragon, was once again, something she hadn't foreseen.

"But all is not loss, my mistress," whispered Tyrian, "For you see, while I was traveling back, I met a very interesting group of people. Ones I believe that can be of some use to you."

 _Flashback begins_

 _Tyrian was running to his ship, bemoaning the fact his beautiful tail was gone. As he approached it, his instincts told him to duck. He followed it, and there was a sound of something piercing a tree that was next to him. He rolled away and flicked his wrists, his blades ready to fight. His eyes widened when he saw a metal snake head had bitten into the tree he was about to pass by, and as it released its fangs on the tree, the tree started to decay._

" _More enemies?" chuckled Tyrian gleefully, "I may not be in the best state, but I'm more than happy to guide your souls… to the AFTERLIFE!"_

 _A group of cloaked figures appeared in front of him. One of them jerked their wrist, recalling back the snake, which had surprised Tyrian when the metallic snake slithered up the user's arm and wrapped around the cloaked figure's neck, dark green glowing eyes shined from the snake's eyes, before changing to two different colors which were Red and Blue, before staying on blue. As Tyrian prepared to fight, one of them stepped forward, raising his hand._

" _Apologies," said the man, "We merely wished to test your reaction. Our young member here was eager to test your reflex, considering he knows about your status in the Assassin underworld. With that said and done, we wish to speak to your leader, Salem."_

 _Flashback ends_

They had talked and fought for a bit before Tyrian relented to allow them to come…. after slicing one of their member's throat which he pridefully let his mistress know about, that way she could take care of them personally if she didn't find them useful.

Salem turned around as Tyrian opened the door to reveal a group of people wearing cloaks. She looked at each one to observe them.

"What do you want? What makes you worthy of joining my vision, especially since when one of your members was killed?" Salem would not have such a pathetic group working alongside her if Tyrian was able to take care of a member so easily. If they had wee no use to her, they would be disposed of and fed to the Grimm.

"I prefer to think our goals are... aligned," spoke the head of the group, "We are a clan that has sworn to kill all members of the Dragon Clan. I believe that you will find our services... suitable for killing Jaune Ryu-Long. As for that member, he was just a mere servant trained in fighting, nothing special really, canon fodder if I may say."

That is when the figure who had the robotic snake around their neck spoke, "If we wanted, we could had easssily killed your pet Sssalem~, though we did need the dog to lead uss back to their owner, after all, ~" at this the member began to cackle with Tyrian becoming quite angered about being called a dog, he would have gone at the member if Salem didn't raise her hand to stop him.

"Oh? Do tell me more," said Salem as she waved them to take a seat, "I'll have my servants give you some food and water. You must be tired from traveling here."

As the mysterious group sat down, one of them shifted inside their cloak, revealing an arm with a badge. The badge had a dragon's head on it, but the said head was crushed into the ground, with a green scaled dragon on top of it, looking down evilly.

"Just call us... the Dragon exterminators. Or Dragon Slayers, if you will," chuckled the leader as darkness overtook them all, fading from view.

* * *

 **Dun Dun Dunnnn! A new enemy arises to ally with Salem. And the letter, what is it oohh? And before anyone says anything, no I'm not using the Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail. I will expand more on this mysterious group in later chapters.**

 **Hope you guys like how I named the other to Headmaster/Headmistress of Haven and Shade. Looking through, I noticed they all relate with the Wizard of Oz. And so, I chose Dory Gale as headmistress. Wonder if you guys can pick up the connection on that last name XD. As Lionheart was already revealed, I had trouble thinking of the first name. Then, it struck me. Saijou. Cookies for anyone who can make the connection on the name I chose, as it bears a close name to one of my favorite animes.**

 **Quite surprised when I wrote Whitley in that most of the reviews were basically Whitley's screwed. Well, yes, he is going to be screwed, hahahah!**

 **Anyways, back to plotting!**

 **Thanks for reading, and review if you can!**


	38. Chapter 38 Meet Parents! Decisions Made

**Taking a break helped me plan out my story quite a bit! And now, to present to you, a new chapter! Also, my Jaune of Fake series has been adopted by CosmicDragon98. I'm interested to see where he takes that. But for now, on with the chapter!**

* * *

" _ **Jaune? Jaune!"**_

Jaune slowly lifted his eyelids to see that he was in his mindscape once again. All seven dragons were looking at him with varying degrees of concern.

"I'm up," groaned Jaune as he slowly leaned forward. He was still tired from the battle and the incredibly satisfying mating session with Pyrrha.

" _ **Good. It's nice to see that there are no other side effects from using the Dragon Seed,"**_ smiled Aryz.

" _ **Not to mention, after you 'sealed' the deal with Pyrrha, her own abilities has shot up,"**_ commented Othim.

" _ **Still, you need to be vigilant,"**_ warned Fafnir, _**"You got lucky this time, being able to save your mate. Who knows what will happen next time?"**_

" _ **When you wake up, we'll have to undergo some heavier training again,"**_ mused Lung Wang, _ **"Although this time, we'll have to focus on your links and techniques. Need to be able to use full immersion link faster."**_

" _ **If I may, I have a suggestion,"**_ raised Ryo-Wo, _**"Since this semester is over, and Jaune and his friends will be on 'Winter Break', I suggest for them to travel to one of the nesting caves again. It would be a nice place to train, and all of team JNPR can use this time to focus more on their new powers."**_

" _ **Indeed,"**_ nodded Andusk, _**"Learning more about the dragons and their new powers at a place where we used to nest could motivate them."**_

" _ **It's almost time,"**_ smiled Alaerth, _**"You should be waking up soon. Make sure you visit your friends to tell them you're all right."**_

"Will do," grinned Jaune before a flash of light came upon them, and Jaune was whisked away to the real world.

* * *

Jaune woke up, looking up at a white ceiling. He blinked a few times before trying to get up, just to find Pyrrha snuggling onto his chest. He smiled as he put his hand on her head, enjoying the touch of her hair while his other hand reached out for his Scroll. He took a look to see it was 7 in the morning. As he placed it down he heard Pyrrha moaning before she also slowly opened her eyes, looking at Jaune's face to see his brilliant blue eyes.

"You're awake," smiled Pyrrha, relief in her voice.

"Told you I'd save you," smiled Jaune back.

Pyrrha grinned before coming in for a morning kiss. Jaune deepened it, pushing his tongue inside her mouth to probe her caverns. Pyrrha could feel his wandering hands slowly going up, and she wanted to continue it, but with great fortitude, pushed Jaune away.

"I want to do it," confessed Pyrrha, "believe me, I want to, but we need to get back to where everybody else is. To let them know you're alright. To let the world know the 'Hero of Vale' is alive."

Jaune merely stared at her for a bit before she blushed, "That, and my parents and uncle are in the other room. I don't think they want to hear us doing it in the morning."

Jaune blushed too, "Right. Better not to do it with parents nearby."

Then he paled, "Oh crap. I'm so dead. They know that we are... active?" Pyrrha nodded. "I'm so screwed. I haven't even asked for their blessings and I've already made love with you."

As Jaune was panicking, Pyrrha was giggling. Her boyfriend... no, her husband, had just defeated the Grimm dragon, taken care of several Mutant Alpha Grimm, fought Cinder, and most importantly, saved her life, and he was worried about her parents?

"Relax, Jaune," smiled Pyrrha, "I've already told them everything, as did uncle Hephaestus."

"Everything?" gazed Jaune.

"Everything," replied Pyrrha.

"Can I still hide?" begged Jaune.

"Now now, you don't want to hide from you new in-laws do you?"

They turned to the door to see Hephaestus smirking, leaning on the doorframe.

"Looks like that little ceremony done years ago has finally come true," smirked Hephaestus, "And that you've finally sealed the deal. As for the 'blessings', you've already had them years ago. Leonidas and Gorga are just upset that there wasn't a real wedding where Leonidas gets to walk his daughter down the aisle to you."

He lifted himself off the frame, walking towards the dining room "Oh, and we have food. Being in a healing trance for so long must have made you hungry."

At this, Jaune could feel his stomach's emptiness, begging for food and agreeing with Hephaestus's statement. At this, the couple slowly got out of bed, changing into their usual daily wear. Pyrrha had gotten her Mithril shirt back after Junior took it back from Emerald, who was holding on to it. Ironwood was all for confiscating it for future evidence, but Junior refused, stating that it was Pyrrha's and that he would make sure she would get it back. How did he know? There was Pyrrha's name inside the shirt collar.

After gorging himself with food, Jaune knew it was time to head back out. To let his other mates know he was safe and still up. To let his enemies know they had not finished him off. But first, he had a very important thing to do. To live through Leonidas and Gorga's talk. He gulped at that.

* * *

An hour later, Jaune was walking back to where all his friends were, at a temporary base. Junior had been kind enough to use one of his warehouses he wasn't using into a base for Ozpin and the others to reside in. Pyrrha was with him, holding his arm in content. Behind them was the rest of the Nikos family, following them to the temporary base. The talk had been quite enlightening. All of them had been introduced to Jaune's dragons. Fafnir and Alaerth had come out to meet with Pyrrha especially, considering she was the one containing both their powers as well as the Mate Mark for them. Hephaestus was left gasping for a bit before begging for a chance to somehow use their scales for a shield until they reminded him that he was in a mindscape. That, and if any dragons that Jaune summoned in the future, he would need to ask them, and getting permission to use their scales wouldn't be easy. The dragons took pride in their scales, making sure they were clean and gleaming and they didn't give the magnificent scales to just anyone, especially so they could be made into shields.

When Jaune finally told them who his birth father was and what he had done, Leonidas immediately tried to dial his friends and other far off relatives, trying to gather about 300 before marching towards Vlad Arc. He was frustrated when he had to be reminded his Scroll wasn't working since the CCT in Vale was down. It didn't stop him from trying to rush to the nearest courier mail to send out letters. Gorga had to rein him in, saying that Jaune had already dealt with him. It didn't stop Leonidas from taking a personal note on his Scroll, reminding him to have Vlad meet his pointed end of his spear. Hephaestus was already putting Vlad on the blacklist for all his blacksmith associates.

At the end of the conversation, they gave Jaune and Pyrrha their blessings, saying that they had already guessed that the two of them would end up together, though they hadn't thought Jaune would have a harem. Hephaestus himself already saw Jaune as a practical son/nephew-in-law when Pyrrha unlocked Jaune's Aura back in Mistral. They then promised the three adults that they would still have a proper wedding when they graduated the Academy, though.

As they approached the warehouse, they could hear voices.

"The tower should be our first priority..."

"There could be more Grimm hiding inside of the amphitheater…"

"Most Grimm fled the Beacon and Vale after that show with the dragon.."

"Still, we should expect some remaining, hiding and waiting to strike at the unsuspecting."

"I'll have my droids on the job for that."

"We can't really just use your robots, Jimmy. Not after that disaster."

"It wasn't my fault!"

"Doesn't matter. Qrow is right. The citizens of Vale won't be comfortable with Atlas robots after what happened, regardless of who was behind their sudden turn. We'll need Huntsmen and Huntresses for this. A human touch helps relieve the tension in the air among the citizens."

"I can have some Lien transferred over to help out. Perhaps even make a fundraiser back in Atlas to raise up more Lien. I'll need my daughter to help, though."

With a deep breath, Jaune opened the door. Everyone paused to look at who just entered and gasped. A few seconds later, Jaune was tackled by a red blur, quickly followed by a black, white, yellow, and green blur.

"Jaune!"

Jaune promptly fell to the floor, unable to stop the continuous momentum of tackles. He looked to see Ruby had somehow grabbed his right arm, Blake and Weiss on his waist, Yang on his left arm, and Dew above Blake and Weiss.

"Girls, I believe Mr. Ryu-Long needs to get back up if he wants to greet you all properly," sighed Glynda.

All at once, most of them stood back up. Ruby, however, was still hanging off Jaune's right arm.

"Ooohh I missed you! Did you miss me!?" squealed Ruby, "Are you ok? That was sooo cool, taking care of the Grimm dragon and Cinder!"

"I missed you all," smiled Jaune as Ruby slowly let go before getting a nice big hug from Jaune. Jaune did it to all his girls, and they returned it with passion. Ren, Junior, Melanie, and Miltia walked up to him and gave him a respectful bow.

"It's good to see you're all right," smiled Ren lightly. Nora quickly followed up with a hug to Jaune.

"It's nice to see you a-okay, fearless leader!" laughed Nora.

Team SSSN, NDGO, and DSCO followed up, patting him on the back and praising him. Jaune nearly fell over when Dandy used his robotic arm to pat his back.

"Well then, this is the famous Jaune Ryu-Long?"

Jaune looked to the source of the voice to see a woman with red heels.

"This is the headmistress of Shade, Dory Gale," introduced Ozpin quickly, "And to my left is the headmaster of Haven, Saijou Lionheart, who we refer to as Leo sometimes."

Dory merely continued to walk forward, her eyes on Jaune as she looked over his body while Leo just waved. Dory liked what she saw, a strong man. Although it seemed like he was claimed by the famous Pyrrha Nikos, she was sure the man wasn't against having other women on the side back in Shade.

"As you know, I am Headmistress Gale. And since Beacon is going to be closed for the next semester, I'd like to offer you and your team a place in Shade Academy."

"Hey!" shouted Leo, "No fair, we agreed we were going to offer him a place at the Academies together!"

"The first one to strike gets the gold," smiled Dory before looking back at Jaune, "I'm sure my niece Dew can show you around Shade."

"Niece?" questioned Jaune, looking at Dew.

Dew blushed for a second before answering, "Yeah. My aunt is the Headmistress of Shade. Our last names are different, but we're from the same family line. It's kinda why I said that my team would be able to get you into Shade easily back when we were 15."

Dory frowned at that, "Are you telling me that I could have potentially gotten Jaune as a student? Why didn't you try harder, Dew?"

"Don't blame her, I didn't want to go to to Shade," replied Jaune firmly, drawing Dory's attention back to him, "I refuse to go to the same Academy that has the Arc heir."

"Aurelian Arc, the winner of the 39th Vytal Festival Tournament? The same one you knocked out?" clarified Dory. "Do you have some sort of grudge against him? Did he do something to you in the past?"

"That's for me to know only," snapped Jaune, "And for whom I choose to share why. And you're not one of them right now."

Dory raised her eyebrow but backed off, knowing this subject was potentially hazardous and could make her lose her chances of having Jaune attend Shade.

"As Dory has made her offer, I make mine to both your team and team RWBY," coughed Ironwood as he stepped forward, "A place at Atlas Academy. I can ensure you that both teams will have the highest technology available to you, as well as a training area for you all, with the best droids to spar with."

"Of course you would try to lure them in with machinery," spat Dory, "Makes me wonder if you have a heart, or if you just replaced it."

Ironwood glared at Dory for a bit, his left-hand twitching. His right arm was still missing, as he needed to head back to Atlas to have a new one constructed.

"While those two are spitting words at each other," said Leo, "I offer a place at my Academy. I'm sure your teammate would like to spend some time with her family."

At this, both Ironwood and Dory glared at Leo, who seemed to wilt under the pressure.

Before Jaune could make a decision, he found himself being dragged by Oobleck.

"Good! You're awake! Now you can tell me all about the Dragon Clan, starting now, Mr. Xiong! I'm going to need a room with coffee, refreshments, food, and lots and lots of paper. I have so many questions!"

Jaune didn't even get a chance before he was dragged into a room with Oobleck, and the door slammed shut.

"Well... that happened," giggled Ruby before turning to Ironwood, "Ummm... Headmaster Ironwood, sir?"

"Yes, Miss Rose?" smiled Ironwood.

"My team would like to attend Atlas for the semester. But in return, I want my sister to get the best combat arm. I want to also play a key part in designing it."

"But of course," replied Ironwood, "I was already planning to have Atlas scientists create one for Yang for fighting Adam Taurus. But if you want to play a part in designing it, then I have no problems with that. Perhaps a new younger view might help."

"Aww thanks, sis!" Yang hugged Ruby with her only arm, "I appreciate it. I didn't want to be out there fighting with only one arm."

"Yea! And maybe I'll put a cannon in it!" cheered Ruby, drooling at the potential weapons she could fit into an arm. Like the group Team4Starzz said, bitches love cannons!"

"Ruby!" scolded Taiyang while Qrow merely laughed.

Hephaestus laughed at the scene, with Yang just smirking and Ruby's somewhat surprised expression before adding, "I can have one of my friends help out with that. Vulcan can help with the metalworks, while your techs can do all that fancy stuff."

"Vulcan the blacksmith?" asked Ironwood in surprise, "He doesn't accept requests at all. We've been trying to recruit him for years!"

"Doesn't surprise me," replied Hephaestus, "He prefers a solitary life. His forge should be near Mt. Mantle, near a volcano. Ruby, you'll probably have to specify the size and all that stuff to him if you wanna build that arm for your sister. As for the material, I suggest Flexatanium or maybe even Vibranium mixed with Mithril. Those ores are hard to find, but I have a feeling Jaune might have some. He was the one who found some of those ores and brought them to me and Wayland."

"Are you saying Jaune Ryu-Long's weapon and armor are made from the strongest, legendary ores?" asked Leo in interest.

"Yea, all but the sword," bragged Hephaestus, "But the sword is a work of art. I don't think any of us right now can match it. I can't even tell what the materials used to craft that sword is. Nor the techniques. All I could do was change the grip."

"Interesting," muttered all four Headmasters and Headmistresses. They didn't notice Pyrrha being dragged by the 5 other girls.

* * *

"Spill. Now." demanded Yang, "You two were gone for almost three days. What did you two do during that time? Did you... you know, do the horizontal tango?"

"Yes," smiled Pyrrha, with a bright red blush on her face "That, and… oh so much more."

"What?" meeped Ruby. Yang immediately put one hand on one of Ruby's ears before remembering she didn't have the other hand and decided to grab Weiss's hands to cover Ruby's ears instead. Weiss didn't really resist that, and Ruby's ears were covered.

"Tell us more," Dew begged, practically drooling, "Is he... talented? Big?"

"I was satisfied immensely," replied Pyrrha, "With his stamina, I can see why he needs more than one of us. I was so tired while he was still going strong."

"How many times did you... hit the big O?" asked Blake, her nose starting to bleed.

"I lost count when I hit the double digits after the first hour," blushed Pyrrha.

"So he's that... talented in his thrusting techniques?" asked Weiss, her pale face turning bright red.

"That wasn't all we did," admitted Pyrrha.

"Dang, and you did that for three days straight?" exclaimed Yang.

"No, only for about 10 hours, excluding sleep," replied Pyrrha. "We ate and cuddled, but... I made sure he was in me at all times, feeling it raw."

"Wait you didn't use protection?" asked Dew.

"I didn't want him to use a condom, yes," answered Pyrrha, "I used a cervical cap for the first part until the birth control pills that Junior already had inside the room kicked in. I wanted to feel him without anything separating us for the first time."

"Then what about the rest of the time?" piped Ruby. When everyone looked at her, she explained, "I can still read lips."

"Damn it!" cursed Yang, "I didn't want you exposed to this so early. You still need to retain your innocence! Jaune hasn't touched you like he has with us!"

"Umm... actually," blushed Ruby, "I may have let him... touch my breasts when I went to Patch with Jaune while daddy Taiyang wasn't looking."

Yang glared at Ruby. At one-half, she was proud that Ruby was growing up. At another, she wasn't happy her sister... well cousin now, but still, she looked to her as her little sister, was starting to loose her little innocence. Even if it was Jaune.

"Well, to answer your question," started Pyrrha, "Jaune explained to me that he had to eat something called a Dragon Seed. Gave him a big boost, but afterward, he... goes into heat. When we first did it, we kept goingandgoingforabout3hoursnonstopbeforegoingtosleep!" She rushed through the end part, blushing.

All the girls slightly drooled at this. A handsome, strong, kind husband that could satisfy them? Perfect!

"The only problem was the other side effect," continued Pyrrha, her blush dying down, "Because he forcefully restored his Aura and healed with it, he had to fall into a healing trance for about 48 hours straight."

"So it does have its downsides," frowned Weiss.

"Guess it's not like a S_nz_ be_n that can fully heal you without consequence," sighed Ruby "That would've been so cool to use."

"I'm more interested in the going to heat," rubbed Yang deviously, a lustful look in her eyes.

"You can easily do that with our bodies or just give him some aphrodisiac," said Dew as she rolled her eyes.

"Wait, you said 10 hours. 4 going straight before heading to sleep. That means you did more when you two woke up?" asked Blake, snapping back to the original stoic behavior.

Pyrrha nodded, before giving a brief summary of what else they had done, even taking a shower together. At this point, Pyrrha's eyes glaze over as she remembered what they did.

"Andddd we lost her," deadpanned Weiss.

* * *

About two hours later, Jaune finally escaped Oobleck's continuous questioning, stating that he would bring him to a nesting ground if he could just leave. That statement left Oobleck in a state of silence for once in his life. Jaune returned to his future mates and already certain wife, desperate for some comfort.

"So, Mr. Ryu-Long," asked Dory, catching him again, "Have you made your decision? Surely I could convince you to enroll at my Academy. Mr. Arc will be graduating after this semester, and my lovely niece can show you around. And Boyd Arc will be suspended for such activity, so you won't even see any Arcs."

"Now, now," lectured Ozpin as he took a sip from his mug, "Let Mr. Ryu-Long choose. I dare say he is capable of making his own choices after what happened."

"Let me talk with my teammates first before we decided anything," sighed Jaune before leaving them.

"You were always a headstrong one, Dory," chuckled Qrow.

"And you lack the proper brains," frowned Dory, "You could've avoided this whole fiasco if you paid attention more to the attackers instead of drinking!"

Qrow narrowed his eyes at her, "I didn't get a good look at them because I was a bit more worried about Amber, perhaps?"

"Enough!" shouted Glynda, snapping her whip down. Everyone stopped talking immediately.

"Whatever Mr. Ryu-Long decides, we will respect his decision. That is final. No more trying to convince him to come to whatever Academy."

"Soo... where are you going to go?" asked Sun curiously as Jaune joined with his team, followed by RWBY, SSSN, DSCO, and NDGO.

"If you come to Atlas, you can hang at my place," cheered Dandy, "We sometimes hosts parties back at mah place, and ah still looking forward to an official dance battle against yah~!"

"We're planning on Atlas, too," said Ruby, "We need to get a combat arm for Yang and have her get used to it. Atlas would be the best place for it. Not to mention Weiss can hang out with her family for a bit. We might even get to go to some fancy schmancy party or banquet!"

"My father is considering one," admitted Weiss, "He wants me to sing again for a fundraiser to get some Lien for Vale. And if I'm there, perhaps I can convince my father to change some of his more dubious practices he's rumored to have."

"I'd like it if you could come to Shade," admitted Dew, "But with the Arc family most likely going to get off with some bullcrap technicality, Boyd Arc still there, along with Vlad Arc, they would most likely harass you to no end, and try to kill you again."

"A shame, really," piped Octavia, "Now I get to feel what it's like to be in a long distance relationship, just like you now, Dew. At least for Gwen, Sun does have a home back at Vacuo even though he goes to Haven. He can still come to visit her while not worrying about a place to live in for a bit."

Gwen and Sun had the decency to blush a bit on that.

"I wouldn't mind Haven or Atlas," spoke Pyrrha, "The only thing I'm afraid of back in Haven is my reputation and paparazzi following me again. However, I don't think Atlas will be any different because of what Jaune did."

"Hmm, difficult choices," mused Jaune.

Ren stood up before turning to Jaune, preparing to ask him for a request.

"Jaune? Will you be doing anything during our winter break?" asked Ren.

"Nothing too important. I was thinking of taking you guys to a dragon nesting grounds to train a little," thought Jaune out loud, "My dragons suggested anyone with the Dragon Marks should take a trip there briefly."

"If it's not too... bothersome, can we travel through the continent of Anima for a bit?" requested Ren.

"Ren, are you...?" trailed of Nora.

"Ren? Nora? What's wrong?" asked Jaune.

"No... it's nothing," waived off Ren.

"Ren. Tell me. I'll make it an order if I have to," stated Jaune.

Ren looked away for a little before Nora piped up, "I can tell you."

"Nora!"

"We have to tell them, Renny. I know you want to let go of this past, but sometimes we need to face it head on. I know you won't let go until it's resolved."

Ren glared at Nora for a little before sighing. There was no way of winning an argument against Nora. He hadn't won any of them anyways.

"I want to head to my old home town, Kuroyuri village. The place where I was born, and where I found Nora. The place where my family died, due to a special Grimm type, called the Nuckelavee, along with Nevermores and Beowolves. I want to pay my respects to my family and tell them that the Dragon Clan still lives on. That I was proudly chosen to become one of your retainers, and that... I apparently have four girlfriends now."

At this point, Neptune and Team DSCO, who were taking a drink, immediately spat out what they had been drinking.

"Dude, four?" asked Neptune in shock.

"Teach us, oh great ones," Soul and Coral pleaded to Jaune and Ren until Dandy and Onyx smacked their partners over the heads for saying that.

"Wait, who else joined you?" asked Sun.

"The Malachite twins," answered Ren.

"Twins! You got twins!?' cried Neptune, "So lucky!"

"Anyways.. back to the topic," continued Jaune, snapping them back to the Ren's request, "Sure. I don't mind heading there with you. Pyrrha?"

"That sounds grand," smiled Pyrrha.

"And since we're in Anima, I guess we can just head directly to Haven when we're done and our second year starts," finished Jaune.

"Sweet!" cheered Sun, "My team can show you all the good places near Haven."

"Not to mention all the good food," smiled Scarlet.

"I wouldn't mind training against you guys," grunted Sage.

"We need to go on a date again, Jaune," declared Yang after the group was talking about something else, "You've already done it with Pyrrha, and she's on your team. You'll get to see her all the time. Meanwhile, Team RWBY and Dew won't be able to see you again until maybe the first semester of our second year is over. We won't be able to have you keep us company and our bedtime snuggles will be taken from us. So, sorry, Pyrrha, but you'll have to skip out on your date night and cuddles until this semester is officially declared over."

Pyrrha frowned at that, but couldn't really refute Yang's claim. What she said was true. However, she wasn't going to like not having her weekly cuddles with Jaune.

"Umm, I also wanted to ask Jaune something," said Blake as she raised up her hand, "When the semester is over, and we all head back to our... homes." At this, she shot a nervous glance at Nora and Ren. The two of them were orphans and had nowhere to go. "I was hoping Jaune would give me a lift back to my hometown. Back to Kuo Kuana. I want to introduce Jaune to my parents as my boyfriend. And to hopefully explain all the harem details and have Jaune still in one piece."

Weiss suddenly stood up, slamming her hand on the table, "That reminds me! I need to take Jaune to see my father now, otherwise, I may end up losing my Heiress position to my little brother Whitley!"

Jaune wrinkled his nose at that name, "That brat I saw back in Atlas? The one who has a log stuck up his butt?"

Weiss smirked and stifled a laugh but didn't bother correcting him before continuing, "Father wants to know why I'm in a harem with Jaune. He didn't approve at first, but he thought that the heiress of the SDC dating the 'Hero of Vale' would be good publicity. But he needs to know why, otherwise, I'll be forced to choose to either keep my position and lose Jaune, or forfeit it to Whitley. And my sister and I agree Whitley **cannot** take the Heir position, otherwise, he'll drag the SDC name through the mud even harder. He's biased and racist, even more than my father if I had to say."

"What happens if he doesn't accept Jaune?" asked Dew curiously.

"Then I'll force him to see it," growled Weiss, "I already lost Jaune by heartbreak and by thinking he had died. I refuse to do the same mistake again."

Jaune smiled before leaning over to kiss Weiss on the cheek for that. Weiss blushed before dragging Jaune to see her father.

"Welp, there he goes for now," sighed Ruby.

"I suppose I need to also have Jaune see my parents and auntie soon, too," sighed Dew, "Auntie Dory's been hinting that I should date Jaune even if he's dating other girls. The fact that he's strong enough to fight against someone like Cinder is a big plus for us. Vacuo citizens do respect the strong quite a bit. She told me to try to steal him but understood if I had to share him. She doesn't know I'm already dating him with you guys."

"Ouch," commented Sun, "That doesn't seem good. Least I don't have to worry about that now."

"Maybe not," grinned Gwen, "You're coming back to Vacuo for a bit, right?" When Sun nodded his head, she continued, "I want you to meet my parents and introduce you as my boyfriend!"

Sun paled for a bit before gulping and nodding. Now he knew how Jaune felt.

* * *

"So, we meet again, Jaune Ryu-Long."

Jaune was sitting next to Weiss while Jacques Schnee was sitting across from them with Winter and a glaring Whitley. Klein was busy serving them all tea.

"It has been awhile, Patriarch of the Schnee," greeted Jaune.

"I do hope you've been well, and that the discount that I gave you for all SDC purchases has been useful."

"Quite. I've used it for some of my bullets in my shield as well as help buy some of your more explosive ones for my team."

"Good. Although it's a shame that Weiss didn't end up on your team. Would've been quite something."

While the two began to engage in idle chatter, Whitley was slowly becoming like Mt. Mantle, ready to explode.

"Father." scowled Whitley as politely as possible with his teeth grinding, "I believe we have something important discuss. Like perhaps the relationship between Weiss and Jaune **and** the other girls?"

"Must you be so blunt and tactless?" sighed Jaune, "I have not met your father for a while, and was engaged in a pleasant conversation before we were going to turn to that subject. It is a good idea to learn to engage in some small talk before hopping into the main point, especially if you were to talk to other businesses. Then again you lack something important between ears does seem to make it hard for you. Perhaps it is with good reason that you're aren't appointed Heir yet, I can only imagine what the future would hold for the SDC if you don't learn to control yourself."

Whitley's ears started to steam and were about to burst into a rant when Jacques stopped him, "Now, now Jaune, Whitley is still young and learning. He is quite accomplished in his academic studies. Unfortunately, son, I must agree with him that you tend to be... brash about some things. Perhaps I should've made you go to school like I did with Weiss and Winter to communicate with others."

Being lectured in front of his family and Jaune made him red in the face, but he controlled it. Soon, he would be appointed Heir to the SDC anyways. There would be no way that Weiss would keep her title.

"Seeing as my son has decided to jump into it, I guess I will too," continued Jacques, "Explain to me how you've managed to convince my daughter, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the SDC, to date you while you have... multiple girls at the same time. Tell me why I should let her continue dating you while keeping the Heiress title. Normally, I wouldn't even consider it, and force Weiss to break it up or lose her title. However, since my eldest daughter, Winter, seems to not have taken any... violent alternatives, there must be something more. Not only that, I trust my instincts, and they tell me you are not the sort of man who plays around with others. That, and my daughter dating the 'Hero of Vale' does have its benefits."

Whitley couldn't believe his ears. Was his father allowing some low-class filthy mongrel to explain himself? He thought for sure that Weiss would lose her title for even wanting to be in this guy's harem. He took a look at Jaune to see him not even looking remotely nervous. It infuriated him even more. Here was a man that had taken a rather barbaric job that soldiers could do, no even robots would do better, and he was being labeled as a hero from all of Vale. Not only that, he was dating Ruby Rose, a girl should've been honored he had chosen her just to be blown off. Add the fact that Jaune was the one who completely destroyed Cinder's plan, one that he had spent quite some time invested in. And finally, there was a chance that Weiss might be able to keep her title and date Jaune at the same time proved to be too much for the boy. With that, he grabbed the cup of tea that had been served for him.

"Mr. Schnee. What I'm about to tell you-"

Jaune never got to finish his sentence as hot tea was splashed on his face and hoodie by Whitley.

Weiss gasped before narrowing her eyes at Whitley in anger. Winter was about to scold Whitley for his behavior. Even Jacques felt Whitley had gone too far with that action. It was not a behavior fitting for a Schnee, even if he did marry into the name. Jaune had actually seen Whitley's actions but saw that it would do him no harm, so he let it happen. It would give him more persuasion power anyways.

"You ple-!" started Whitley, but he didn't get a chance to continue as someone grabbed his ear and pulled it, like punishing a naughty child. Whitley looked to see who the offender was, thinking it was most likely Winter when he saw it was actually Klein, his pupils flashing red.

"Master Whitley! You cannot just waste perfectly good tea for no reason at all! Master Jaune has done nothing to deserve that!"

Whitley could hardly believe that nobody in his family was trying to stop their servant from scolding him.

"Let go of me, you lowly servant! I can have you fired!" struggled Whitley.

"I am a butler of the Schnee family," fired back Klein, "I answer the door. I clean up the estate. I take out the trash. And I make sure that the family I serve has the proper behavior! Something I obviously failed to instill in you, unlike your sister Weiss and Winter! Something I need to correct."

At this point, Klein started to drag Whitley out of the room by his ear. Whitley struggled to escape with no visible results at all.

"Klein?"

Klein sneezed at that point, his eyes turning light blue at that point. He excused himself for that for a second before blinking, his eyes turning back to light brown.

"Be sure he learns his lesson well. I can't have my son with that sort of attitude in the future."

Whitley paled while Klein blinked again, his eyes turning yellow with glee.

"Understood, sir."

Jacques sighed as Whitley was dragged to a private room with Klein. He turned to Jaune to see Weiss wiping the tea off him with her handkerchief while Winter was brewing another cup of tea for them all. His two daughters were definitely people he could be proud of, even if he didn't really like their chosen paths.

As they all sat down again without Whitley and Klein, Jaune took a deep breath, "As I was about to say, what I'm about to show you is something that may be hard to believe. It deals with my Semblance, and why I have to have multiple... mates as I grow."

He put his hand on the table and instructed Jacques to follow along. He looked at his two daughters to see that they were already doing so, so he followed. There was a bright flash of light, and Jacques found himself staring into an endless void, standing on a grassy plain.

"Where are we?" mused Jacques as he looked around, noticing his daughters and Jaune were still with him, "What did you do?"

He hears a snort behind him and turned around to see the most majestic blue scaled animal he had ever laid eyes upon. It was Ryo-Wo.

" _ **Greetings,"**_ greeted Ryo-Wo, _**"I am Ryo-Wo, King of the water dragons. I am the one who will be chosen when Jaune decides to give the Mate Mark to Weiss."**_

Jacques could only stammer, his mouth not working, jaws flapping.

"Don't worry father," smirked Winter, "I had the same expression. And that was before I attempted to castrate Jaune."

"Least your father was willing to talk," muttered Jaune, "You didn't even let me explain before you were trying to kill me, with Qrow helping you."

"Well, now I know you at least tried," said a dazed Jacques. He almost fainted when the other dragons revealed themselves. After he was convinced that he wasn't dreaming, they explained to him about themselves and Jaune's powers, and the conditions for it.

"Well, I suppose it's something," sighed Jacques. They had finished in Jaune's mindscape and were back to reality. He was sipping his cup of tea with quivering hands, trying to regain his wits. He looked at Weiss, who seemed to be enjoying sitting with Jaune. He leaned back, thinking about what to do. Weiss was growing splendidly as a Huntress as he had seen from the tournament videos. And he had no doubt Jaune was powerful and he would gain a lot of favors and connections after that event. Something he would love to use. He was well aware of his... less than starling reputation among the Faunus. He usually ignored the threats of the White Fang, but this battle and learning the White Fang had been gunning for his daughters may have made him reconsider some of his policies.

It was true that on paper, the Faunus working in the mines were given the same wages as any other human miners. Underneath all the legal bullcrap, though, was that many Faunus miners weren't given the same health coverage and other benefits as human miners. Not to mention, any 'potentially dangerous' mining jobs were usually assigned to the Faunus if possible. All promotions to mining leader or management were usually handed to humans over Faunus to prevent any changes.

With this new development, Jaune would most likely be pushing for equality upon all, due to his code and contract. The SDC that he worked so hard to convince Nicholas Schnee, his father-in-law, to entrust to him, might come under fire.

'No,' though Jacques as he shook his head, 'It will come under fire. Unless if I make the changes now.'

He had debated about having Whitley becoming the heir more and more when Weiss wasn't answering his calls. The, all of a sudden, she responded to him, and talked to him, even for a little bit. Not only that, Whitley, although very smart, had social problems. Whitley had a tendency to be tactless when angered and showed off his wealth a bit too much. Combine with the fact that he also loved to taunt others, if the opposing party managed to one-up him, Whitley's filter from his brain to his mouth usually turned off. It was something that could be fixed, but Weiss was much more prepared for it right now.

"Well, then," coughed Jacques, grabbing their attention, "As long as you two are comfortable with your... current situation, I have no problem letting Weiss keep her title as Heiress. Provided that you keep your grades up and keep in contact with me."

"Of course!" said Weiss, nearly shouting in joy, "I am a Schnee. My grades will always be of priority. As for keeping contact, Ruby has decided to enroll us to Atlas Academy for the next semester. So I will be able to visit home for a while."

"That's great news," smiled Jacques. At least in Atlas, he could hire guards to keep an eye out on Weiss to make sure there would be no attacks.

"What's great news?"

Whitley had returned, rubbing his rather red ears with Klein standing behind him. Winter was snickering at the sight of Whitley.

"Your sister will be attending Atlas Academy along with her team while Beacon is closed for repairs," informed Jacques, "She will be able to visit home more often now, and be able to spend time with us."

At this, Whitley had to exude a great deal of control to not wrinkle his nose at that, "And will Jaune and his team be joining them?"

"No," replied Jaune, "My team wants to head into the continent of Anima, to a special place to pay their respect. After that, we will just head to Haven Academy directly."

"You're not going to stick together?" asked Jacques with his eyebrows raised.

"As much as I want to," sighed Jaune before looking at Whitley. Klein caught the message and pulled Whitley away from the room, much to his displeasure, "Dew Gayle, one of my potential mate, is heading back to Shade. We kept a long-distance relationship. I will just have to do that with team RWBY, too. That, and Pyrrha also wants to spend time with her family, as well as they want to be able to see her. Can't blame them for wanting to watch out for their daughter after witnessing her almost dying. But mainly, I have some business I need to attend to that involves me being at Anima with two of my retainers. By the time I make it back to Mistral, the Academy year will have roughly started, give or take a week."

"That, and we need to get Yang a new arm," continued Weiss, "Her right arm was sliced off by Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang Vale division."

At that point, Jaune's fists tightened. Raven may had sliced his arm off in return and caught him, but he himself wanted to punish him. It left a bad taste in his mouth that he didn't protect her.

" _ **That is why you need more training,"**_ rumbled Lung Wang, _**"You have taken your power far, but you have not reached your limits. And sadly, you are just one man contracted to us dragons. You cannot be everywhere at the same time."**_

"I was hoping, since she's my teammate," continued Weiss, "To provide the funds for the latest state of the art Atlas technology. Speaking of arms, Hephaestus hinted to us that you might have some ores for Yang to use." At that, she had turned to Jaune, "He recommended Flexatanium or Vibranium mixed with Mythril. He's already sending Vulcan a message to help out with the metal work while Ruby does the designs. Atlas will supply the technology needed."

"I'll see if I have it in my stash," replied Jaune, already thinking about it. He would gladly supply the material, but he had no idea if he had it, and he didn't want to pull it out in front of them all. Even if he didn't, he was planning to use Junior's connections to buy them.

"Vulcan the blacksmith?" inquired Jacques, "You managed to recruit him to help out?"

"Only because of Hephaestus and Jaune," replied Weiss, "Vulcan knows Hephaestus, and Hephaestus basically adores Jaune."

"Intriguing," commented Jacques, "Well then, I would be happy to fund the Lien needed for your teammate's combat arm. After all, we can't have you leaving your friend armless."

Jacques real reason was that he was hoping that through Jaune and some well placed Lien, he would gain access to at least one of the best blacksmiths in Remnant. Being well connected even in a business that his company wasn't invested in couldn't hurt.

"It was a pleasure to speak to you again," said Jaune as he stood up and stretched before extending his hand out for a handshake.

"The pleasure was mine," smiled Jacques as he shook Jaune's hand, "I do hope that you and Weiss will continue with your relationship. On a side note, though, I don't want Weiss to be a mother too soon."

"Father!" shouted Weiss in embarrassment while Winter snickered.

"I dare say she's too young for now. However, I wouldn't say no to grandchildren. It's a shame that you didn't choose my eldest daughter Winter. Then I could have grandchildren within the next year."

"Father!" shouted Winter in embarrassment this time.

"What? It's an honest question. You're already 24, nearing 25, and I've yet to hear that you even have a boyfriend. Your job may be important, but so is bringing in new family members."

Winter was blushing but decided not to answer her father at all and elected to just leave the room. Jaune and Weiss quickly said their goodbyes before leaving to rejoin with their teams.

* * *

 **And there! So far, parents are looking good. I'm trying to portray Jacques, not as a good guy, but rather a man who looks after the company and the name. Seeing Jaune with his new title, he knows he can't keep his same attitude forever. He doesn't fight the wave of change, but rather adapts to it. That's how I feel like Jacques is like. But I admit, I do portray him nicer than canon. And super Klein! As I continue, I'll pick out bits and pieces from Vol 4, but it's gonna be a whole new road now.**

 **Yaa Random Easter eggs! Obvious where they are.**

 **So I hear RWBY vol 5 will be coming out. That'll be interesting to see when it comes out in the fall. Wonder if Pyrrha will make a small entrance again, just like in volume 4. Maybe it had some significance. Whatever, excited to see what'll come.**

 **Yes, Team RWBY and JNPR will be attending different Academies for one semester. Did that on purpose. And no, Yang will not have a new arm regrown. I plan to let her have a mechanical arm. Maybe I'll give it a vibrating function XD. I think most people will know where I got that idea from hahaha. Regrowing a whole new set of bones, nerves, muscles for an arm is a lot iffier than healing a chest wound and ankle wound. I spent quite a bit of time debating on whether to have Yang regrow it or not. In the end, I decided on combat arm.**

 **Although Pyrrha has Mate Mark, I will not be giving all the other girls Mate Marks 'immediately'. Some will get them in the next... 7 chapters? Some will not. I think every girl has their own pace they're comfortable with.**

 **As for Vlad, he'll be under house arrest basically. All 4 kingdoms will not permit him to enter, and he'll be on the blacklist for a lot of stores. Why not just jail/kill him? Well, I did have Jaune state he has no interest, and to leave him alone. Aurelian seems to get the message. Boyd... not as much. Will Vlad play into the future chapters? Not really. Disgraced and humiliated, he might be driven to contemplate... rather dark paths for himself.**

 **Dragon Slayers. I may have called them that, but they aren't what you think they are. Notice the badge they wore. It'll give a hint into the future chapters. They merely called themselves that to convince Salem that they had what it takes to kill a dragon.**

 **Other than that, hoped you enjoyed the story! Review if you can! I'm so close to hitting my next goal for favorites Urrgg! Cmon 1.5k! Maybe I'll have a celebration if I do hit it.**

 **On a last note, I might expand to writing 3 stories at once. No, I will not abandon this story, it's still my main priority. My Big 4 to Hogwarts story will most likely end after... 20 chapters estimate? Am speeding it a bit to hit 4th year. Come read and review it! I'll be putting a poll on what story I'll be writing. There's going to be 4 story ideas I have in my mind. Be putting more information about it on my profile. Come check it out and vote! Also, got another one shot of Jaune of _ that's in my mind that I may write.**


	39. Chapter 39 Return to Kuo Kuana

**So far, muse is good. I'm probably going to set it up that I do weekly posts unless I need breaks. So next one will be up on Saturday morning PCT from what I see myself. Oh well, on with the chapter!**

* * *

"Can I change my mind?"

The semester was officially declared over, and students were returning back to their home. Much to Dory's displeasure and Leo's glee, team JNPR were to head to Haven Academy for the next semester. Blake was riding a boat to Menagerie with Jaune so she could introduce her family to her boyfriend as well as to finally be reunited with them after running away six years ago. Pyrrha had gone back to Mistral with her family to spend time with them while Ren and Nora were staying at Vale to help out with the construction, and they were staying with Junior while doing so. The group had arranged to meet up at Mistral at an appointed date before setting off to Kuroyuri village. As for the rest of team RWBY, they were all also going back to their respective homes. Yang had a fake arm she had to use for a bit, while Ruby was already going over her designs for said limb. For once, Raven would be going with them, as well as Qrow for some needed R&R.

Jaune had gotten lucky and found Vibranium and some Mithril in his bag before handing it over to Weiss. She promised to make sure the materials made it over to Vulcan.

"We're already on the boat," replied Blake, "I don't see why you don't want to meet my parents again. From what you've told me and what they wrote, they like you well enough."

Blake had changed her usual style, opting for a white coat while wearing a black halter top. Her stomach was unprotected, but it showed off her slim waist, just as she wanted to let Jaune know what to expect.

"That was before I started dating you," snapped Jaune back, "Now, I'm just terrified what they'll say once they know I'm dating you and other girls at the same time, one of which is basically my wife now."

He was already getting ready to spread his wings and fly away when Blake grabbed him and hugged him from behind tightly, pushing her sizeable assets forward. "Don't worry. They'll understand if you just explain it to them." she told him gently, before she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Jaune sighed and relaxed before adjusting himself and moving Blake so he was hugging her from behind now. The two of them relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. Jaune tilted his head down and captured Blake's lips, both enjoying the feeling. Around them, the day was slowly turning to dusk.

"Jaune?"

"Yeah Blake?"

"Pyrrha has her Mate Mark. Does that mean… that you'll… I mean... could you mark me too?" Blake blushed at her own boldness, "And perhaps... take this further?"

"Blake," said Jaune softly, "I don't want to push this further than necessary, especially if you don't want to. Pyrrha and I did it, but there were... quite some extenuating circumstances. If you're worried that I might only want Pyrrha, don't. I love all of you equally. I'm willing to go to a pace that you're comfortable with."

"Thank you," whispered Blake as she gave her hero a rewarding kiss, "But I'm ready. I know for a fact that I've fallen deeply in love with you, and that there would be nobody else I want to be with."

The two of them entered a steamy kiss before watching the sun slowly set. Blake had already been preparing for her night, as she had been taking birth control pills and controlling her period. She wouldn't get pregnant, but she wanted what Pyrrha said, and do it without anything in between them. Including the cervical cap.

* * *

Suddenly, the sea exploded, causing water to spray upon the ship. From the depths arose a Grimm Sea Dragon, roaring its lungs out.

"Really?" sighed Jaune as he looked at the Grimm. The people labeled it as a Sea Dragon, but to him, it looked more like a Sea Serpent. Ryo-Wo was the true definition of a Sea Dragon. This one must've tried to copy off him.

"Well, I suppose we should take care of this," deadpanned Blake as she drew out her weapon. Jaune nodded and drew his out.

"All passengers, get to the safe room and prepare for immediate evacuation to lifeboats if needed!" shouted the Sea Captain in the intercom, "All hands to Battlestations! Get the cannons loaded!"

"Sir, we've never fought something this big!" cried out a female crew member in worry.

"We've never seen anything this big," muttered the captain in reply, "But we'll-"

"Sir, a huntsman and a huntress are already getting ready to fight!" interrupted another male crewmember, "The male one seems very familiar, though. I know I've seen him somewhere."

The captain took a look to see the female already running towards the Grimm while the male was standing there with his shield on his right arm and sword in an upright position as if meditating.

"Aye, the boy looks familiar," mumbled the captain, "But where have I seen him?"

"You run a distraction for me for a little," told Jaune, "I'm going to use full immersion with Ryo-Wo and Alaerth. I'm sure Ryo-Wo would be interested in this battle."

"Got it," replied Blake as she started to run, doing a few flips before launching herself towards the Grimm.

'Ready to fight?' asked Jaune.

" _ **A Grimm Sea Dragon? Look more like a small serpent to me,"**_ snorted Ryo-Wo, _**"I'll show it who's truly the Sea Dragon, King of the Water."**_

Blake had made a clone to continue her momentum before hurling her _Gambol Shroud_ into the Grimm's mask, allowing her to swing up into the air before detaching it and firing her bullets at its face. The Grimm roared in annoyance as Blake landed back on the ship and dived for her. The Captain quickly moved the ship to the right, barely dodging the attack. Jaune didn't even look bothered at the sudden movement.

The Grimm roared in annoyance, having miss its prey when it froze. It looked at Jaune in fear. It could feel the Aura of the true dragons leaking from this boy. And it could tell he was linking with Ryo-Wo, the true Sea Dragon of Water, who once roamed the seas. It roared and tried to dive at Jaune, but Blake was already on it before it could get that chance, slashing at its face while the ships opened its port cannons and fired. Blake was unable to hold on and fell towards the ship at a bad angle. Luckily, Jaune had finished his link and caught her before she could hit the deck. Ever since the Grimm Dragon fight back at Beacon, his link up speed had increased.

"Get the heavy cannon!" shouted the captain, worried about this fight.

Jaune placed Blake down gently before giving her a confident smile, "This won't take long. I got this." As soon as he said that, Jaune ran towards the edge of the ship and jumped into the water.

"Is that man crazy!?" shouted a crew member, "There's no way he can win an underwater battle!"

The Grimm Sea Dragon dove down into the water, hoping to fight the human in its domain.

The crew and Blake waited with baited breath as they couldn't see what was going on. A few minutes later, the Grimm popped out, roaring in pain. They could see it was covered in gashes everywhere. The Grimm folded its dorsal fins on the back before spreading its red leathery wings, taking flight into the air.

"Where's the-" began the female crew member when Jaune came bursting out of the water, with yellow-scaled wings.

In the water, the Grimm had found itself hopelessly outmatched. Jaune swam too fast for it, cutting into the Grimm and damaging it while the Grimm could do nothing but flail. It hoped it could have the advantage in the sky, even if it did move better in the water. Jaune proved that theory to be faulty as he zoomed across, slashing at it in high speeds. He shifted to hand cannon mode on _Dragonscales_ and fired into its face.

"Whoa..."

The passengers had stepped out to see what was happening just to witness Jaune slicing the edge of the Grimm's wing off.

"He's flying!"

"Think he's a Faunus?"

"I wouldn't mind dating him. He looks hot. And he looks like he could take me on romantic flights."

"Wait, isn't that Jaune Ryu-Long, the Hero of Vale!? What's he doing here?"

"Really? That's the hero? Oh my Oum, I need to get his autograph!"

"I'll throw my knickers at him! Maybe he'll be interested in me!"

Blake's ears twitched at the last statement before jumping up into the air to help Jaune, slashing at the Grimm's nose. The Grimm roared in pain before flying up into the sky, channeling its lightning attack in its mouth.

" _ **Aw, how cute,"**_ teased Alaerth, _**"It wants to compete in voltage against us. Show it why that's a mistake!"**_

Jaune nodded before charging Alaerth's power into _Crocea Mors_. The blade itself started to glow and give off stray lightning every now and then.

"Watch out!" shouted a passenger afraid that Jaune would be hit.

The Grimm fired its lightning breath, only to see it defeated by a even bigger blast of lightning from Jaune, hitting it full on. The Grimm Sea Dragon screamed in pain as it fell down towards the ocean. Jaune wasn't done with it yet, though. He flew down towards Blake, who jumped into the air to meet him. He swiftly rose up into the air, high above the Grimm before folding his wings in. The two of them started their descent towards the Grimm. It roared and fired another blast, but Jaune and Blake dodged it easily. Both of them held their blades as they approached the body and yelled as they slashed. The Grimm Sea Dragon found itself lacking wings and fell right towards the sea, right in front of the ship.

The captain grinned and knew that they had their chance. He had his ship ram right into the Grimm, keeping it still before yelling to his weapons crew to fire the heavy cannon. A second later, and the Grimm Sea Dragon's upper body was forcefully detached from its body.

Jaune opened his wings again, catching Blake in his arms before landing back on the ship.

"The captain really didn't need to do that," smiled Blake, "I'm sure we could've ended it."

"Eh, he probably wanted to have done something," replied Jaune.

Suddenly, they found themselves surrounded by the passengers, all begging for an autograph from Jaune or praising both of them. Quite a few girls were flirting with him, causing Blake to growl.

"Alright, make way, make way! Let them have some room!"

The captain had walked in and had his crew members dispersed the crowd.

"Thanks be to ya," smiled the captain before staring at Jaune, "I swear, I saw you before. And not from the news."

Jaune tilted his head, thinking about it before he snapped his finger, "That's right! You were the captain of the ship that went from Menagerie to the nearest port of Anima!"

The captain's eyes opened wide, "You're the boy Ghira helped out! It's good to see you're still doing well. Ha, I can brag that my ship has carried Jaune Ryu-Long, the Hero of Vale, twice! Still, thanks for taking care of that serpent. Gotta thank you somehow."

"That's not necessary," smiled Jaune, "Just doing our jobs as future Huntsmen and Huntresses."

The captain laughed at that before waving it off, "Still gotta do something. Tell you what, the next ship you board is free, wherever you go! Since you two are Huntsman and Huntress, you'll need a ride back to the main continents after your done here, right? Consider that my thanks."

The two of them shrugged before accepting the offer.

* * *

"Six years... It's been that long since I've been here. Since I've seen my parents. We didn't exactly part on good terms..." Blake said nervously as she looked out over the village of Kuo Kuana. They had finally arrived at daybreak.

"Cmon, let's get going to your house. I'm sure your parents would love to see you again." Jaune said encouragingly as he began to pull Blake towards her home town. At first, she was confused at how Jaune knew where her house was when she remembered that Jaune had been here before, and actually met them. Hell, they even entrusted the locket and letter to him. She touched the locket she was wearing around her neck. She never took it off after Jaune had given it to her.

As they were walking, some of the Faunus were giving Jaune a curious gaze, others with distrust. It wasn't often that a non-faunus person would be so willing to walk on their lands. As they walked through, a young Faunus boy came up to them and held up his cup silently, begging for some Lien. Jaune merely smiled before grabbing his wallet and dropping a white Lien card in his cup. The boy's eyes widened at this generosity. When he begged from others, even the kindest of people could only spare at most a 20 yellow Lien card, and yet this person just gave him a 100. Bowing in thanks, he ran off to his family, hoping that this unexpected windfall would help his hungry family.

"That was nice of you," grinned Blake as she snuggled into him.

"Just helping in any way I can," said Jaune softly as he kissed Blake on the cheek.

This didn't go unnoticed by the population. They had just witnessed a human selflessly giving a Faunus Lien and kiss another Faunus. In the shadows, a girl with freckles watched them in curiosity and hate while wearing a horned Grimm mask.

Jaune and Blake found themselves and the Belladonna home, looking at the door. Blake reached for the door hesitantly, but Jaune gently grabbed her hand, and together, they swung the door knocker. After waiting for the loud noise to die down, the door opened to reveal Kali Belladonna.

* * *

Kali had been making tea for her husband when she heard the door knocker. Sighing, she put the hot water down and walked to the door. If it was the White Fang representatives again, she had half a mind to just slam the door shut on their face. When she opened it, her heart almost stopped. For in front of her was her daughter, Blake, all grown up. Six years had passed since she last saw her, and now here she was, in front of her again, turning from a little girl into a beautiful maiden.

"Blake?" Kali questioned.

"Hi mom," replied Blake slowly, afraid that her family wouldn't accept her for all the things she had said.

Kali immediately closed the gap and hugged her daughter tightly

"My baby girl," said Kali softly. Blake was stunned for a bit before smiling and hugging her back.

"Kali? Who is it?"

Ghira stepped to the entrance to see Kali slowly unwrap herself to reveal Blake. Ghira's face split into a smile, seeing her daughter safe and sound, back at home. He looked to his left to see Jaune Ryu-Long, waving at him. His smile grew bigger at the sight of the boy. He had certainly grown and seemed much stronger now. And he kept his promise to them and even brought Blake home. Kali looked to her left and just noticed Jaune was also standing there. She went over and gave him a crushing hug.

"You kept your promise. Thank heavens you're also alright," whispered Kali.

"I'd never go back on my word," replied Jaune.

"Come, come in," said Kali, quickly heading back to the kitchen, "I have tea brewing and I can get some snacks. You can tell me all about what happened to you in the past few years, including the recent battle at Beacon."

A few minutes later, they were all sitting around a table, getting ready for tea.

"So, Jaune. Tell me. What happened after you gave Blake that letter?" smiled Kali innocently. Blake had been ready to sip her tea when she stopped, almost spilling her tea.

"Mom!"

"What? I'm just interested in what you did. If you're anything like me, you'd have done the same thing as I did to Ghira."

Ghira coughed in embarrassment while Jaune blushed.

"We did nothing!" hissed Blake.

"Really? Even though I scented the letter with a little bit of catnip like my mother did?" asked Kali innocently.

"I knew it! I knew something was wrong with that letter while I was reading it," shouted Blake, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have tried to jump him and make outrageous demands from him like wanting his seed after all that emotional stuff that happened, including breaking up with the White Fang and Adam right there on the train!"

Jaune and Ghira had been sipping their tea while the two was shouting and had varying reactions. Ghira spat his tea out while Jaune choked on it as it went down the wrong hole in his throat.

"Tried to?" growled Ghira at Jaune.

"To be fair, I had no idea your wife had done that," replied Jaune, "Plus, we didn't do anything, like your daughter said." As Jaune explained that, he had a flashback of Blake in a wet white shirt back at the incident, and blushed.

"There was something," eyed Ghira.

"I... may have splashed water on your daughter to stop her, and ….. well she was wearing a rather tight white shirt when I did that," confessed Jaune, "But I swear, we did nothing."

While Ghira was trying to decide whether to keep giving Jaune the evil eye or strangle him, Kali leaned over to Blake, whispering, "So. Are you two dating? Because you do have our blessing. Your father just has a problem showing it."

Blake sighed when the door knocker could be heard from in the room.

"Damn it, I completely forgot about the meeting!" growled Ghira as he slammed his fist on the table. Kali quickly put her hand over his.

"Ghira..."

"Give me a moment," grunted Ghira as he stood up to answer the door.

"Is everything ok?" asked Blake gently.

"Yes, dear," sighed Kali as she picked up her tea, "Just poor timing. He can reschedule. It's just been hard dealing with them lately."

"With whom?" asked Jaune

Kali had just took a sip of her tea before she looked over to Jaune and looked a little worried, "The White Fang. Jaune, it might be better if you just hid in the room for now."

"WHAT!?" shouted Jaune and Blake, standing up and running towards the door. Jaune ignored Kali's warning, causing her to stand up in worry and walk after them.

* * *

Jaune and Blake managed to see Ghira talking with two fox Faunus, one with orange fuzzy fox ears and the other with a gray fox tail. Both had dark skin colors and were maintaining a respectful, formal posture while keeping their hands clasped before them.

"Dad!" yelled out Blake as they approached them.

The two fox Faunus saw Blake and respectfully greeted her before they saw Jaune. Their eyebrows raised in surprise, and a flash of anger could be seen through their eyes before they hid it. Jaune managed to catch it, though.

"What are you doing talking to these people?" asked Blake in anger.

"This is Corsac and Fennec Albain. They represent the White Fang here in Menagerie now," explained Ghira as he introduced them. Corsac was the one with the tail while Fennec had the ears.

"So, the terrorist organization is here too?" growled Jaune.

"Young man," growled Fennec back, "You are clearly biased, just like so many of your kind. The White Fang are not ferocious wild animals that the media paint us to be. Then again, I can't really believe that you would-"

He didn't get a chance to say anything more as Jaune had suddenly drawn his _Crocea Mors,_ pointing it at Fennec's throat.

"I stand by my word. Terrorist group. Your 'innocent' White Fang members in Vale attacked and slaughtered people. They willing released Grimm into the city to cause chaos. One of my precious people lost her arm, another almost died in front of my eyes, and Blake was stabbed by the leader of your Vale group, Adam Taurus! The same man who cut Yang's arm off without even feeling guilty!"

Silence pervaded between them, and Ghira slowly looked at the Albain brothers, his face with fury.

"Is this true?" growled Ghira slowly, his hands slowly cracking, muscles tense.

Fennec's eyes were still focused on the sword, so Corsac decided to answer, "It... is sadly true. The Vale branch has spun out of control under the leadership of Adam Taurus. They decided to break off from the White Fang's orders of High Leader Khan and adopted the philosophies of Taurus, and I believe you are familiar with him and his... rather extreme philosophies."

"And how can we trust that Adam Taurus wasn't acting on the orders of the White Fang themselves?" growled Jaune.

"Your grace and friends," gulped Fennec, noticing Jaune's blade was getting awfully close to to his throat, "we can assure you that Brother Taurus and his followers **do not** represent the will of the whole White Fang organization."

"We know that it is hard to believe," continued Corsac quickly, "and understand if you bear skepticism towards these claims. It is true that ever since you stepped down as High Leader of the White Fang that our tactics are... more aggressive."

"If needed, we have ample documentation from the council meetings to show proof we, as the White Fang as a whole, were not part of Adam's attack, and we will show it to the various councils of the Kingdoms." finished Fennec. "Do you wish to see the proof?"

Jaune glared at them as did the whole Belladonna family before he slowly sheathed _Crocea Mors_.

"I will, but another day," said Ghira, "I'd like some time to reconnect with my daughter and _my family_ friend."

Fennec and Corsac glanced at each other nervously before bowing down in respect.

"It was a pleasure to see you again, young Blake," said Fennec.

"We were saddened when we heard of your departure from the White Fang, but understand if you can no longer support our cause," continued Corsac.

"It is a wearying fight," finished Fennec.

"I'm not done fighting," replied Blake coldly, "But not as part of your group. I can no longer condone what the White Fang has done. Not after what Adam tried to do after the train incident, and especially not after what happened in Beacon. And I'm pretty sure that Adam raided the train with the White Fang approving his actions. It was only thanks to Jaune that innocent civilians didn't die."

"Whom?" asked Fennec and Corsac in confusion. Kali and Ghira were looking at Jaune now in interest.

"Me," replied Jaune, "Your little buddies on the train hijacked a train and tried to kill two innocent children in front of their own mother. Even Faunus civilians were beaten up just for disagreeing with their views."

Kali gasped in horror while Ghira was exercising self-control, trying to prevent himself from throwing the Albain brothers into the streets.

"That... is unfortunate," replied Corsac glumly, "It's true there were orders to raid the train, but the orders strictly said to only take the Dust shipments. Nothing about killing civilians. Although we have heard about how an 'angel' saved the civilians. Of course, this would lead us to believe that it was another Faunus that stopped Adam's plot, but to say it was your friend..."

Jaune linked up with Aryz and spread his green feathery wings, surprising them all except Blake.

"You...Y-ouu.. You're the angel of the train?" flabbergasted Fennec.

"It's where I met Blake, and where she cut off her ties," replied Jaune.

"Were you the one who also caught Adam Taurus?" asked Corsac.

"No. Yang's mother had that pleasure," grunted Jaune, "I would've loved to deal with him, but I was busy dealing with Cinder and the stupid Grimm dragon."

"Dealing with..." paused Kali.

"A Grimm dragon?" finished Ghira.

"You're the one people are calling the 'Hero of Vale'?" they both asked.

Fennec and Corsac paled even more as they realized they had almost threatened the 'Hero of Vale'. The one who summoned the dragon and annihilated the Grimm.

"Well, it was good to see you," blabbed Corsac, "But we must be off. Much to do"

"Sister Ilia would be elated to see you," said Fennec just as fast, "Just find us, and you can find her."

"Goodbye, gentlemen," ended Ghira, closing the door. Fennec and Corsac walked away as fast as they could away from them.

* * *

"I can't believe that was him," gulped Corsac.

"And to think, I almost insulted him," shivered Fennec, "But I stand by my stance that the White Fang is not a terrorist organization, even if our methods are more radical than before. Brother Adam had the right idea, but the wrong approach."

"Shall we try to contact with Brother Adam somehow?" asked Fennec.

"We shall, and perhaps somehow contact with the alliance he was previously in," grinned Corsac, to which Fennec grinned back.

* * *

"I don't like or trust them," stated Jaune as the door close.

"You noticed, too?" Followed Ghira, glaring at the door.

"What do you mean?" asked Kali.

"I can't shake the feeling something's wrong, but what did you two notice?" Blake was the last one to ask her question.

"Notice how they always called Adam 'Brother'? If they truly believed he had gone rogue, then they wouldn't have called him brother, they'd refer to him as a traitor. I also noticed that they didn't call Blake a sister, even if she did leave the White Fang. Adam could be considered a traitor, but they still insist on calling him that title, while they don't show the same to you," explained Jaune.

"Which means, the splinter cell within the White Fang is still there," growled Ghira, "Or that my appointment with Sienna Khan, High Leader of the White Fang was a big mistake."

"Let's not talk about this anymore," pleaded Kali, "and I'm more interested about this 'Hero of Vale' that people are apparently calling you. I'm afraid we don't get the latest information over here. All we know is that there was a big battle at Beacon, and a hero came forth, which is apparently you."

"You might wanna sit down for this. And what we have to tell you after," sighed Jaune. Blake smiled, sitting next to Jaune while putting her hand on his back to comfort him before giving him a peck on the cheek.

Kali saw this and gasped, pointing at the two of them, switching off from Blake and Jaune before yelling out, "You two are dating!"

"Yes, mom," said Blake as she rolled her eyes, "We are dating. But we have more to say."

"Do I have grand babies on the way?" asked Kali in excitement, causing Ghira to cough and choke on his spit.

"NO!" shouted Blake and Jaune at once, both blushing madly.

"Kali," sighed Ghira while he facepalmed as soon as his airways cleared, "Please. Don't do that. She's too young to even be a mother right now. Let's just get through the beginning of how you two met and start from there."

About an hour later, Jaune and Blake told their story of how they met and how they got through Beacon, minus the fact that Jaune was dating several girls at once. Kali was horrified to hear Jaune had been blasted off the Amity Colosseum without Aura. Ghira broke the cup he had been holding when he heard Adam stab Blake. Both were amazed that Jaune had been the 'angel' at both incidents with the train and the breach of Vale.

"So that roar was your summon?" asked Kali, "We could feel it all the way down here. Why I think all of Remnant heard it."

"Anyone could feel its power," shivered Ghira, "It's not something I would even want pointing at me."

Blake and Jaune looked at each other before nodding. Now was the moment of truth.

"There's something more... I want everyone to put their hands in the middle now. I'll explain more."

Intrigued, Kali and Ghira obeyed while Blake merely hugged Jaune, knowing what was going to happen next. At one point, they were looking at each other in the room. In the next second, they found themselves in an empty void while standing on a grassy plain.

"What just happened?" asked Ghira in caution, slowly maneuvering himself in front of Kali and trying to get Blake next to him.

" _ **Us."**_

Othim materialized into view in front of them, shocking both parents.

" _ **Muhahaha! I am Othim, the Dragon of Shadow, King of that element! And I shall demand that your daughter be dressed in**_ _ **clothes that will barely cover her-.**_ _ **"**_

Othim didn't get to finish as Lung Wang and Ryo-Wo appeared behind Othim and smacked his head into the ground.

" _ **Our**_ _ **apologies**_ _ **,"**_ apologized Lung Wang, _**"Out of all of us, Othim has the tendency to be dramatic**_ _ **…**_ _ **and immature. It doesn't help that Othim has been excited to introduce himself to you all, as well as the one to keep on making rather lewd remarks."**_

"Great. I forgot I'm getting the perverted dragon," groaned Blake, "If it wasn't for Jaune, I would be debating on this."

" _ **I thought you'd like it,"**_ replied Othim, _**"Considering you have a tendency to read that artistic erotic fiction of yours quite often. I believe it was called Ninjas of Love?"**_

Blake blushed at that before stammering, trying to deny it. Ghira was eyeing at Blake while Kali was snickering before she had something to say.

"Now I know what happened to my old book when you left," giggled Kali.

"Honey," sighed Ghira, "I told you to hide that book well, and not to read it too often, especially in front of Blake. It's much too impressionable for children."

"Ah, but dear, I believe you also enjoyed the benefits of it," purred Kali, causing Ghira to blush

"I'm just going to go straight to the point before we get sidetracked too much or that Blake gets mentally scarred," began Jaune, "As you heard Blake earlier, Othim is to be our … 'patron' of our bond, for a lack of a better term." At this point, all seven dragons revealed themselves to Kali and Ghira.

"I am part of the Dragon Clan of long past. And for the first time in a rare event, I have been chosen to have seven contracts with 7 Dragon Kings. However, because of that, I have to take... more than one mate."

Ghira and Kali stared at Jaune as he dropped the bomb. Blake quickly took over, saying Jaune had already explained everything to her and added some more details, such as how his other mates already knew about this, and how most of the parents were ok with it.

"And so, this meeting was not only for me to come see you after so long, but to also introduce you to my boyfriend and future mate, as well as get used to the fact I will be having sister-wives," finished Blake.

Ghira and Kali remained silent for a bit, taking the time to process this information. Ghira then sat down on his bottom, looking sad.

"Do we even have a choice?" sighed Ghira, "You would do it even if we disagreed."

"Ghira, dear," comforted Kali.

"It's just... I missed out on so many years of your life. I only had you for your childhood, and most of it was filled with us all in those rallies for the White Fang. When I retired, I was hoping to spend time with all my family, only for you to continue the fight," lamented Ghira tears beginning to flow, "And now, you're telling me you're planning on marrying someone. Where did all those years go? My only daughter is already going off with a man, whom granted I actually know and slightly approve. Just a much higher than your ex, Adam Taurus."

Kali had a few tears in her eyes, "I have to agree. I may have approved of Jaune as a boyfriend, but we didn't get to spend any time with either one of you long enough."

Blake immediately hugged them both before sniffing, her eyes also with tears, "I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you both. To not go with the White Fang. But I wanted to believe that we were fighting for a better future, to not be treated as second class citizens."

As the three family members were crying together, Jaune slowly took them out of his mindscape.

They all found themselves back on back to reality, but the Belladonna family all had tears in their eyes. They quickly closed in together for a hug while Jaune slowly stood up. This was a precious family time he didn't want to disturb, so with a quick wave and word, he went back outside.

"Well, that was intense," sighed Jaune, "I half expected Ghira to strangle me."

" _ **Well, he seemed relatively in control,"**_ soothed Aryz, _**"Give it some time. They haven't been in contact for six years and out of nowhere their daughter is dating someone with**_ _ **five**_ _ **other girls."**_

" _ **In the meantime, go walk around and explore a little. See what you can do to help out,"**_ instructed Lung Wang.

Jaune nodded and walked around the market area, a bit interested to see what they had. As he walked around, a shadowy figure wearing a horned Grimm mask followed him.

* * *

Blake and her family took this time to reconnect, to laugh, and to have small disputes with each other as if making for lost time. Kali was the first one to notice that time had flown by and that it was nearly 7 pm.

"Goodness, I haven't prepared dinner! I'll go whip up something for us all to eat, why don't you go find your boyfriend. Honey, you go and try to do some of your paperwork."

Ghira groaned about the paperwork while Blake nodded, leaving the house to find Jaune. It shouldn't be hard to find basically the only human on Menagerie.

"Well, this is new."

Jaune had been looking around, shopping for some items that he could store in his bag for future use. A few of the Faunus shop owners refused to sell anything to him or tried to overcharge it. Those he avoided like the plague. A few other owners grudgingly sold him items at a fair price, while it was rare for one of them to treat him like a person. Most others were just neutral, not acknowledging Jaune too much.

"Wonder if I had wings on my back, they would treat me better," muttered Jaune.

Luckily he managed to find one that was treating him fairly. The reason for that was the owner's son was on the boat earlier and thanked him for driving the Grimm away. After shopping, he took the time to wander around, occasionally helping others on any minor tasks. Jaune looked at the time to discover it was nearly seven, and decided to head back to the manor in case the Belladonna went looking for him. Oh, and not to mention he could feel the stalker looking at him for the whole day. Jaune just decided to ignore the person until they chose to reveal themselves on purpose. Jaune had been walking towards the manor when he saw Blake running up to him. He smiled as he opened his arms for Blake to jump to him, hugging him before giving him a passionate kiss.

"My family is making dinner. And they approve of our relationship," whispered Blake as she finished her kiss.

"Good to hear," replied Jaune warmly, "Now let's get going. Although I'm hoping the person who has been stalking me for about the entire day would stop it!"

At that, the figure meeped before jumping away, revealing to them the person was female and was wearing a Grimm mask, signifying her possible alliance to Adam's group. They looked at each other before nodding, and jumped to give chase. They ran through several rooftops before finally trapping her when Jaune flew up into the air and cut her off. When he did so, he linked up with Othim to fade into the night before reappearing right in front her with her wings spread out, scaring her. She grabbed her weapon, pointing it at Jaune. From a close look, it looked like some sort of drill rapier with an handle shaped like a gun.

"Explain why you were following me all day," asked Jaune slowly. Blake appeared behind the stalker, surrounding her. Seeing that she had no choice, she slowly took off her mask to reveal a freckled face that seemed to have absolutely no Faunus characteristics.

"Ilia," gasped Blake.

"You shouldn't have come, and you definitely shouldn't have brought him here," growled Ilia before swinging her weapon at Jaune, making it extend at a surprising rate. She had expected to catch Jaune off guard when Jaune blocked it with his forearm guard before charging in towards her. Her skin color and hair changed colors, causing Jaune to raise his eyebrow mentally. So she was a chameleon Faunus. Ilia growled and swung her weapon down, but Jaune dodged it once more before tackling her into the ground.

"Let go of me," grunted Ilia, but Blake kicked her weapon out of her hand. Ilia tried to grab her Scroll, but Jaune noticed and took it off her hand.

"Give that back!" shouted Ilia with no luck.

Jaune looked at it for a second before jumping off Ilia. A second later, two figures had jumped right through where Jaune had been, wearing Grimm masks.

"So, there were more who followed that bastard," scoffed Jaune, causing all three Adam loyalists to twitch in anger.

"Ilia, why are you following them?" shouted Blake, "Don't you see Adam's way would only lead to destruction!"

Ilia looked sad for a second, her skin turning green while her hair turned blue, before looking back up, "His way was the only way we can ever achieve our goals. The humans are lower than us. They are beneath us! We have the superior skills, and yet they think they can walk all over us! No more. I will take his mantle, and when the time comes, free Adam from his unjust imprisonment! Now, give me back my Scroll."

"Not happening," replied Jaune, causing Ilia to turn red and yellow in anger. She tried to attack when one of her agents caught her arm, whispering into her ears. Her eyes widened at the news she received, looking at Jaune with interest before stepping back. The two agents threw smoke bombs down, hoping to mask their escape.

"Should we chase?" asked Jaune. Blake shook her head.

"We could catch up to them, but we might be lured into a trap. Best let them go for today. I doubt they'll stay here after tonight. We should get home. My mom should have food ready for us and might get worried if we don't get back home soon."

Jaune nodded, scooping Blake up bridal style and flew towards her manor. While flying, Blake sighed, thinking about Ilia. She was her friend back in the White Fang, and now they stood at separate ends.

* * *

Dinner was a rather pleasant affair. Ghira and Kali got to know Jaune more while talking over Blake's favorite fish dish. It was also her favorite dish, too. Kali had made it in celebration of her return and getting a boyfriend. Soon, it was time to head to sleep. Jaune took the couch as Ghira didn't want Jaune near her daughter's bed, even if they were dating.

As Blake was getting ready for sleep in her old room that hadn't changed at all, she heard a knock, and Kali came walking in with a book in her hand.

"You truly are my daughter," smiled Kali, "I know you must've finished the book Ninja's of Love Volume 1-5 by now."

Blake blushed at this but nodded in reply.

"I just recently got this today. I got two copies, and I figured I might as well give it to you instead of selling it to someone."

Blake looked down and gasped. It was Ninja's of Love: Kisuke and dual wielding Narukami Sisters.

It was the 6th volume of the story, and it shouldn't have been released yet at all. She opened it slowly, gasping as she found out she also had a collector's edition with the author's signature and 7 bonus... erotic scenes.

"I became friends with the author a few years ago," smiled Kali, "Sometimes, she comes to me for advice on the story, and in return, she sends me two copies. If you want, I still have my extra copy of vol 1-5 with me. I never ended up selling it, and knowing you're a fan, too, I am willing to give you your own set. All with those special bonus scenes you'd never see in the regular copy. I'm just glad you took my regular copy of Vol 1 when I was looking through it to compare something."

Blake numbly nodded, causing Kali to laugh as she walked out the door before pointing to the right. Blake looked to see on the bookshelf in her room was her own personal collection. She almost squealed in delight. Not only was it a collector's edition, it was the ultimate platinum deluxe version.

"One last advice," grinned Kali, "You might want to stretch a bit before you think about doing it."

Blake blushed at this, knowing what Kali meant before she closed the door.

* * *

The next day went by, and Jaune was helping Ghira out with some heavy lifting around town. Kali and Blake spent time together, enjoying the mother daughter bonding experience.

"So, are you planning to.." asked Kali curiously.

"Yes," replied Blake, "I want to bring him to a special place, though. It's where I always imagined I'd have my true first time."

"Oooh how daring," teased Kali, "Outdoors, under the stars. I remember when I did it to Ghira that day like that. Poor dear was red as a tomato the rest of the day. In fact, we haven't done it for a bit."

Outside, Ghira felt a familiar shiver crawling through his spine.

"You okay?" asked Jaune.

"Just... fine," replied Ghira, "It's nothing. Come, old man Roric needs some help with community center. Some of the wood is starting to fall off."

As Jaune helped Ghira with some tasks, the people of Menagerie were starting to warm up to Jaune. He was here helping them out, with their beloved Mayor. That was enough to give him a second chance.

"So, did the Lien help out?" asked Jaune curiously.

"Yea. Managed to expand a little more into the desert thanks to your donation," grunted Ghira as he lifted some timber. "Still, it would be better if we could somehow get a CCT built here. We wouldn't be so out of it from the other Kingdoms. Menagerie doesn't get up to date news that easily. We have to hear it from others, word of mouth. And information can be skewed because of that. The only thing we got is a wireless tower for our Scrolls, and all it does is allow us to download some basic books or call someone. Even then, both are slow."

Jaune nodded at that. He had noticed that there was low reception here with his Scroll now and when he had been here 5 years ago. Downloading some books for his education had been a hassle.

"Is there nothing you can do?" asked Jaune.

"With the White Fang hanging around like it is now, not many kingdoms are willing to help us, especially after what happened in Vale." sighed Ghira, "Sometimes, I wonder if me stepping down was the right decision. But I couldn't abandon my hometown without anyone guiding them."

Jaune adopted a thinking pose for a bit before having an idea, "What if I used my new-found reputation to help out? I'm sure Vale would pitch in, along with the other kingdoms if I asked. I can say I'm doing you a favor for taking care of me at an early age."

"It could work," mused Ghira, "But I wouldn't want you to use your fame like that. Not to mention Vale is most likely trying to recover from its invasion."

"I'm friends with the Schnee family," continued Jaune, "I'm sure that Jacques would help pitch in. Weiss could even participate in a fund-raiser to help raise Lien. Not to mention I have a few friends that are doing splendid in their business and could send some Lien, materials, and men to help construct one."

"That would benefit us immensely," smiled Ghira before frowning, "But I don't think Jacques Schnee would be so willing to help us out. His company doesn't exactly have a friendly relation with the Faunus and a lot of folks around here would never accept help from a Schnee, considering their history with us."

"He's planning to change that," answered Jaune, "Apparently the White Fang trying to kill his daughters made him change his mind about the things, made him look at it from a different perspective. Not to mention I'm also dating his daughter Weiss, who is in line to be the future heiress, and he knows after the battle that anything with horrible Faunus relations wouldn't be good."

"So he's more of doing it to keep his company going than growing conscious," growled Ghira, "I suppose it's better than nothing. And Blake is ok with you dating a Schnee?"

"Weiss and Blake are on the same team, and they trust each other," replied Jaune.

Ghira thought about Jaune's plan and swore he could see the light coming closer and closer. It was possible for it to happen! Of course, it was unlikely for it to happen within the year, but maybe down the road in 3-4 years, Menagerie could get its own CCT, allowing them to remain in close contact with all other Faunus around Remnant.

"It's a good start," smiled Ghira, "I could see it happening. And it would all be thanks to you."

At this, he got Jaune into a headlock, to which Jaune fruitlessly tried to get out of it.

"I guess I better get used to calling you son," smirked Ghira as he gave Jaune a noogie, to which Jaune winced in pain before smiling.

Then Jaune frowned before remembering the Scroll he had taken from Ilia. He gave it to Ghira and explained how he got it, who frowned but nodded. He would take a look at it, as there were White Fang encryption codes on it. Jaune and Blake didn't know how to get through it without risking deleting everything.

Jaune was laying on the couch reading a book when Blake called out for him.

"Jaune? Can we go outside? I want to take a night time stroll with you."

Jaune nodded before grabbing his bag and walking out with Blake, who seemed to be wearing a long coat with her buttons up. They walked out into the streets, with Blake guiding them to where she wanted them to go. They were soon out of the village and walking along a river. They arrived at their destination when Blake frowned and made a tsk sound. It was a small waterfall going into a pond, where the land around it was grassy. However, several Faunus couples were already there, just sitting and relaxing while cuddling.

Jaune admired the scene before he noticed the troubled look on her face. "Something wrong?"

Blake turned to Jaune before smiling sadly, "Yes, I was hoping for this place to be empty for my plan, but there are too many people here. Should've known that this place would be a popular romantic spot after all these years."

Jaune eyed the place before thinking about it. It reminded him of the waterfall at the nesting grounds in right here in Menagerie, except his was on a grander scale.

"I have a place in mind if you wanted to cuddle near a waterfall under the night sky. Just give me a few minutes to fully link up with Alaerth and Othim."

Blake nodded and leaned on some trees while Jaune closed his eyes. Afterward, he picked up Blake bridal style and shot towards the nesting grounds, flying in the night sky. It was about an hour and a half later that they arrived. Blake watched in amazement when the seemingly empty desert turned into an oasis when they went through. She turned her head everywhere, trying to see if it was just an illusion. Her senses told her it wasn't. When Jaune stopped, her eyes grew as she saw a waterfall much bigger than the one back in the village, with a clear blue lake underneath it. The grass around it was green with life, unlike the one back at home. This place was perfect.

"Welcome to the nesting ground of the dragons in Menagerie," grinned Jaune, "This is where I lived and trained when I was 10 for three years before I set out. Oobleck's going to be so jealous of you. Luckily, this nesting ground doesn't really have any artifacts or drawings that would interest him. Do you like the view?"

"I love it," gazed Blake breathlessly as she got off Jaune. She leaned down to touch the water, enjoying the cold feeling before cupping her hands together to take a sip of the cool crystal clear water. She turned around to see Jaune laying a blanket down for them to lie on to watch the stars. She smiled as she slowly unbuttoned her coat.

Jaune was busy just laying a blanket for them to lie on and grabbing another one to use if they got cold when he heard clothes drop onto the floor. He turned around in time to see Blake clad in just her lingerie. She was wearing a black lace bra that just barely covered her nipples while her panties were black and of a G-String variety.

"Do you like what you … see?" said Blake seductively. Jaune nodded his head quickly, admiring the alabaster skin that she was revealing.

Blake smiled flirtatiously as she walked towards Jaune slowly, emphasizing her every move as she drew nearer. She sat on Jaune's lap before giving him a passionate kiss, to which Jaune eagerly replied.

"Make me yours. Mark me from the inside," whispered Blake. With that, she reached back behind her and unclipped her bra, letting it fall to the ground.

Jaune was unable to resist any longer and took action. He grabbed her and gave her a passionate kiss while his hands wandered around. Together, they slowly fell onto the blanket.

* * *

"Honey, where's Blake and Jaune?"

Ghira looked around the manor in the dining room, unable to find them. He wanted to talk to them about the Scroll Jaune had given him earlier.

"They went out, dear, about 30 minutes ago." replied Kali from their bedroom, "And I don't think they'll be back tonight."

"What!? They can't do that yet! She's too young! I'm too young to be a grandfather!" wailed Ghira.

"You're over reacting. Blake is old enough to make her decision, and I know they'll both be responsible people and take the necessary precautions. Meanwhile, I need your help here," scolded Kali.

"But! But..." trailed off Ghira as he stepped into the bedroom just to see Kali wearing his favorite costume, a revealing Feli_ia costume, customized in black instead of the usual white, with a black tail waving about. Usually, most Faunus would be aghast at any Faunus wearing such demeaning clothes. But it had a rather compelling effect on Ghira, as he loved it. Kali didn't mind the costume either, as it made her feel sexy, and of course, it was for her husband's eyes only.

"There's my big boy," cooed Kali as she slowly walked towards Ghira, "Does my big panther want to tame this naughty cat tonight? I'm feeling like I'm in heat, and need someone to help me."

Without saying anything, Ghira lifted Kali up in his arms, causing her to squeal in delight. He shut the door before tossing Kali into their bed, making sure all their windows were shut tight before diving for his wife. His last thought was just how lucky he was with Kali, and that Jaune would probably just be as lucky as he was, since Blake was Kali's daughter.

* * *

 **Ta daa! And now, for an Omake!**

 **Omake:**

Ilia didn't leave Menagerie yet. There was still her Scroll she needed to retrieve. She snuck into the Belladonna manor just to see Blake and Jaune leaving. She kneeled at the bottom of the stairs, letting them pass her. She grinned at her luck while watching them go up the stairs again from the other side when the wind blew at them, lifting up Blake's coat from behind. There, Ilia saw that Blake wasn't wearing anything but her underwear underneath that coat. Her face turned literally red with her hair in embarrassment before quickly turning back to black to hide.

"Guess she's going to have a busy night," murmured Ilia before jumping up to the roof of the manor. It took her 30 minutes to finally get in the house without being noticed. She had looked through Blake's room to find nothing and was sneaking into the dining room when she heard Ghira calling for his wife. She snickered at seeing the big tough man wailing at the fact her little daughter was growing up. She decided to follow Ghira in hopes of finding the Scroll when they arrived at the bedroom. She saw Ghira standing at the doorway, frozen, and wondered what was happening when she heard Kali's voice in a seductive tone. Curious, she took a peek and almost lost her composure at the sight. She was lucky Ghira slammed the door in front of her just as she lost her colors of disguise. A few seconds later, she could hear moans and grunts, followed by a slapping noise. Ilia quickly decided it wasn't worth her sanity and left.

A few minutes later, Ilia landed on a roof, where Fennec and Corsac were waiting.

"Did you get your Scroll back?" asked Fennec.

Ilia didn't seem to respond at all, causing Corsac to snap his fingers in front of her to grab her attention.

"Sister Ilia, are you alright? Did you get caught?"

Ilia shook her head.

The Albion brothers looked confused and were about to ask when Ilia held up her hand, "Please. Just... not tonight. I didn't get to find my Scroll, but rather saw something I wish I didn't have to see. I'm just going to go to sleep right now. Set sail for tonight. I better wake up to see us at somewhere far from here."

* * *

 **And done! Next chapter will be up Saturday! Review if you can! They help inspire me to continue writing. As the special lemon scenes, they will be uploaded into my alternate chapter. I have to think of two, as I'm doing both Blake and Kali. Probably upload them on Saturday, too. Hope you've enjoyed the Omake.**

 **Come vote on my poll! See what story you want me to write up next!**

 **Special thanks once again to my beta readers, UGX7, TheMischievousPuppy, and Jauneforever.**


	40. Chapter 40 Heading over to Vacuo

**As promised, here's the new chapter! Hope you enjoy it! Blake's lemon part will also be uploaded shortly. Enjoy, and leave a review!**

* * *

Jaune woke up in the morning to hear the birds chirping. He slowly got up before remembering he was at the nesting grounds with a naked Blake lying on his chest in content, cuddling into him.

 _ **"Haha. Finally pounded the tuna in her, eh?"** _ laughed Othim.

'Fine, you win. Yes, I did,' Jaune retorted as he rolled his eyes.

Jaune didn't go as crazy as he did with Pyrrha, but that was because he had been influenced under the Dragon seed. Rather, he was in total control this time when he made love to Blake. Not to say that the night with Pyrrha was any less amazing. Both had their fine points for sure. Jaune slowly detached from an unwilling Blake and went to the lake to wash up. He blushed as he remembered at one point Blake wanted to try doing it in the water. He suddenly felt something soft push up into his back.

"You're awake,"

"Mmm, come back to bed with me. You were so cozy," purred Blake.

"As much as I want to, we should head back to your house. Your parents might be worried," pointed out Jaune.

"Fine," sulked Blake, slowly detaching herself from Jaune before diving into the water to clean herself.

She smirked as Jaune watched her and made a slight show of washing herself. A second later, she found herself being lifted up by Jaune in the water, his strong arms gripping her gently.

"I said we should head back, I didn't say what time," growled Jaune. Blake merely grinned before she started to pant as she felt him thrust into her, his face buried in her breasts. A few minutes later, Jaune finally marked Blake after she heavily convinced him to do so while he was still thrusting.

* * *

"You're back!"

Ghira greeted them as they came back through the front door. Blake was wearing her long coat again before giving her dad a brief hug before heading back into her room to grab some more appropriate clothes.

"I'm going to need you and Blake to meet up with me at my office," spoke Ghira his tone was quite serious, "It's about the Scroll you got. But first, come with me. We'll grab something to eat in the marketplace."

Jaune nodded and left with him. A few minutes later, Kali stumbled out of the doorway, dressed back in her usual clothes, although slightly sore at her waist. Her husband hadn't let loose like that for a while, but she loved it when he did.

"If I'm sore, I can only wonder how Blake is," chuckled Kali as she went to her daughter's room, knocking on the door. A few seconds later, Blake opened the door, wearing her clothes she had been wearing when she came back home after all those years.

"Care to have tea and some food with me? Your father took Jaune out to grab breakfast. I think he wants to show him around while bragging about his new son-in-law."

Blake blushed at how seemingly accepting his father was all of a sudden when she noticed her mother have a slight limp, quite similar to her own. Linking that up, she blushed at the conclusion. Apparently, the whole Belladonna family decided to make yesterday night a special night.

They sat at a table, slowly sipping tea. Kali had already put two sugar cubes into Blake's tea before serving it to her. Once they were relaxed, Kali decided to ask.

"So, did you two end up finding somewhere to do the deed, or was your special place alone enough. Don't tell me that you did it with people watching?"

"Mom!" Blake stood up in embarrassment before sitting back down, taking a quick sip of her tea, "We did it in private, thank you. And yes, the spot I originally thought of was occupied by others, but Jaune solved that problem."

"Oh? Do tell," grinned Kali.

"Only if you tell me that I'm getting a sibling," smirked Blake.

"Maybe," teased Kali, "We did do it without any protection, and yesterday was actually one of my fertile time."

Blake looked at her mother in shock and awe while Kali took a sip of her tea this time.

"Your father really enjoys some of my cosplays. We even recreate a few of the scenes from the book." Blake gazed at her mother, listening to her wise wisdom. In return, she spilled where they had done it.

* * *

Jaune and Ghira had to shiver they both felt something crawl up their spines. Their respective lovers had to be talking about them.

"Forget that we had that shiver?" suggested Jaune.

"Agreed."

The two of them went into a local pub, where Ghira ordered the breakfast special for them. The two of them sat down to eat, discussing about the town and where the CCT could possibly be built when they were interrupted by a muscular looking man with cat whiskers and eyes, looking a few years older than Jaune.

"Hello Mayor Belladonna," said the man, "I heard your daughter came back. I'd love to meet young Blake again."

"Hello Fulvio," greeted Ghira with a fake smile, "It's nice to see you this morning. And yes, my daughter has come back from attending Beacon to visit. From what she tells me, she plans to go back to becoming a Huntress with her team, and will be attending Atlas after what happened to Beacon."

"Ah yes, such a shame what happened at Beacon," said Fulvio sadly, though neither Jaune nor Ghira believed he was being sincere.

"But you really should tell your daughter to stay. The world is so dangerous now. It would be better for her to stay here and settle down. I take it she broke up with Adam?"

"I think she can make her decisions herself," scoffed Jaune, causing Fulvio to look at him, his eyes twitching slightly.

"Ah, my apologies, allow me to introduce each other," said Ghira with a smirk, "This young man sitting with me eating breakfast is Jaune Ryu-Long, recently titled 'Hero of Vale'. He came over to visit along with Blake. Jaune, this is Fulvio Pallidflora, a citizen here at Kuo Kuana. Jaune here is a family friend who might as well be becoming my new son-in-law."

Jaune offered his hand as a greeting while smiling. Fulvio's eyes twitched in anger before shaking Jaune's hand. His nail slowly scratched Jaune, to which he replied by tightening his grip on his hand. Jaune let go while Fulvio had to resist shaking his hand in pain.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Fulvio, "Are you planning to adopt him? Always looking for ways to break down those barriers, aren't you?"

Ghira laughed, "Maybe those barriers will be broken down by him, but no. My daughter Blake is dating him, and apparently, they are quite serious."

"Ah, I see. Well look at the time, I must be going now. My father will need help with his shop," flustered Fulvio before running out of the pub. Ghira laughed as soon as he was out of sight before turning back to Jaune.

"Fulvio is a rather ambitious man who wants to become the next mayor," explained Ghira, "For years, he's been hinting that he should get together with my daughter. He keeps telling me that I should just order Blake home so she be safe, when in reality, he justs wants to be able to seduce her. His father owns a few shops here and at some other places in Remnant, making him one of the richer ones. He thinks with Blake wrapped around his finger, he'd be slotted for the next mayor." He snorted before adding "It was good to see him be knocked down like that."

"Um... Do you really see me as a potential in-law?" stammered Jaune.

Ghira took a swig of his drink before putting it down to reply, "Potentially? Yes. I'm not exactly happy you have to have your little harem, but I know you're a good man. Blake made her choice, and I'll respect it. I do expect a wedding, however."

"Of course. I would never deny them that."

"Well, then, I drink to that. To my future son-in-law," smiled Ghira as he lifted his cup to Jaune, who mimicked his motion. Their cups clinked and they drank their juice.

A few hours later they all gathered at Ghira's office, with the door closed. Ghira tossed the Scroll they had stolen from Ilia on the table.

"I'm afraid you were right about Adam. He had planned to take over the White Fang with the help of his new alliance. Once he took over, he planned to launch a full stage attack at Atlas after Beacon. However, since he was captured, his plans have been derailed. Unfortunately, it looks like Ilia and a few cohorts are planning to break him out somehow. Her Scroll didn't specify when or how, but from the messages it seems like they know where he is being held."

"Why would they do this? And why does Ilia follow him? Wasn't she your friend back in your White Fang days? I thought she was like you, disliking violence," asked Kali.

Blake took a thinking pose for a bit, trying to figure out her old friend's motive. Meanwhile, Jaune was thinking about her mask. How it seemed different from the typical Grimm mask the White Fang of Vale used.

"Why did Ilia have fake horns on her mask?" pondered Jaune out loud, "It wasn't like the usual mask." Blake's eyes snapped open at that remark. She remembered when Ilia had told her once she adored Adam.

"She's jealous," began Blake grabbing everyone's attention, "She wants Adam for herself."

"What do you mean?" asked Kali.

"I remember Ilia telling me once how she adored Adam and his strength. I recall she was always watching Adam when he practiced his sword. She always tried to sit next to him even when we were 'dating'. Now with me officially out of the way, she thinks if she saves Adam, he'll fall for him."

"So we're dealing with a girl who is in love with your crazy ex-boyfriend," groaned Ghira, "I'll send a message to Khan about this potential coup. Hopefully, this will make him curb his recent raids. I told him not to go with those plans of his when I left."

Blake looked worried, but Kali reassured her that they knew what they were doing. She didn't want Blake to worry too much about the White Fang, as she still had three more years at the Academies to go through, and a future husband.

Jaune stayed with them for a few more days before it was time to leave. Blake would be staying to spend some family time with them until the new year before heading towards Atlas to meet up with her team. It was just the beginning of December.

"Jaune? Why are you going? Why don't you stay, at least until Yule Time? It is a time for family, and we would welcome you," asked Kali.

"Appreciate it, but I need to head to Vale and get Oobleck. He told me he had no excavation plans for this month. I plan to drop him off at the nesting grounds on Sanus. Then I head to Vacuo to get some of my armor looked at, maybe improve my shield, and visit Dew. As for Yule time, I was planning on actually seeing my family. My mother's side. She divorced and retook her maiden name Romee, and my seven sisters apparently all live nearby her. They gave me their address, and it's near Vacuo," explained Jaune.

"I see," pondered Kali, "Well, then. Hopefully, next time we see you, it will be when Blake has a nice ring on her left ring finger."

Blake and Jaune blushed at that comment while Ghira grumbled, saying it was still too early for Blake.

After saying their goodbyes, Jaune boarded a ship heading towards the nearest port in the continent of Sanus.

* * *

Jaune traveled back up towards Vale, using his wings to get there faster. He would switch off to random dragons, getting a good feel for all the different wings. He managed to make it to Vale within 5 days of flying and greeted Ren, Nora, Junior and his clan. Ren and Nora had been living with Junior for the while, setting up base. Ren had sent his designs for his new weapon over to Hephaestus, who was busy crafting it. Jaune was going to send him materials, but Hephaestus refused, saying he had found something interesting to use and experiment on. Instead, Ren was wearing two bracelets on his wrist that they had taken from Cinder. It helped increase the blast of Aura Ren would use when fighting with his hands, and was working on a range version of it. Both he and Nora had changed their clothes and style a bit. Ren let his hair grow longer, much to Nora, Melanie, and Miltia's joy. In their opinion, he looked much hotter now. Jaune greeted them and spent a bit of time with them until Oobleck came running out, screaming at Jaune that they should leave now as they were wasting valuable time.

Saying his goodbyes, he and Oobleck took a private plane that Oobleck 'borrowed' from the school and drove as close as they could to the grounds. Once they found a spot to land and hide the ship, Jaune took Oobleck into the nesting grounds, warning him he wouldn't be able to leave without him. Oobleck waived it off, saying that it was fine as it was all for the pursuit of history. After making plans to pick him up two days after Yule time, Jaune took him into the nesting grounds. Oobleck stood there, trying to drink in all the view and glory.

"Jaune? Why didn't you take me to your village? The village where the Dragon Clan lived? Not that I don't mind coming here. I just thought it would make sense."

Jaune sighed, "That's actually one thing. I don't know where that's located. My dragons don't know what happened to it either. All they can sense is the nesting grounds, but that's it. Luckily, there are some texts here that should catch your interest. I didn't take them with them since we figured we'd just come back for them after I established a place."

"Care to elaborate more on that?" asked Oobleck, "I thought you were from the clan directly."

Jaune shook his head, "Somewhere in my mother's line, I am. My birth father was Vlad Arc. A series of events happened, and I ended up at Menagerie in the nesting grounds over there."

"Start from the beginning," said Oobleck, "I want to know everything."

Deciding it would be easier, Jaune took Oobleck's hand and dragged him into his mindscape, where he met the dragons. As soon as he saw the dragons, he started gibbering and trying to find his Scroll, a paper, anything to capture the image of the dragons. When he found out he had nothing, he pouted, but proceeded to asks questions, saying he would just memorize this conversation and write it down later.

Aryz, Alaerth, Ryo-Wo, and Lung Wang were the ones who answered his questions while Andusk, Othim, and Fafnir decided to go train Jaune a bit more while this questionnaire was going on. It took a good six hours before Oobleck was satisfied with his questions. As soon as they got out of the mindscape, he took a pen and paper and started to jot down everything he remembered in the past 6 hours. After pointing out where some of the ancient texts were, Jaune left him there and headed towards Vacuo.

* * *

It was about ten days till Yule Tide, and Jaune had managed to reach Vacuo. He encountered a few Grimm, but they were wary to attack him. Thankfully, no mutant Grimm was in sight. It seemed like Salem and her faction were laying low for a bit. He quickly went to grab something to eat just to find the shopkeeper who was one of four quadruplets. He ordered some noodles with chicken broth and was starting to eat when he heard someone call his name. He looked up to see Sun, coming over to sit next to him.

"What's up, bro?" smiled Sun, raising his fist. Jaune replied it with his own fist bump before concentrating back on his food. Sun quickly also ordered one and a banana shake on the side. After the two finished eating Jaune turned towards him.

"You visiting family?"

"Yep," replied Sun, "Although I'm a Haven student, and most of my immediate family is at Mistral after moving, I got an uncle here. I need to ask him about some of my powers. Apparently, when I told my family about my new form change, they were bowing down to me like I was the next head of the whole family. It's really weird."

"Must be something about the stone monkey legend," pondered Jaune, "Fafnir did mention about it, but he wouldn't go much into it."

"Yea, I've heard about that legend," admitted Sun, "A lotta people don't know about it, but it talks about how some monkey Faunus gained great power and challenged the heavens. It's probably not popular because it's about a Faunus. I didn't think much about it until my parents told me I'm apparently the next coming of it. So I'm here to find my uncle who knows more about the legend."

"Did you tell them about your new tattoo?" asked Jaune.

"Nope. Kept that hidden. I prefer to show my abs, not my chest. Though I will have to say it to my uncle and tell him how it acted as the catalyst. Hopefully he won't bug me about it too much."

"Is there any other reason why you're here?" grinned Jaune.

"Ummm... Well..."

"Sun! There you are." They turned around to see Gwen walking towards them. "We need to meet my parents. They have time today, and I really want to introduce you to them." She said before she stopped and saw Jaune, smiling before giving him a friendly hug. "Jaune! It's been awhile. Dew was sad when we had to go back home. She really missed you. And she's a bit annoyed that her aunt Dory Gale keeps pestering her to sink her claws into you. Not that she hasn't done that yet, but it's getting annoying. Her mom and dad are suspicious of Dew now whether she has a boyfriend or not."

Jaune could only groan as he remembered Dory. She kept pestering him, asking if he was sure he wouldn't change his mind. He was tempted to just smash her face with his shield, but had to keep a polite face as she was the headmistress of Shade Academy. And with Vacuo's form of government, Shade was technically the highest form of order, so it would not bode well for Jaune to insult her. Jaune had no problems explaining his contracts to Ozpin, and maybe Ironwood, but didn't trust Dory at all, and while he didn't think Lionheart was bad, he didn't trust him much either.

"Want to join us, Jaune?" asked Gwen, breaking Jaune out of his thoughts, "You can help Sun relax when we meet my parents, and we'll be happy to have you for dinner. I'll text Dew to come over for dinner too."

Without even waiting for an answer, Gwen immediately sent a text to Dew before dragging Jaune and Sun over to her house.

Dinner at Gwen's house was a nice affair, as Dew was excited to see Jaune again. Poor Sun was stuttering and trying to make himself seem presentable to Gwen's parents and Gwen's younger brother. Luckily, they seemed to be accepting of Sun, and did not judge him based on his race. Afterwards, Dew dragged Jaune to her house to see her parents this time, as well as let him sleep at her house for the night.

* * *

The next day, Jaune woke up and entered the dining room to see Dory Gale sitting there once again with the rest of the Gayl family.

"Jaune. So nice to see you again," smiled Dory. Jaune could only respectfully reply back before quickly sitting next to Dew. Her parents, Irving and Llinos Gayl, were setting up breakfast.

It was an uncomfortable half hour of Jaune dealing with Dory, who was still trying to convince him to come to Shade. Dew was groaning in embarrassment at her aunt. When Irving and Llinos took pity on the boy and distracted Dory, Dew and Jaune ran for it.

"Your aunt is really starting to grate on my nerves," gasped Jaune as they had escaped.

"Sorry. Auntie is really stubborn on some things she wants," apologized Dew, "She keeps telling me to steal you from Pyrrha or convince her to let me have your child. Least she doesn't know we're actually dating, otherwise, she would be demanding that I keep you here in exchange for my body."

At that point, she blushed before mentally adding, 'Not that I mind.'

"It's family. Can't choose them," shrugged Jaune before suggesting to explore Vacuo for a bit.

They met up with Sun and the rest of team NDGO before all heading to Sun's uncle. They stopped in front of a rather dusty house before entering. Sun warned them all that his uncle was a bit... eccentric. They opened it to see a rather rotund man with a pigtail falling face flat in front of them with pie on his face.

"What? Who's there?"

"Meet my uncle, Zhu Bajie," said Sun as he rolled his eyes at his uncle's position. "Uncle Zhu, I told you I was coming today with my friends about something important."

"Ah yes, but is it more important than my food?" snorted Zhu as he started to lick the pie, scrapping the pieces on his face into his mouth. This caused them all to cringe and groan at this disgusting act.

"All you young people think you have something important, but it really comes out to nothing. Either some help getting a girl or some finance problem or..."

"It's about my family history," cut in Sun, "More importantly, the legend of the original Sun Wukong."

Zhu stopped eating, staring at Sun with shocked and opened eyes, "Why do you want to know that old legend? It's just-"

He didn't get to finish as Sun closed his eyes to concentrate. A second later, Sun was now wearing his armor and head piece once again.

Zhu gasped, "The legend is true! The Great Sage returns!"

"Great Sage?" asked Octavia.

"Ho-hol-hold on. I'll be right back," said Zhu excitedly, motioning with his hands for them to stay before running into another room. A few crashes, grunts, squeals, and books falling to the ground, Zhu came back out carrying a dusty tome. He blew the dust off the top, revealing them a picture of a monkey Faunus traveling with three other companions. A human riding a white horse, a pig faunus, and another human wearing robes with a necklace of skulls. However, the monkey Faunus did not look like the usual Faunus that had just a tail or ears or anything. Instead, he had a tail and his body was covered in fur at random, like his forearms, sideburns, and chest.

"This... is the story of Sun Wukong," said Zhu reverently, "The one who had been said to be able to fight gods, even the two brothers of light and darkness. Within this tome, there has been said to be hints of some of his most valuable items, such as his flying cloud that he used as transportation, or even his staff. Your weapon was based off of his you know?"

"Cool," shrugged Sun. He had always wondered why his unique weapon felt natural to him. Most people didn't go for shotgun nunchucks as there was always a chance for the shot to slap him in the face. He hadn't known his naming sense for his weapon was identical to the legends. "But I don't think I'll need that weapon. I'm already happy with mine."

Zhu slapped Sun on the head, causing him to kneel down in pain while Gwen soothed it.

"You fool!" scolded Zhu, "The Great Sage's weapon is forged from one of the greatest blacksmiths in history, under the careful eye and the strongest heat. The materials that went into it makes it almost priceless, not to mention it works perfectly with your powers."

"There was no need to slap his head like that," scolded Gwen, "You could've just explained it."

"I needed to get through his thick head," scoffed Zhu, "Take out your weapon, Sun, and it'll be easy to see why."

Sun frowned but quickly took it out. He hadn't taken a close look at it after the Battle of Beacon, but now that he was, he noticed there were slight cracks along the staff.

"That's why I said it was important," said Zhu, "Your current weapon can't contain your power. Use it a few more times with your new power, and it'll surely shatter. You need to grab that pole in order to effectively use your new powers."

"But I like using nunchucks and shotguns," frowned Sun, "From what it sounds like, this weapon doesn't have that function, nor can I put it in."

"I wouldn't worry about that," answered Zhu, "The weapon is magical. Merely bring Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang with you and present it to the original Ruyi Jingu Bang. It should merge if you desire it and you'll have a new Ruyi Jingu Bang with the same abilities to as yours as well as gain new powers. One of them is the ability to enlarge the pole to whatever you want. That, and nobody can lift it as it weighs 17,550 pounds."

"How am I going to lift that?" asked Sun in shock.

"Don't worry, for the chosen user itself, it weighs nothing. You get a heavy attack all without the muscle cramps," snickered Zhu.

 _ **"I remember that pole,"**_ said Lung Wang, amused by this tale, _**"Ao Kuang, one of the lower tier dragons under my command, had it in his treasury. It was used as a pole for decoration as nobody but the strongest of dragons could actually lift it and use it for combat. He was shocked when he saw somebody else use it."**_

"Sweet. Sounds like this break I'm going searching," commented Sun.

"You'll need this tome with you boy," said Zhu cheerfully as he lifted it up and put it on Sun's arms, comically making him struggle with the weight of the book. "It's your responsibility to read through it and find the clues."

"I'm getting Neptune for this one," groaned Sun, "He's the 'intellectual.'"

Zhu chuckled before noticing there were other people. He stared for a bit.

"Who are you guys?"

"They're my friends." said Sun, "I told you I was coming with them."

"I assumed you meant your teammates of team SSSN," frowned Zhu, "I didn't know you were friends with so many... girls."

His face took a lecherous turn, but before he could do anything, Sun drop kicked him in the face. He had dropped the tome on to Jaune's arm before doing so.

"Just to make it clear, uncle," snarled Sun as he grabbed his shirt, "Three of the girls are already claimed. Two of them have their boyfriends standing right here, both trained as Huntsmen and ready to kick your ass. One of them is me, who apparently has some sort of great power. The other is the 'Hero of Vale'. So just don't."

"Alright, alright, no need to get you tail in a knot." grumbled Zhu as Sun got off him.

The rest of them introduced themselves to Zhu, although Zhu took a bit of time staring at Jaune for a bit before looking away.

"Sun, how did you get your powers?" asked Zhu, "I was certain it was lost."

"Eh, weird chance and some crazy emotional power up," shrugged Sun, winking at Jaune. He wouldn't reveal the truth unless Jaune allowed him to.

"Hmm.. interesting," mumbled Zhu, "Alright, but before you go. Make sure you don't lose that necklace of yours."

"Huh? You mean this thing I've always had?" asked Sun.

"That's right. It'll also be a keystone for you in your journey. You didn't think it was just some old family trinket passed down in the family, did you?"

Sun could only blush before they all left. As they did, Zhu looked to his left, staring at his metal rake for a bit. It was the original weapon passed down from the original Zhu Bajie who went on the famous journey. However, it was all rusted, and nobody would believe that legend anymore. It was lost to the winds of time. Until now. Zhu could hardly contain his excitement as the legend would be revived once more.

"And the new brothers of warriors that Sun shall forge will be unforgettable," smiled Zhu.

* * *

"Well, that was informative," said Gwen, with everybody else nodding.

"Great. Now I have to read this stupid book," groaned Sun. Gwen put her hand on his, promising to help him out as much as possible. Sun was scheduled to head back to Mistral in two days so he could spend Yuletide with his family. As the group went through Vale, Dew made a decision.

"Guys, there's something I needa do," she announced, "Got some shopping and something heavy I need to pick up. I'll be heading out first. Jaune, why don't you help me, seeing as you're staying here for one more night?"

The girls immediately picked up what Dew wanted, and waved her goodbye while secretly wishing her good luck.

Dew quickly led Jaune through the streets, confusing him at what she wanted when she brought him into a hotel. She dropped off some Lien off the front counter, grabbed a key, and went up the stairs into a room.

"I'm going to wash up first," grinned Dew, "You can take yours after, big boy."

 _ **"Wohoho, Going on a streak there,"**_ laughed Othim.

Jaune ignored him and focused on putting his stuff away. Soon, Dew was finished with her shower, wearing just a towel. Jaune quickly went to take his shower and came out with just a towel. The two of them sat down on the bed, looking at each other.

"So... We're doing this?" asked Jaune. Dew hesitantly nodded before closing in. The two of them kissed each other, lightly at first before letting it become more heated, more passionate. However, when Jaune let his hands start to wander down the smooth skin of her back, he felt her shake. Knowing that she was hesitant, he pulled back. Dew tried to push forward, but Jaune stopped her.

"You're not ready for this."

"I am," whined Dew, trying to move forward.

"No, you're not," said Jaune calmly, "I can feel your hesitation. You're going at this relationship faster than you want, am I right?"

When Dew didn't answer, Jaune immediately hugged her. Dew started to cry into his shoulders before confessing.

"I'm... scared. Out of all the girls, I'm the only one that doesn't get to see you as often. I'm afraid you'd find somebody else, that this long distance relationship wouldn't work. I wanted some sort of establishment that we were together, even if it meant going at a pace faster than I wanted."

Jaune slowly leaned back, wiping her tears with his hands, "You have nothing to be afraid of. I love you all equally. I want to go at a pace you're most comfortable with. It doesn't matter if I already slept with the other girls, you are still you. Everyone has their own timing. Look at Ruby, we're probably won't seal the deal with the mark until she hits 17 or 18."

Dew giggled, remembering that there was a sister wife that was much younger than them.

"I feel a bit silly now. I was so worried that I was ready to just give up my virginity just to make sure you'd stay with me."

The two of them just hugged and cuddled, flipping on the television.

 _ **"Aww,"**_ said Othim, _**"But I can't say I disapprove."**_

 _ **"You did well,"**_ praised Aryz, _**"One shouldn't be willing to go into this so easily due to fear."**_

As they were watching, Dew wanted to know something.

"I know you've done it with Pyrrha. Who else have you done what with which girl?"

"Dew..." said Jaune softly, "There's no point in trying to compare others."

"I just want to know," said Dew confidently.

Sighing and seeing no real point in arguing this, he gave a summarized version of his time with Pyrrha and Blake. Dew seemed especially focused on what they did and where. As soon as she finished, she seemed to be grinning for some reason Jaune couldn't understand.

"So, they took both virginity, huh," mumbled Dew, "Pyrrha took his first vaginal one while Blake took the anal one. That means I can still take that virginity."

"Umm, Dew? What are you talking about?" asked Jaune.

"We still have a good hour and 40 minutes," smiled Dew, "It would be a shame to use up that time without doing anything... sexual."

She was grinning like a predator, slowly pulling Jaune's towel off, exposing his groin. Her mouth began to descend down there.

"Let me show you just how my wind Semblance can be used here," growled Dew lustfully as she opened her mouth and went down.

* * *

The two of them came out after their time was done. Dew wasn't comfortable with intercourse but was more than willing to perform oral sex. Jaune eagerly reciprocated the favor. As the two went back to Dew's house, Jaune said his goodbyes there. He was planning to directly head to the Romee family home, where his mother and seven sisters were. Dory pouted, losing the chance to persuade Jaune, but even she understood the importance of seeing family.

A day after Jaune left, Dew was at a cafe surrounded by the rest of NDGO. Sun had left to head back to Haven with his tome.

"So? Did you do it? What's it like?" asked Octavia eagerly.

"Was he big?" asked Nebula.

"Did it feel good when he went into you?" asked Gwen.

"Girls, girls," laughed Dew, "Jaune and I didn't have intercourse."

They were silent for a bit, while a tumbleweed went by them. They were more common here at Vacuo.

"What?" asked all three girls.

"I admit, I wasn't ready to take the next step," explained Dew, "I was just afraid I'd lose him. So I was rushing it in. Jaune stopped me from making a huge mistake."

"That explains why we don't see you limping," commented Gwen.

"I was hoping to ask you for advice for when I see Ren again," pouted Octavia.

"Urgh, all this talk about boyfriends makes me seriously think I need to get one too," grunted Nebula, "Too bad nobody has caught my eye yet."

"What about Cardin?" asked Octavia. Nebula shook her head, saying he just wasn't her type.

"So what, did you just spend the time just cuddling?" asked Octavia.

Dew looked away in embarrassment, causing all of them to raise their eyebrows.

"Spill, girl," said Nebula in a serious voice.

The rest of the day was Dew telling them in detail what they did in the hotel. All of them were taking notes while having a slightly bloody nose. The four of them spent the rest of the day talking about "future" studies on that subject.

"Of course you'd be the best at 'blowing' wind," cackled Octavia, causing Dew to blush before flicking a piece of cookie into her face.

* * *

As Jaune was leaving to visit his family, back in Patch, Yang woke up in pain. She could still feel the phantom pain on her right arm. She felt her whole body cringing in pain. Yule Tide was approaching, and Taiyang had gone out to town to buy some supplies. Raven and Qrow were investigating a lead for Ozpin, but promised to be back at Yuletide Eve. The only life form nearby was Zwei, who immediately jumped to Yang's side in worry.

"It hurts," cried Yang, trying to make her body unclench.

Zwei whimpered licking her face, causing her to relax a little. Soon, the phase passed, and Yang was back on her bed. Ruby was at Atlas, busy designing her arm, making sure she could fit a cannon as well as her usual choice of weapon. Right now, she was making it able to change weapons with different detachments. The main arm itself would be made of Vibranium, while the attachments would be made of stainless steel. She would be back at Yule Tide's Eve to celebrate, though. The plan was once the holiday was over, Blake was to arrive at Patch, and the trio would set off to Atlas.

However, as the days passed, she kept suffering from the pain. Her family tried to help and went to the best hospital, but Adam's attack had caused major damage. Just as his weapon suggested, it wilted some of her nerves in the arm. They couldn't remove the arm itself for now, as she still wanted to be a Huntress. Instead, once the combat arm was complete, she would undergo surgery to have it attached while removing the wilted nerves and replacing them.

So the treatment would a massage and hot towels to soothe the pain on the arm. Some aspirin to take the pain off. However, it wouldn't stop the pain completely. Yang stretched over and took a pill, letting the medicine take affect. She hated relying on such medicine.

"Please... Help me. Jaune. Anyone," cried Yang as she got into a fetal position, "I don't know how long I can keep up with this pain."

* * *

Jaune landed in front of a rather large house that seemed to be 3 stories high. He looked at the plating on the door and saw it read 'the Romee House. Taking a deep breath, he rang the doorbell.

"Coming!"

The door opened up to reveal Yu Romee, Jaune's mother.

"How can I help yo- Jaune!"

"Hey, mom. Am I too late to join the Yule festivities?"

"No, No, of course not! Xanthe! Tell everyone Jaune has come!" shouted Yu.

Xanthe peeked out the door and quickly told everyone to come down. A few seconds later, Jaune was in a group hug again with all of his sisters. Jaune looked around to see 3 men also coming down. They introduced themselves as Peta's husband and the twin's boyfriends.

"It's so good to see you again with us," smiled Yu, "We haven't had a Yule dinner with you for seven years. I hope you're hungry because we're going to make sure you're stuffed. I even got your favorite dish being prepared."

"It's good to see you all again," smiled Jaune brightly. It was good to be reunited with his mothers and sisters, his family, again.

* * *

 **Alright, got that going. Dew's lemon will be up... somewhere in the middle of the week? Lemons for Kali and Blake have already been uploaded into the lemon story. Also, since I got bored, I made a Jaune of Power Rangers! Used a Fidget Spinner as a Morpher because I wanted to do something unique and not borrow the original morphers from any.**

 **Be sure to vote on my poll to see what story I write next! Going to end it on.. August 28th. Other than that, thanks for continuing to reading this and review if you can!**


	41. Chapter 41 Back at Patch and Newsflash

**New chapter! And also managed to break the 1.5k fav barrier yaa! Next goal... break the 2k follow barrier. That's going to take some work. Anyways enjoy! I did Yule Tide instead of flat out Christmas cause I felt like it.**

* * *

Yule Tide dinner was a happy occasion at most places; Jaune had enjoyed spending time catching up with his seven sisters and mother. Blake was with her father and mother, enjoying a tasty fish dish Kali had whipped up. Sun was back with his family, playing with his little sister as they both ate some bananas. Ren and Nora were with Junior and the Malachite twins eating dinner together. Ironwood had somehow managed to rope Glynda into having dinner with him while he was overseeing the reconstruction of the CCT in Vale. His arm was still not up to his usual standard, but he was fine with it for now. Back in Patch, Ruby and Yang were celebrating it with their whole family. Dew was doing fine with her family, although she still had not spilled to her parents that she was in a serious relationship.

The most surprising of these celebrations was in Atlas. During Yule Tide Eve, the workers in the mines were grumbling about how unfair it was that Jacques wouldn't let them have the day off tomorrow. It was time for family, but for Jacques, that meant less time for profit. And yet they couldn't just quit, as they needed the Lien.

"Makes me wonder why I bothered coming here to Atlas," grumbled one of the Faunus miners. Some of the others agreed, especially the females.

He looked to see so many other Faunus workers just like him. Sure, there were a few humans here and there, but those humans had no family to celebrate the day with. The ones that did were generously given the day off for both days. And yet, they couldn't just quit. They needed the Lien to support their family, and it was hard to find another job at Atlas. They had been lured by the promise of jobs, and while there were jobs, sometimes they felt like it wasn't worth it. They couldn't unionize because the greedy man known as Jacques Schnee had found several legal loopholes that prevented it. It was around five o'clock in the afternoon when the supervisor told them all to stop, clean up, and gather up in the main hall, as apparently, Jacques Schnee had some sort of announcement.

"Wonder if he's going to grow a heart and let us have at least half the day off tomorrow," said another Faunus. The others laughed, saying it would be impossible, that pigs would fly first. As the mutterings and chats grew, they all stopped when Jacques Schnee stepped up in front of them all. Although they hated him, they still gave him the 'respect' he deserved.

"Greetings, everyone. I have an announcement to make," declared Jacques Schnee. Everyone twitched at that. Announcements were usually never good for the Faunus workers. It usually involved longer hours or shorter benefits, or possibly even being replaced by automation, which they wouldn't put past the Schnee. As they braced for the news, Jacques continued. "After some... introspection, I have decided on some changes. Klein, open the doors."

The butler Klein opened a huge door that they had seen before that lead to a banquet hall and was shocked to see a buffet of delicious food waiting there. The aroma caused a few to drool.

"Great. Is he just teasing us now?" grumbled one of the Faunus workers. Many seemed to have the same thought. Jacques seemingly ignored it.

"Today, the SDC will be hosting the Yule Tide Eve dinner for all employees. Including all of you. This will not deduct from your wages, so enjoy your time. I will still be paying your wages, so take this as free hours to enjoy while being paid. The cleaning crew will be here after 9 to clean up, so that's when it will close. And don't come in tomorrow. We won't be open, so take that time to spend with your families."

All the Faunus workers were so shocked that their mouths dropped to the floor in unison. Jacques Shnee, the tyrant, the jerk who doesn't play fair, was giving them a banquet and the day off tomorrow? They all pinched themselves, and when they still didn't believe it, they had their friends slap them in the arm to see if it was a dream. It wasn't.

"And... since Klein was so insistent on it. Here's something he thought would be funny."

Klein grinned and pulled a rope. A pig with attachable wings came running before the wings started to flap and took off flying. Pigs were indeed flying today.

"So have a nice evening. Be sure to still show up the day after, though, otherwise there will be trouble."

With that, Jacques turned and left the building. Klein quickly got the pig back and left with it. The Faunus were still in shock, not moving until one of them took a step forward. She kept walking forward, expecting the doors to suddenly close. As if to taunt them, to tell them it was just a cruel joke. When she saw it didn't, she went over and grabbed some food, tasting it and finding it delicious. That caused all of them to surge forward into the banquet hall, grabbing dishes, getting food, getting drinks, and cheering for the delicious dinner. There was no alcohol, unfortunately, but they didn't mind. They had no intention of going home drunk.

"Wonder what caused him to be so... magnanimous?" asked one of them.

"Maybe he grew a conscience? Pigs did just fly after all, although my Lien's on that one being Klein's joke," answered another.

"Nah, probably got threats from the White Fang. Maybe they finally got to him?"

"Don't even joke about that. The White Fang of Vale went insane once that Taurus brat took over as their leader. If anything, that would've caused our boss to be even more harsh with us."

"I think the daughter, Weiss Schnee, had a hand in this part."

"The next Heiress? Here's to hoping she's kinder than her old man. Can you imagine Whitley as the Heir?"

"Don't even joke about that. If he did become the heir, I'd quit. Screw jobs here, he's worse than his old man."

"Three cheers for Jacques and Weiss Schnee?" asked a random Faunus. Everyone thought about it and could get around it.

"Cheers to them then!"

Meanwhile, Jacques was in his limousine riding back to his mansion. It had felt, good putting a banquet for the filthy ra... no, he swore he would try to be better. So what word to use... Faunus. Just Faunus.

"Sir? Are you alright?"

Jacques shook his head, breaking out of his thoughts before replying to Klein that he was fine. Klein smiled and continued to drive on, happy that Weiss had managed to convince her father to not be so penurious with his employees. She would make a fine Heiress. What was even better was that all of them would be having Yule Tide dinner together. Winter had managed to get some time off to come back home to eat. Now if only Whitley would stop hitting on Ruby when she visited, as it was clear she was not interested in him.

* * *

Adam Taurus was sitting in his cramped jail cell at a high security hidden Atlas prison. He winced as he felt his right arm shoot up in pain. Damn that bimbo's mother, the milf bimbo. She had left him alive without his right arm and dozens of cuts all around his body, including his back. They hadn't bothered treating him to heal up all the wounds, just enough so that he lived in constant pain.

"I swear, I'll kill you, Raven Branwen," growled Adam, "I'll kill you, the blonde bimbo, Jaune Ryu-Long, and then… I will finally get you, my love."

He was staring at a photo of himself and Blake together, side by side, with a smile. Their arms were hooked together while they looked at each other in the eye. He grew angrier and ripped the photo in half, before throwing it out. He sat inside his cell to plan out what he would do when he heard muffled noises, followed by explosions and gasping breath. Then, it became all silent. He backed up into his cell, ready to tackle whoever was coming. Most likely people wanted to kill him and didn't want him to just serve his life sentence. Pitiful. They thought they could reform him. Well, he would drag them all down with him to hell if they wanted his life. The door opened, and Adam gave a roar and charged forward, his only hand going for the throat.

"Adam, it's me."

Adam screeched to a halt when he saw the person in front of him change colors in skin and hair. He looked to see a Grimm mask with horns on it and he quickly recognized her.

"Ilia? What are you doing here?"

"Breaking you out," replied Ilia, slowly taking Adam's hand into her own. She shuddered with glee when he didn't resist, and closed her hands on his.

"How did you..." trailed off Adam. He was surprised to even see any of his faction here, breaking him out. He was sure that Atlas would've put a lot of effort in concealing his whereabouts.

"The alliance you were in. They came looking for us and offered to break you out in return for our help," replied Ilia as she took him out of the cell.

Adam looked around to see his faction ruthlessly stabbing humans and grinned. It wasn't over yet. His revolution had just begun.

"Why, if it isn't little Adam. You look... disappointing."

Adam turned around to see Tyrian Callows with a smile. Adam resisted the urge to punch his smiling face.

"Shut up!" shouted Ilia. Tyrian just grinned before walking away.

"Forgive him. He's in a bit of a rut because of what happened to his tail."

Adam turned around and was surprised to see a human with a mustache and a well-dressed suit. Nobody seemed to be stabbing him.

"Umm, I know what you said about humans," said Ilia hesitantly, "But this is Arthur Watts. He's the one who gave us the information about your whereabouts. And he's also in the same faction as Cinder was."

"Indeed, I'm sorry you had the misfortune of dealing with Cinder," chuckled Watts, "But rest assured, where Cinder failed, I will not. Come, I will take you to see our mistress, Salem herself. There, we will fit you with technology even better than what Atlas could even dream of. We have the resources and the intelligence to do so."

At that, he turned around and left. Adam looked around to see his loyal members, awaiting his order. They had broken out any Faunus that had been in the same prison as he was.

"What of the White Fang?" asked Adam.

"They declared that they had nothing to do with your 'outrageous' ways," replied Ilia, "They renounced anyone who believed in your tactics. High leader Khan, with the urging of ex-leader Ghira, made the announcement that anyone who still believes and follows your ways is to be expelled from the White Fang. So with this attack, that means all of us are no longer associated with the White Fang. The Albain brothers are still within the White Fang, acting as spies for us, while I lead the others... Until we rescued you. Now, I pass the leadership to you."

Adam looked at Ilia with an inquisitive stare, causing Ilia to blush, her hair changing red before handing him a Grimm mask. He looked down at it before grinning and donning it on his face, turning around to everybody else. Ghira had always disliked him, and the feeling was mutual. Such passive tactics like boycotting would never work.

"The White Fang truly have become a bunch of cowards who are unwilling to do what is right to make progress. We are the ones who will usher the Faunus race into a new era. Our Era. Today, I announce the creation of the True Fang, the Blood Fang!"

All of them roared in unison at this. Ilia smiled when she was suddenly swept into Adam's arms. Before she could say anything, Adam kissed her on the lips. Ilia turned red in embarrassment but passionately kissed back.

"And you, my dear, will be my second-in-command. My queen," whispered Adam softly into her ear as he slowly pulled back. Ilia looked ecstatic at the news while melting in his arms.

'And soon, my love,' thought Adam maniacally, 'I will make it so you have nowhere to run, nobody to turn to but me.'

* * *

Meanwhile, Watts was walking until he stopped in front of two cells his mistress had told him to free. He took out his Scroll, typed in a few codes, and the door opened up, revealing Mercury and Emerald.

"Come. Salem still has use for you two."

"About time," stretched Mercury as he walked out. They had confiscated his weapon prosthetic and replaced them with a civilian model, "Can I get my weapon legs back? I feel naked without them."

"In all due time," said Watts, "Salem has Merlot working on some new ones for you."

"Sweet."

Emerald, however, remained silent. Like her soul wasn't in her body right now. She looked lifeless as she followed Roman.

Watts walked to another location where there were two cells. He typed in some more codes and opened to reveal Roman Torchwick and Neo.

"It's about time," grumbled Roman as he walked out, "Where's my hat? They didn't let me have it while I was inside."

"The first thing you look for after a jailbreak is your hat?" asked Watts, amused.

"It's part of who I am, thank you very much," retorted Roman. As Watts turned to leave and guide them, Roman and Neo looked at each other and nodded.

* * *

The new Blood Fang and a few more violent prisoners were gathered outside all eager to escape. Roman and Neo had managed to find their gear, including the hat, and was leaning against the wall, waiting. Soon, a black air transport arrived to transport them to freedom. As everyone made it in, Watts turned around to see Roman and Neo still leaning against the same wall.

"Come on. We don't have all day," exasperated Watts.

"Ah, well, there's a problem," grinned Roman, "Our employment was with Cinder, and with Cinder gone, I'm afraid our contract has been…. terminated. Neo, if you would?"

Alarm bells went ringing inside Watt's head as he pulled out a gun and fired at Roman just to see him shatter. He and Neo were gone.

"Don't think you can hide from us," sneered Watts as he opened his Scroll to activate the tracking device he had put on their weapons. It was so small that it was impossible to notice unless you knew what to look for. Once he had a track, he would activate the explosive device inside to maim them, not kill. They would be alive long enough for him to bring to Mistress Salem and see what their punishment was.

As he looked at his Scroll, he tilted his head in confusion. It said that they were on the ship right now.

"Hey, where'd you get the cool looking cane?" asked a Blood Fang member

"One of the prisoners gave it to me, begging for me not to hurt him," laughed another.

"This cute girl gave me her umbrella. It even has a hidden sword in it. I think she thought I was cute when she winked at me," commented another female member.

Watts whirled around to see their weapons in the hands of the Blood Fang. He had been outmaneuvered.

"Let's see how long you live without any weapons to help you," growled Watts as he got on board and departed back to Salem's castle. Once they were out of range, he detonated the building.

"Whew. Close one," said Roman as he and Neo watched the prison explode from afar.

They had managed to grab some supplies they had secretly stored in their prison cell and got away, apprehending an Atlas snow vehicle. Neo looked at Roman in curiosity, her eyes asking questions.

"What?" asked Roman, "I told you before, we join the winning side. And I'd say the side with a big dragon is a pretty good argument."

Neo rolled her eyes before pointing behind her to reveal several Atlas prison wardens all bandaged up but blindfolded.

"I can't make a good impression if I'm one to let people die," replied Roman, "No worries. We get to Atlas, drop this vehicle off, and hightail it back to Vale. I'm sure Junior will put a good word for me to get in."

Neo chuckled before drawing a question mark and a direction sign.

"Neo, Neo, my dear girl. You think I would ever get lost?" grinned Roman as he tapped his hat that now had an antenna on it.

* * *

"Do you have to go? Can't you stay until it's time for you to head to Haven?"

Jaune was already suiting up, getting ready to leave and head back to the nesting grounds to pick up Oobleck before heading to Vale. Yu wanted her son to stay a bit longer, she had lost so much time to be with him thanks to Vlad and now they were together again.

"Got to. I promised Ren and Nora we'd head over to Kuroyuri to let them pay their respects to Ren's parents. After that, it's straight to Haven. That, and I need to make sure Oobleck gets back to Vale safely. Who knows how he's doing in the nesting grounds?"

* * *

I am so HAPPY!" shouted Oobleck to nobody in the cave as he was transcribing a few books Jaune had given him.

* * *

"I see," said Yu, frowning. She may not like it, but she would respect her son's choice. "Then promise me you'll call us sometime."

"I will," promised Jaune before giving her a hug. Jaune was then dog piled by the rest of his family, all wanting hugs. Jaune laughed before walking out the door and linked up with Alaerth, spreading the yellow-scaled wings. With a great flap, he shot off towards the nesting grounds.

"There he goes," smiled Xanthe softly.

"I do hope he doesn't bring my grandchildren too soon," coughed Yu. Jaune had used the time to also tell all his family about his dragons. Yu wasn't too happy about her son having his own little harem at first but learned to accept it. Xanthe and Saffron helped out, as they had already known about it earlier.

"He'll be alright," soothed Saffron, "He's probably one of the strongest Huntsmen in Remnant. What could hurt him?"

* * *

"Are the preparations complete?"

In a dark murky castle, Salem was gazing into her Grimm seer. She had received word from Watts that they had successfully broken Adam out of the Atlas prison and was now heading their way.

"But of course, my lady," said Merlot, "I have the healing tub ready for young Adam Taurus, as well as a new arm for him. One that will make him even more deadly."

"And the... 'additions' I asked?" asked Salem.

"But of course," smiled Merlot, "I really must thank that Dragon Slayers group. To think they had some of the ancient dragon relics that they looted from the Dragon Clan."

"Excellent. Hazel, how goes the search for the new Fall maiden?"

"Slow," muttered Hazel, "Because Cinder's last thoughts weren't on anyone but the Ryu-Long, the power went to a random source."

"Of course," acknowledged Salem, "Put the search on hold. See if you can't get in contact with the leader of White Fang, Khan. Try to... _persuade_ him to see that an alliance with us will be beneficial."

"As you wish," hummed Hazel.

"As for you," Salem turned towards to the representative of the Dragon Slayers, "Is your group finding the other Maidens?"

The representative had dark hair, tan skin, and wore robes that hid his face.

"The Winter Maiden, Ales, has been traveling through the mountains with her guardians. She is not so easily found, but with time, I am sure we will be able to kill her. Your new 'representative' for that maiden is currently fine. The Spring Maiden and Summer Maiden have upped their caution ever since they found out what happened to the previous Fall Maiden. The winds barely speak of their presence, but they cannot get far. We have already begun triangulating their location."

"Good," smiled Salem. She distrusted this new group, but they had proven themselves useful. If they could really take care of the dragon situation, she didn't mind.

* * *

Jaune managed to pry Oobleck from the nesting grounds. Oobleck had been crying, saying he wasn't done with the place yet. When Jaune allowed him to take one of the ancient tomes, Oobleck suddenly became obedient. Jaune could only sigh as he flew into the air with Oobleck hanging off his arms. The two of them managed to make good time, reaching Vale four whole days before the new year. After dropping Oobleck off to Beacon, where the staff was all busy with reconstruction, he decided to head off to Patch to visit Ruby and Yang. As he flew down to the cabin, he heard barking. The door opened up, and Zwei came running out, barking and running around him.

"Zwei! Down boy!"

Taiyang came out laughing before picking up Zwei and greeted Jaune. A few seconds later, a red blur jumped out the door, slamming into Jaune.

"Oooh, I missed you! Did you miss me? Did you? Did you?"

"Of course Ruby," laughed Jaune as he hugged Ruby before giving her a kiss on her forehead.

"What about me, big boy?"

Yang came walking out, wearing an orange tank top. She had a civilian model arm for her right side for now. Ruby had finished the design and sent over the instructions to Vulcan. He estimated it would be done within two weeks. Then, they would head over to Atlas, where Yang would undergo surgery to remove the wilted nerves before attaching new ones they had been growing in the lab into the arm. Thanks to the data they stole from Merlot, they were able to make a lot of breakthroughs.

"You too, Yang," grinned Jaune as Ruby let go. He went over and kissed her, to which Yang immediately deepened, grabbing him with her left hand and keeping him there.

"Hey! Not in front of me!" shouted Taiyang,

"Oh grow up, she's old enough now."

Raven stepped out of the cabin, wearing her usual clothes, along with Qrow.

"She's capable of doing what she wants, as long as the two of them act.. 'responsible' for their actions," she added, lightly glaring at the two of them.

"Yes mom," said Yang as she rolled her eyes. She had already planned out what she wanted to do. Ruby wouldn't be included, as she deemed her little sister too young. Even though they were actually cousins, Yang still saw Ruby as her little sister.

"Well, you guys enjoy yourselves," stretched Qrow, "I need to turn in my report to Oz. Any of you guys wanna join me?" When nobody answered, he frowned, "Fine. Be that way. Leave me alone in a room with him."

Everyone laughed at his expression as he left. Zwei barked and decided to go with Qrow. He could look for the man with glasses and see if he would give him some more treats like before. Ruby decided that she wanted to spend more time with her dad, and so she rushed out to chase after him. Raven, looking at her daughter, smiled before hooking onto Taiyang's arm.

"Taiyang, it's been a long time since we've had some time alone. Why don't we head to Vale for a bit? Just you and me."

When Taiyang started to stutter and argue, Raven whispered in his ears, "We can get ourselves... acquainted in bed again. Nobody to interrupt us. No worries about anyone hearing us."

Taiyang could only nod his head in reply. A few seconds later, they were gone.

" _ **Guess they're going to 'reaffirm' their love,"**_ laughed Othim.

" _ **It has been a long time since they met according to Qrow,"**_ said Aryz.

"Well, that happened," shrugged Yang, but inside, she was grinning. This was the perfect chance! Suddenly, her arm flared up again in pain. She sank to the floor, her left hand gripping her right stump.

"Yang! Are you alright?"

She looked up to see Jaune looking with worry.

"Yeah, I'm alright," she replied, "Just this stupid injury acting up again. Can't wait till I get my new arm again. Could you go grab the aspirin in the kitchen? I need to head upstairs for a bit."

Jaune shrugged and entered the house. Meanwhile, Yang immediately rushed up the stairs, changing her clothes to something a bit cleaner as well as changing her underwear. She wanted to feel sexy for this next part.

Jaune came back with the aspirin, to which Yang took one pill before grabbing Jaune by the arm.

"So, lady killer. Want to come with me for a walk in the woods?"

"But of course," replied Jaune with a smile before leaning over and giving her a small kiss on the lips.

Yang led him into the forest on a path she clearly remembered. An hour later, they reached a cabin that Yang had first seen when she had taken Ruby to find clues about Raven. In the past, it had been falling apart. Now, the wood had been replaced and stood strong. The whole place had been refurbished, thanks to Yang, Ruby, Taiyang, Raven, and Qrow, all spending some family time together to reconstruct the old cabin. When Yang opened the door, they were ushered into the first room. Inside, it was quite empty. It was clean, free of dust, but nothing inside except for a suspicious box of tissues and a specially made trash can that burned anything thrown inside.

"Futons. Out. Now," commanded Yang. Jaune quickly understood what was happening before grabbing them out and laid them on the floor before turning to Yang.

"Are you sure about this? I mean, you don't have to do this if you're not comfortable."

"I've been waiting ever since Pyrrha told us what you did," said Yang lustfully, "And I can't wait anymore. Whether you decide to put a Mate Mark on me or not is up to you. You told us you haven't done so with Blake. I'm doing the same."

At that, she pushed Jaune onto the while she began to strip sensually. However, as soon as she got her bra off, her right arm twinged once again, causing her to drop to the floor. Jaune quickly went down to her side in worry.

"If you're in too much pain, we don't have to do this now. I don't mind, I don't want you to hurt yourself," said Jaune, but Yang shook her head.

"No." She refused stubbornly before firmly adding "I want this. I want this now," but Jaune could see that there was something else inside her eyes. Like a sort of desperation.

"Yang, answer me truthfully," said Jaune, "Why do you want to do this so badly? It's not because of love, but rather, I can see something of desperation in your eyes."

Yang was silent for a minute, her eyes shadowed and covered. Then she looked up with tears in her eyes.

"I'm... afraid," whispered Yang, her usual attitude gone, "I'm scared that you won't want me anymore because of… because of what happened. I'm afraid that you'll throw me away."

"I'd never do that! Why would you even think that?" asked Jaune in genuine concern.

Yang didn't answer, but rather touched the part where her fake arm and real arm was connected. Jaune immediately understood before hugging her once more.

"It doesn't matter," said Jaune softly, stroking her hair with his right hand, "I love you just like I love the others, all equally. This isn't your fault, it's Adam's. Your mother took care of it, though I would've loved to deal with him personally." At this, Jaune couldn't help but tighten his grip on her waist with his left. "But never think I will stop loving you."

Yang nodded and put her head on his shoulder for a bit, just breathing in his scent. When Jaune slowly started to sit up, she growled, "Where are you going? We're still doing this anyway. I made up my mind long ago." She pulled him down before giving him a passionate kiss. They slowly fell onto the futon, discarding each other's clothes.

* * *

Jaune woke up to see Yang cuddled up, laying on his chest, her large breasts squeezed tightly against him. He sighed in content as he remembered what had happened. Yang had been jealous and wanted to take one of Jaune's 'first time'. She ended up being the first one to pleasure him with her breasts, as she had the biggest one out of the group. Yang snuggled even closer when she felt Jaune move. It had been magical, just like Pyrrha said. She had a few flings back at Signal, but none had been serious. Sure she had groped a few boys she dated, but at most, they had gone up to third base with just touching with her hands. It was why she didn't feel icky when she had grabbed Junior's balls back at the beginning of the year, before heading to Beacon.

"Want to go... one more time?" asked Yang with a smirk as she lifted herself over him with her good arm, letting her beautiful breasts hover over him, making him lick his lips.

"It would be an honor." He said as he kissed her nipples. She smiled as she leaned forward before giving him a kiss. Both of them closed their eyes, ready to go again.

"Bark! Bark!"

They suddenly opened their eyes at the noise.

"Yang! Jaune! Where'd you guys go?"

"C'mon boy. Sniff them out for me."

'Crap!' thought Jaune and Yang as they quickly got dressed as fast as they could. They could hear Qrow getting closer and closer, along with Ruby and Zwei. As soon as Yang finally got her top on her, the door opened to reveal Qrow, Ruby and Zwei. Qrow's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the room. It was empty except for the futon. There was a box of tissues but the trash can itself seemed empty. But he knew they had done something. The smell of sex still lingered, even though they had opened the windows.

"What's that smell?" asked Ruby innocently. Zwei barked in agreement.

"Umm, cleaning!" shouted Yang. Qrow just gazed at Yang with a deadpan expression, causing her to look away.

"Wait a minute...," started Ruby, looking around and staring at Yang and Jaune. She took two and two together before finally reaching to a conclusion and shouted: "You did it!?"

"Yes," replied Yang with a blush. "I wanted to do it. And I can tell you, I don't regret it."

Qrow just shrugged. He remembered this was about the same time he started sleeping with others. Although he wasn't quite comfortable with the fact that his niece just had sex or the fact that he and his daughter had nearly walked in on them. Still, he gave Jaune some slack since Yang did it with consent, and Jaune wasn't a bad person. Qrow reached for his flask and started to drink, he had been trying to cut down lately after revealing to Ruby her true father, but he needed this.

"Where are your parents?" asked Qrow in an attempt to change the subject.

"Out in Vale on a date," replied Yang, grateful for the subject change.

"Really? Not like my sister to do so."

"Don't look at me," said Jaune as Qrow turned to look at him in suspicion, "She has her own agenda."

"Whatever," sighed Qrow, "I was going to tell them first, but I suppose you two need to know about this too. Just got this information from Ironwood. Some White Fang defectors somehow managed to get hold of where Adam Taurus was and broke him out."

"WHAT!?"

" _ **The one who took one of your mate's arm escaped?"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"Should've killed him back at Beacon."**_

" _ **I'm more worried how he managed to escape,"**_ said Alaerth.

" _ **We'll be prepared,"**_ said Fafnir, _**"Jaune has grown much stronger. Soon, he will learn why he should've stayed inside."**_

"You think it might be the group Cinder was in?" asked Jaune in worry.

"Maybe," replied Qrow, "I wouldn't be surprised if their information network reached that deep. Salem did always have spies everywhere."

"Salem?" asked Ruby, tilting her head.

"...Shit. You guys aren't supposed to know that yet," said Qrow. He raised his hand to forestall any arguments, "It's not my place to say. I'm sure Oz will tell you more about it next time you meet. Especially to you, Jaune."

Satisfied with that answer, for now, they all left back for their home.

* * *

Taiyang and Raven arrived 10 minutes later, looking refreshed and slightly glowing.

"I hope I'm not getting another nephew or niece. You're too old to have another one," smirked Qrow.

"I will end you someday," growled Raven, although she couldn't deny she enjoyed her romp with Taiyang. It had been too long since she had a real one scratch her itch. Jaune stayed for dinner for the night, enjoying some of Taiyang's cooking. The Branwen siblings had no cooking skills at all, and so they waited at the table. As they finished and were enjoying some tea, Raven decided to ask something she remembered back at Beacon.

"So Jaune. My daughter and niece say there might be something that you can do to control my little brother's Semblance. Something about a Dragon's Mark?"

Everyone went silent as they stared at Jaune and Raven when she spoke out first.

"Hmm. There might be a chance," mused Jaune, "The Dragon's Mark does help improve some semblance and control. An example would be Nora, who can now control lightning when someone hits her with it and spit it back at them. The only problem is I wouldn't know which one to use, nor would it work if Qrow isn't willing to follow the conditions set."

"Conditions?" asked Qrow.

"Set of rules to follow," clarified Jaune, "Unfortunately, one of them would probably go against your current order. You'd have to aid my clan, and so that means going above Professor Ozpin's orders."

"Of course there be rules," sighed Qrow, "So that means no Mark for me." His face showed actual disappointment. It seemed like he really wanted to have control of his Semblance so he could be near his loved ones.

"As for relics... there might be one," mused Jaune, "Although I don't know where to even look. I have no idea where the Dragon Clan's village is, only the nesting grounds. And last time I checked, I didn't see any relics."

"A shame," sighed Taiyang, "Unless Oz is willing to compromise, there's no chance for Qrow to get the Mark."

Qrow took a swig of his flask, looking at Jaune for a bit. In his mind, he was going through the pros and cons of this deal.

"What dragon would you use anyways for me," he asked in interest.

Jaune shrugged, "I only have Ryo-Wo and Aryz, the water and wind dragon. Neither of them are exactly the best with you."

"What if... I did accept your mark?" asked Qrow slowly. Taiyang and Raven slowly looked at Qrow in shock. The man that was basically loyal to Ozpin was now seeking to be free. To be rid of his curse.

" _ **Hmm. Tell Qrow that my Dragon's Mark might help him,"**_ said Aryz, _**"His Semblance, as he said, is apparently not under his control. It is similar to how wind works. Always present everywhere. Free. But for us, the ones who use the wind, we can control it. It might stand to help him control it. That, and he has the secondary ability to transform into a crow so he can fly in the air."**_

Jaune nodded and retold Aryz's message to Qrow. He looked down, thinking about his choice. He raised his head, eyes full of determination.

"I've lived and served as Oz's eyes for a huge portion of my life already. I've missed out on my daughter's life, and my wife. I've paid him enough. I want to be in control."

"Looks like you're growing a brain," teased Raven.

"If you're sure," replied Jaune, ignoring Raven's comment, "I was thinking you could still do what Ozpin wants you to do, as long as it still falls within the conditions."

"Let's just get this over with before I get cold feet," grunted Qrow as he stood up, walking towards Jaune. Jaune stood up and raised his hand, telling Qrow to clasp his hands with him. The lights were dimmed down as Jaune began.

" _In my hands, I trust you to with my blessing. To defend those who cannot do so, and to aid my clan. To be able to protect those worthy with your new power. Will you do so,_ _Qrow Branwen?"_

"Sure, I guess," replied Qrow. When he saw he was being glared at by his daughter, he amended it to, "I do."

 _"Then by my power and contract, I bless you with_ Aryz's _Dragon Mark. Prove to me you are worthy of her mark."_

Qrow felt his left shoulder burn for a bit when Jaune poured in the Aura for the mark. After they let go, Qrow pulled his sleeve and looked over to see a green dragon's claw on it. He closed his eyes to concentrate. He opened them in shock. His Semblance, which usually was like an uncontrollable whirlwind around him that struck at random, was actually calm. He could feel it just waiting for him to turn it back on. His Semblance was now under his control.

"I... can control it!" gasped Qrow, "I can tell it when to turn it on or off! I can finally be with my family!"

Ruby squealed in delight before rushing over to hug her dad, to which Qrow hugged back eagerly. For once in his life, he didn't go for his flask for a celebratory drink. Just hugging her daughter without worrying about the consequences was enough for him. After that, Qrow was able to finally sleep without worrying about his bad luck infecting other people nearby. He was used to sleeping alone because of it.

Blake arrived the next day, and the four of them decided to head to a nearby lake to swim. Jaune would be leaving the next day, heading over to Vale and picking Ren and Nora up. They hoped to arrive at Mistral before the new year and spend it with Pyrrha and her family. While they swam, Blake decided to have one last romp with Jaune before they wouldn't be able to see him again for a whole semester. She took Jaune away from Ruby, who was having too much fun with Zwei and Yang. Yang noticed but decided to let them off. She had hers already, but she wouldn't say no to one last one after Blake was done.

* * *

Jaune left Patch, and together with Ren and Nora, they headed for Mistral by airship. Blake, Yang, and Ruby took an airship directly for Atlas. It was New Year's eve when they finally made it to their location.

"Jaune! Welcome!" boomed Hephaestus as he greeted them in, "Ren, I have your weapon finished. I'll give it to you next year."

"What?!" shouted Nora, "But we can't wait one whole year! Ren needs his weapon to be super awesome and-"

"Nora," said Ren calmly, "He just means tomorrow. It is also technically next year, as today is new year's eve."

"Oh... Well don't surprise me like that," pouted Nora, causing everyone to chuckle.

Pyrrha hugged Ren and Nora before coming up to Jaune and giving him a passionate kiss.

"I missed you," sighed Pyrrha in content as she stopped kissing.

"I missed you too, love. It's good to see you're doing alright," replied Jaune with the same loving tone, "Everything alright at Mistral?"

"You have no idea how many business proposals we got for her," said an irritated Gorga as she joined in the conversation, "Ever since it's common knowledge that Jaune, the 'Hero of Vale', is dating Pyrrha, 'Goddess of Victory', we had a 200% increase in offers. They want Pyrrha to model in some sort of wine commercial now. And they're hoping to get Jaune in on it too. Also, we had some... marriage offers for her."

At this, Jaune's eyebrows twitched, as did Pyrrha's.

"Stupid idiots thought they could get my daughter and be the one to comfort her," grunted Leonidas, "I showed them the end of my spear several times to get the point across that my daughter was happy in her relationship, and had our approval. Those more stubborn were introduced to my spear and Hephaestus' hammer."

"There was one who wouldn't take no for an answer until I personally showed him I had no interest," commented Pyrrha in disgust.

Both of them grinned as they recalled one particular stubborn man who attempted to woo Pyrrha. Even when rebuffed, he tried to grab her, thinking she was a delicate flower after that event. Leonidas and Hephaestus were proud when they saw the man go flying from Pyrrha's enhanced shield bash to the balls. The man flew for miles before he landed.

"Well, let's just forget about that, and prepare for the new year," smiled Hephaestus.

They all went out, finding a perfect spot to watch the fireworks, ready to go off. Traveling through Remnant during his younger years and training, Jaune rarely had time to stop and enjoy the festivities. As the time arrived for the new year, they watched the fireworks go off. Pyrrha was sitting in front of Jaune, leaning back and enjoying the warmth of his chest. Her head was tucked under his chin as she snuggled closer. Nora was sitting on perpendicular to Ren's legs, with the side of her head snuggling in between Ren's neck and collarbone. The two couple enjoyed their respective dates as the last of the fireworks went off.

* * *

 **Alright, next up, heading to Ren's village! Hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and review it if you can! It motivates me to write more! I hunger for it!**

 **Thanks to my beta readers, UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever, as usual. They help edit and catch mistakes that I might skip by accident.**

 **Also, since I didn't upload the Dew chapter, I'm going to upload a triple chapter in the special scenes. Wasn't much to write about Dew's scene.**

 **On a side note, cookies to who can guess who I based the Winter Maiden off of. That, and people assumed that Sun was getting a harem involving Neon Kat. She isn't part of it, it was more of a joke thing.**

 **As usual, got a poll up for my next story. Also, go check out my other story, Big 4 to Hogwarts. Involves Rapunzel, Hiccup, Merida, and Jack, all going to Hogwarts with Harry. Harmony story.**


	42. Chapter 42 Kuroyuri & Shion New threats

**It's off to Kuroyuri! I've got Ren a new weapon! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Review!**

* * *

It was after the first week of January before Team JNPR was ready to set out for Kuroyuri. Ren had gotten his new weapons from Hephaestus. The model and color was almost the same as his old _Stormflowers_ and they were still capable of what his old weapons could do, but some hidden functions had been added. The base was still dual smgs with blade attachments, but the gun part was green while the right blade was white while the left blade was black, and the blades were now detachable for close range fighting, and, if needed, could transform into wind-and-fire half wheels, similar to a chakram. The dual smgs worked fine even without the blade. Lastly, the materials used were not of this world. Hephaestus had been traveling to another village for an order last year when he came across a meteorite. Thinking it would be something useful, he took it back with him. After spending many hours, he found out the meteorite was almost just as durable as Adamantium. He named it Divinium.

"Hope you enjoy 'em," chuckled Hephaestus, "It should work just like your old weapons."

Ren tested it out and nodded in satisfaction. It was perfect for him. That and the possibility for mastering another weapon was somewhat exciting for him. He decided it to keep it the same name.

"We'll be heading out now," declared Jaune before they all waved goodbye to the Nikos family.

"On the road we goooo!" shouted Nora as she dashed ahead, running around with joy as they were walking on a path.

"She managed to mix in some lightning Dust into her pancakes," sighed Ren before running to chase her down.

"Guess it's just us for now," smiled Pyrrha before snuggling into Jaune's arms. Jaune merely smiled before enjoying the warmth, leaning into his mate.

Ren had undergone a change with his style. Instead of his usual green and black long sleeved tail coat, he opted for a short sleeve one with the tail coat extending all the way down to his ankles. His weapons were placed into holders on the sides of his thigh for quick draw purposes. And finally, he had let his usual qian tail down, letting it float on his back. Nora had to hold back a blush after seeing this. On his hands, he wore green fight gloves in case he had to use hand to hand combat.

Nora herself decided on some changes in her clothes, too. She had let her hair grow longer down to her shoulders than her usual hair. The metal frame that she used to wear was discarded after it had been broken during the Battle of Beacon. Instead, she picked up a waist high coat that had her insignia on it. She still wore the same white shirt, but there was a small slash at where the heart cutout was, so her Dragon Mark could clearly be seen. And finally, she decided to light armor pink forearm guards.

For Pyrrha, the only additional item on her usual style were two pauldrons on each shoulder that didn't hamper her arm movements at all. Jaune himself had no major changes in his looks.

"Yo, wait up!"

Team JNPR turned around to see Team SSSN walking towards them.

"You heading out too?" asked Sun, "Mind if we join you? I need to head south of Mistral, according to Neptune."

"Why won't you read and carry your own tome!?" shouted Neptune as he was carrying the tome meant for Sun.

"You're the intellectual," replied Sun, "It's easier and faster if you have it with you when we need it."

"Sun, shouldn't you be reading it?" asked Jaune.

"I do read it," replied Sun glumly, "But the stupid tome has random riddles in it that I don't get it. That's why I have Neptune here. He gets it much better than me."

"If you take the time to think, you'd get it too," replied Neptune glumly.

Sage just grunted before walking over and taking the tome and putting it on his backpack, ending the argument about carrying the book.

"So, like, wanna travel together?" asked Scarlet.

"I got no problems with it. Pyrrha?" replied Jaune.

"That would be grand."

"Sweet," cheered Sun.

* * *

The two teams traveled south, passing through a few villages and helping out by killing whatever Grimms threatened their lands. There was a funny incident when one of the villagers asked to take care of a Grimm squid that was at the bottom of the lake. Neptune refused to go anywhere near the lake. Jaune quickly dove in after linking with Ryo-Wo. Soon enough, they had arrived at Kuroyuri.

"Whoa. What happened here?" asked Sun, looking a bit shocked at the ruins of the village.

"A Grimm attack," replied Ren a bit coldly, causing team SSSN to flinch at his tone.

Ren's facial expression looked grim until Nora gently put her hand on his shoulder. He relaxed for a bit before walking into the town. The rest of them followed quickly, their guards up. Soon enough, Ren stopped in front of a house.

His house.

He took out a knife his own father had given him to defend himself before throwing himself into the fray to protect him. He kneeled down before giving a small prayer. Sensing that he needed some time alone, SSSN and Pyrrha stayed back.

Jaune was about to go with Pyrrha when Ren called him over, along with Nora.

"Mom. Dad. I've done it," whispered Ren, "I found the Dragon Clan. Meet Jaune Ryu-Long, the current holder of seven king dragon contracts. So far, I've been blessed with two Dragon Marks. And to add it up, Nora, the same girl we saw years back, is my girlfriend. She's a handful, but she's someone who I truly love now. "

Nora blushed at this praise while Jaune bowed in respect to the empty house. Ren kept talking about his life now, and how he somehow winded up with 4 girlfriends.

" _ **This might seem rude,"**_ piped up Ryo-Wo, _**"But ask Ren if there are any possible relics of the Dragon Clan inside that house."**_

Jaune nodded and passed the message, to which Ren thought about it for a bit.

"I... don't know," said Ren, "It couldn't hurt to check."

Suddenly, the air and the tension seemed to change. Everyone noticed it and grabbed their weapons out. Ren quickly put the knife back in a secure spot inside his holsters. As they slowly got together to stay in formation, they heard an eerie scream. One Ren and Nora remembered clearly many years ago, at the very village.

" _Raaaeeeeeeehhhhhh!"_

"We got Grimm incoming," said Sage, getting out his sword.

"Everyone get ready," Jaune ordered, gripping his sword when he noticed Ren and Nora's expression.

"Nora? Ren?" asked Pyrrha as she noticed their pale expression.

Soon, coming from an entrance hole, was a special horse-like creature with an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature that fused together. The forelegs were shaped like claws while the hindlegs were hooved. The humanoid upper body had two long curved horns on its head, a mouth that looks almost sewn shut, and two long elastic arms, each with two clawed fingers. On the back of the humanoid torso were boney spikes along its spine. The Grimm also seemed to have gone through many battles as various weapons and arrows were decorated all over its back. The Grimm dragged its long arms across the ground while the horse part of its malformed body kept walking.

"It's a Grimm Nuckelavee," said Neptune grimly, "One of the few known Elder Grimms. If it's here, then that means a few Nevermores and Beowolves will come. It attracts other Grimm to its location due to the fact it can produce its own negativity around itself.

"Then we take care of it now," grunted Sage as he began to move forward. Suddenly, Ren's arms stopped him.

"Ren?" asked Scarlet in confusion.

"Leave. This one is mine," growled Ren as he slowly pulled out _Stormflowers_

"This isn't a time to play hero!" yelled Neptune, "We gotta take that down fast and then leave!"

"It's personal," replied Ren, "This Grimm was the one who destroyed my home. The one who **killed my parents!"**

With a roar, he charged forward, firing at the Nuckelavee's face. The Nuckelavee screamed at this before extending its arm towards Ren, who dodged it.

Neptune and Scarlet looked at each other and were about to help when Sun and Jaune stopped them.

"This is his fight," said Sun, "We have no right to interfere."

"Ren wants to finally have peace about his past with this Grimm's death. Who are we to deny him that right?" added Jaune, "Scout out the perimeter. Drive back any Grimm you see. Form teams of two, and make sure you're all within yelling distance."

The others nodded and split off. Sun was with Neptune, Scarlet with Sage, Pyrrha with Jaune. They let Nora stay to watch over Ren, as this was also her fight as she had also been in the village when the Nuckelavee attacked.

Nora watched as Ren attacked the Grimm like a berserker. At first, he was calm and collected, striking when the opportunity struck. However, over time, rage consumed him as he wanted to kill the Grimm. He started taking hits that he would've easily dodged, all just to charge in blindly. Nora couldn't let him continue this on.

Ren just kept blindly charging as he slashed his way forward. The Nuckelavee shot its arm forward, slamming Ren into a wall, pinning him there. Ren struggled to get out of the grip, slamming the blades into the Grimm's arm while firing his bullets. The Nuckelavee wailed in pain before shooting its other arm, intending to finish Ren off. Ren cried out in panic when Nora jumped in and slammed the offending arm away with her hammer. She landed on the other outstretched arm and transformed _Magnihild_ back to a grenade launcher before firing two shots at the Grimm's face. The Grimm screeched in pain as it let go of Ren, retracting its arm. Nora quickly fired another grenade, this one being a smoke version, before grabbing Ren, hiding under a raised house.

Ren shook his head, quickly recovering from the hit and was ready to charge out again when he felt Nora grab his arm.

"Nora, let go," growled Ren.

Nora wouldn't let go, causing him to struggle. He looked back and was about to demand her to let go when he felt her slap him.

"Nora...?" said Ren in confusion as Nora slowly let go.

"No.," said Nora slowly, but firmly, her hair shadowing her eyes, "I won't let you kill yourself like this. Not after everything that's happened. You lost your parents, but you gained a new family, didn't you? Jaune, Pyrrha, RWBY, NDGO, Junior, Miltia, Melanie, and …. and me. Aren't we important to you? Don't we matter? Do I matter to you?"

Ren blinked as Nora raised her face, showing tears in her eyes. All of a sudden, he was looking at an illusion of Nora, who was back to being a scared small child, just like that fateful day in this very town. He blinked again to see Nora back to her usual age, but with tears in her eyes still. He understood that without him, Nora would have had no one at all, she might have had it worse. And to be honest, it was the same for him. His life would have been nothing but sadness and lusting for revenge but she had been there for him, to make his life mean something more. He couldn't imagine living on with Nora either, or any of his new family now.

They heard the Nuckelavee scream, telling them that their time was up. Ren looked at Nora, nodding as his bloodrage was lifted from his eyes. As they both got out from under the house, Ren took a deep breath before detaching the blades. He put the smgs away and transformed his blades into half chakrams.

"Nora," said Ren as readied his weapon, "Will you... help me?"

"Of course," smiled Nora, "I get to break its legs!"

"Aim for the horse head," instructed Ren, "I'll pin its arms down, then it's main means of attack will be disposed of. Once I've got them, go for it."

"You got it," replied Nora as she left to get to higher ground.

Ren charged at the Nuckelavee, who shot its arm once again. Ren dodged it and continued forward. The other arm shot forward, and Ren parried this one. As Ren got closer, the arms both came swinging back towards Ren's back. However, Ren predicted this as he did a backflip over the arm before throwing his right hand chakram into the Grimm's hand, pinning it to the ground. The Grimm roared in pain and tried to swing its left arm at Ren, who managed to grab it with his right hand, forming a dragon's claw. He threw the offending hand into the ground before slamming his left weapon onto it, effectively pinning its arms down. With no arms to defend itself and its mobility sealed, Nora leaned back and let gravity take hold of her as she fell down from the tallest building around the area. As she descended down, she grinned as she maneuvered herself in the air, now facing forward to to the ground before slamming _Magnihild_ right on the Nuckelavee's equine head. The Grimm collapsed onto the ground, unable to move at all. It wailed and screamed as it tried to free itself. Nora took this time to swing her hammer, breaking its knees to make sure it couldn't escape.

Ren slowly walked up to it, wielding his father's dagger. It screamed at him, trying to scare Ren away, its blood red eyes glaring at Ren with pure hatred. Ren took a deep breath, focusing on what he was about to do. His Dragon's Marks started to glow inside his gloves, giving him power.

He cut down down both arms in memory of his loving parents. He then cut into the Grimm's chest for everybody he knew that lived in the village. The Grimm looked up weakly, knowing it was going to die.

"For myself, my mates, my family, and my future," proclaimed Ren as he decapitated the Nuckelavee.

Its body dissipated into black mist, rising into the sky. Around the area, the Grimm that SSSN, Jaune, and Pyrrha were dealing with paused at this. Jaune decided to make sure they left by linking up with his dragons and flashing his aura. The Grimm fled at once, knowing their 'commander' was dead and that there was a serious threat in front of them. They quickly ran back to the source of the mist just in time to see Ren and Nora embracing each other in a deep kiss.

"Well, that's sweet," chuckled Sun.

* * *

Salem was pondering about her nefarious plots when she felt one of the special Grimm disappear. She stopped, trying to sense where its last location was. She had the Grimm Seer come to her, looking into it before pinpointing it somewhere in the continent of Anima, south of Mistral.

"Chernobog, could you send some of your agents to investigate a certain location in Anima?" asked Salem.

Chernobog looked up from the table, his hood falling off to reveal a black man with yellow hair braided in cornrows. He had a handsome face with a slash scar on his neck.

"You need our services?" asked Chernobog.

Salem nodded, "I just felt one of my special children die, and I need it investigated."

"Special?" asked Chernobog, "Like a powerful one?"

"No, just a Nuckelavee, and a young one at that," replied Salem, "It's been wandering around for 25 years now, and is a mere child compared to the other ones. But it's still something I want to find out."

"Not a problem," chuckled Chernobog, "I'll have some of my men take a look. It might be the one we're looking for."

With that note, he left the table. Salem frowned for a bit. Sure she wanted the Dragon Clan gone, but she couldn't shake the feeling that these Dragon Slayers were hiding something. She had no choice but to rely on them for the time being, though. Regular Grimm wouldn't fight the dragons, and her own forces were being stretched thin; Hazel was heading towards the White Fang to see if he couldn't persuade Sienna Khan to join forces with her. Tyrian was getting used to his new cybernetic stinger, courtesy of Merlot and Watts. Merlot himself was slowly building her own little android army while also conducting experiments on a select few Grimm. Watt himself was gathering intelligence and managing his spy network. Her three 'candidates' for the other Maidens, Daki Nerys, Briar Rora, and Jazz Misae were at Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo, trying to find the Maidens and …. relieve them of their powers and duty. She still needed to find another candidate for the Fall Maiden, though Watts swore he had a potential candidate by the name of Laire Delma.

They had to be careful after losing the Battle of Beacon. Their plans had been exposed, and all the kingdoms would be on careful watch. The original plan was to steal Fall Maiden's power, kill Ozpin, and blame it all on the White Fang while being unnoticed. That went to hell when Jaune showed up.

"My next plan," murmured Salem, "we will use this time to recover for now and strike at small targets, although if any big ones show up, we will take that chance. But soon, the kingdom of Atlas shall be the one to fall. And it might work even better, considering all new technology is usually from there. With that downfall, the human race will truly be in the dark ages with no new technology to help them. Thus shall happen... at the next Vytal Festival Tournament."

* * *

You heard the boss. We need to investigate the last known coordinates of a certain Grimm. That black mist we saw going into the sky might be the key."

At the continent of Anima, several cloaked figures stood near a fire, ready to leave. They all wore the same badges, a dragon's head on it, but the said head was crushed into the ground, with a green scaled dragon on top of it, looking down evilly. They were all members of the "Dragon Slayers".

"Remember our rules. Slay those who dare worship other dragons. For ours is the one true one above all! Drac, bless our hunt!"

At that, they all dashed away, ready to hunt.

* * *

At another place, a man wearing a ragged cloak was walking down a road. He was at the southernmost area of Anima, heading north. As the winds blew, his hood fell off to reveal a young blonde man with tanned skin. He had a red pupil for his left eye, but he right eye grey. He was completely blind in the right eye, with scars over the said eye. He looked up to the skies for a bit, closing his eyes to feel the wind. He continued forward, heading north. As he faded from view into, he was muttering 'kill them all,' insanely.

* * *

Team JNPR and SSSN finally reached a village named Higanbana to rest for the night. Ren and Jaune had searched his old house for anything useful but found none. Ren did take a photo of his family that was still in there as a keepsake. They rented two rooms for each team, but they met at SSSN's room to plot out their next course of action.

"Okay, according to Neptune and the maps, we need to head to the village of Sion and then go east from it. We should reach some sort of hidden temple with apparently a ton of riddles," announced Sun, losing excitement at the last part, "Why did it have to be riddles!?"

He slammed his head down on the table in depression. The rest of his team patted him on the back in sympathy.

"We'll help any way we can," comforted Jaune, "I've got 7 dragons in my head, so that should help out. Pyrrha and Ren are also good with riddles, too. And if all else fails, we send Nora on demolition duty."

Pyrrha and Ren waved at the mention of their names, while Nora raised her hammer in excitement.

"Mmmk," grumbled Sun from the table, his voice muffled.

"After we get the weapon of his, depending on the time frame if it takes too long, we may need to bolt back to Haven if we wanna make it to the first day of the new year," finished Neptune, "We don't wanna miss out on watching the new recruits being tested."

"Will we make it in time?" asked Sage with his eyebrows raised.

"Uhhh..." stuttered Neptune when Sun raised his head again.

"I already arranged a ship to pick us up back at Sion."

"Why didn't we just fly there in the first place?" sobbed Neptune.

"And miss out on some crazy adventures?" replied Sun, "Plus, the cargo ship is already making a trip to Shion to drop off some supplies. I figured that by the time it arrives, we should be done with our trip. Didn't want to pay to have one drop us off there, and pay again to pick us up."

"Were you even going to pay?" deadpanned Neptune.

"He's got a point," added Scarlet, "You do tend to stow away in ships."

Sun glared at his teammates, who snickered at this. He could only put his head down in response after a few seconds, crying about how his teammates hurt him. Team JNPR could only laugh before retiring to their own rooms.

* * *

They all got up early in the morning and left for the village of Sion. Every now and then, they encountered a few Grimm, but most chose to leave them alone as Jaune flared his Aura every now and then, showing them all they shouldn't fight unless they wanted to. However, because of this, he was giving his location away to the Dragon Slayer group, who was slowly gaining ground, chasing after them.

"Shion, huh," said Jaune out loud while they were traveling, "I remember that place. I went there when I was much younger with my sisters and mother, and once more while I was traveling Remnant."

"Anything exciting?" asked Sun.

"They have a nice hiking trail, and we went camping right over here," replied Jaune, pulling out a map and pointing to the location, "I got my own tent because I was special... that, and to stop my sisters from always braiding my hair into pigtails."

Everyone laughed at this, while Jaune took it with a smile. Then, Scarlet gasped and pointed ahead. Everybody else looked and saw the village of Shion was under attack by Grimm.

"Go go go!" shouted Jaune, taking out his sword and linking with Alaerth immediately. He sprouted wings and grabbed Ren with him, flying straight for the village. Everybody else dashed to catch up.

The two of them got to the village just to see the villagers all crowded in the center, trying to make their last stand. A Huntsman and Huntress were trying their best to protect the villagers, and another two were down for the count, bleeding. The villagers were quickly trying to wrapt their wounds.

"Dammit! If only those damn bandits didn't attack us and round up the villagers to die like this," cursed the Huntsman named Akos as he kept firing with his assault rifle

"Less talking, more killing!" shouted the Huntress named Som as she used her Pinuti sword to dissuade the Creepers incoming.

"Behind you!" shouted Akos as he noticed a Beowolf trying to bite down on Som. He pulled the trigger just to find out he had ran out of bullets. Som tried to dodge, but the Beowolf bit down on her shoulder. She screamed in pain as the Beowolf shook its head before flinging her into Akos. Akos took the hit before trying to toss her to the civilians in hope of trying to buy more time. He turned around just to have a Ursa slash down on him, cutting him in the chest and flinging him into a wall. As he sunk down, he saw the Grimm closing in all the villagers. He cursed as there was nothing he could do. His hand covered his wound as he tried to stem the bleeding. It looked hopeless.

Suddenly, as a Beowolf jumped to attack the civilians, Ren came out of the sky, diving down and slicing the offending Grimm in half. Before anyone could ask, Ren touched the ground with his hand and focused, activating his Semblance. Soon, everyone in the middle felt a weird sensation, as if the colors on them were bleeding out. The Grimm were confused. One minute, there was so many people ready to be ripped apart, and the next second, they had disappeared. They couldn't sense them. Then, they sensed one being they wished they didn't. They looked up to the sky to see Jaune dive bombing into an Ursa, slicing it in half. As he landed, he linked up with all 7 of his dragons to deal with this.

"Did they just come from the air?"

"The Grimm don't seem to see us! Is it because of that boy?"

"Wait, isn't that Jaune Ryu-Long? Hero of Vale!"

"We're saved!"

The villagers cheered with excitement as Jaune took a fighting pose. The Grimm seemed hesitant until one of the Alpha Creepers jumped in to attack. Jaune didn't even let it come close as he stomped the ground and swung his blade, causing an earth spear to spout forth and stab the Grimm. That set off the fight as they all charged at Jaune. As Jaune killed 4 more Grimm, a Beowolf howled before charging in, just in time to be smashed by a hammer. Nora and the others had arrived.

"Let's go!" shouted Pyrrha as they all charged in.

The Grimm was easily dispatched of, and soon, they were tending to the wounded. Ren was leaning against a wall, feeling the effects of using his Semblance on so many people. It had drained his Aura reserves to do so.

"Thanks," grunted Akos as they bandaged his wound.

"What happened here?" asked Jaune.

"Bandits," replied a civilian, "They attacked and rounded us up in the middle. They were going to say something when the Grimm attacked. The bandits fled, leaving our four weakened Huntsmen and Huntresses to fend them off. Thank Oum you all arrived just in time."

"Just doing our job," replied Sun.

Jaune relaxed for a bit, cutting off the link when it happened. Suddenly, 4 poles landed around him, surprising them all before they activated. The poles were filled with gravity Dust, forcing Jaune down to his knees. A second later, he felt something sting on his neck. He reached up and pulled out what seemed to be a needle. He looked at it in confusion before suddenly falling to the ground. He couldn't move at all.

"Jaune!" shouted Pyrrha in surprise. The others quickly grabbed their weapons, trying to find the threat. The civilians quickly ran for cover as the other Huntsmen and Huntresses still wounded were carried away. Sun activated his armor just in time everybody else felt something hit their necks. Pyrrha had been lucky as her neck armor prevented any chance of her neck being targeted, and moved just in time to have the needle bounce off her pauldron. Everybody else who got hit by the needle all suffered the same thing as Jaune, total loss of body control.

"What the hell is going on!?" shouted Sun as he brandished his staff, "How did those needles bypass the natural Aura protection?"

Eight people suddenly appeared, all wearing cloaks. One of them snickered as he pulled out a pipe.

"Those needless are extracted from the ssstingers Rapier Wasps, one of the few animals that bypass Aura," explained the mysterious man, "The only problem is that it can only carry paralytic instead of poison."

"Why attack us? Are you the bandits from before?" said Pyrrha as she narrowed her eyes.

"We can safely say we are not," replied another one, "But our job requires the death of Jaune Ryu-Long. So no hard feelings, but just die."

At once, they all attacked. As they dashed forward, they could see the badge, with a dragon's head on it, but the head was crushed into the ground, with a green scaled dragon on top of it, looking down evilly.

" _ **Son of a!"**_ cursed Lung Wang, _**"That bitch had followers?"**_

" _ **This is bad. Jaune, you must get up now! Focus your Aura on trying to detox the paralysis poison!"**_ commanded Aryz.

'Can't... feel it,' strained Jaune, 'I think those poles are inhibiting the flow of Aura.'

" _ **Then get Pyrrha to bend them away,"**_ suggested Alaerth.

"Pyrrha! Poles!" shouted Jaune, using as much of his own power to call her.

Pyrrha, who was dealing with four of them, threw her shield at one of them to buy herself some time before using her Semblance to move the poles away, hurling them at one of the attackers. The attacker looked surprised before the pole pierced through his body, impaling him onto a wall.

"Careful! Her Ssemblance is polarity! Add to that the fact she has the Mate Mark, she'sss more powerful than she was before!" shouted one of the attackers, who seemed to be the leader. The others nodded and attacked Pyrrha with their weapons, streaming their Aura into their weapons so Pyrrha couldn't hijack it easily. The other four were fighting Sun, who was doing his best. However, during the fight, his weapon finally broke as he blocked his opponent's club.

"Shit!" shouted Sun as he put away his useless weapon and resorted to close quarters combat. Even with his armor, he was at a disadvantage. Pyrrha was now fighting three of them when she had enough. She quickly jumped into the air and channeled her Aura into her Semblance. A few seconds later, kitchenware and anything metallic came flying from the houses. They floated around Pyrrha for a second before she started to command them with hand gestures. She fired a storm of knives and anything sharp towards her opponents, creating a metallic like snake. All seven attacks jumped back to dodge before gathering together. One of them raised his hand as the storm of objects came flying towards them, and with a pulse of Aura, caused several of the objects in the front to rust into dust.

Pyrrha didn't give up, as soon as she saw this happen, she manipulated it so they would surround them before firing them all at once. The same person merely held both hands to each side and spun while pulsing his Aura, causing them all to rust. However, after doing such a defensive move, he collapsed in exhaustion. Pyrrha charged in to attack when one of the others tossed a plastic ball in front of them. It exploded into green gas, enveloping Pyrrha. She quickly jumped out, landing next to Jaune before she started to cough out blood.

"Poison!?' gasped Pyrrha before she fell down to the ground, coughing up more blood.

"No! Pyrrha, hang on I…" Jaune began before he was cut off.

""Ah, how unfortunately lucky," giggled the man who had thrown the ball, "That poison of mine usually kills a human even if you take just a whiff. Must be because of the Mate Mark you're still living. Though maybe not for long."

With a tilt of his head, three of them charged at Sun, keeping him busy. Everybody else was still trying to move with no success. Jaune was busy trying to clear his bloodstream of the poison when one of them stomped his foot on his hand. Another one stomped on his other hand, making sure he wasn't going anywhere. The last one, the leader, sat down on his waist.

'Move dammit!' thought Ren as he tried to get up. He thought about using his Semblance, but he didn't have the Aura to do such a thing after concealing all those civilians. He couldn't even get rid of the paralytic in his body. Still, he struggled, trying to will his whole body to move. Looking up toward the leader, Jaune could barely make out the the light green eyes staring down at him.

"It'sss too bad that you had to be a Dragon Contractor. You might've lived longer," cackled the leader as he raised reached into his cloak pulling out a dagger, before raising it up with his left hand.

"No!" shouted Pyrrha as she tried to use her Semblance. Without even blinking, the leader's hand shot into his cloak and quick drawed a gun before aiming at Pyrrha's face and firing without even looking.

"Pyrrha!" shouted Jaune in horror as he heard the bang, but couldn't see the aftermath as a body was blocking his view

Placing the gun back the man simply laughed at Jaune's misery upon losing his mate "Don't worry, boy, you're next, though you ssshould thank me, her death was far lesss painful then I would have liked it to be. Your heart will be a most delightful sssacrifice to Drac and quite the deliciousss meal~." Rasing the dagger once more, the leader spoke one final time "Ssshame really, Yudoku would've loved to fight you. When you get to the next world, tell em Cobra ssssent you."

And with that, he plunged the knife into Jaune's chest.

* * *

 **Dun dun dunnn! What will happen next? Super mega Jaune? Death? Find out next chapter! Oh, and to those who thought the new group wasn't going to be a threat... well they are. Review if you can, it's much appreciated! More reviews, more motivation and maybe... a faster release time.**

 **Cookies for those who can guess the 'replacement' Maidens I based it off of. Just think of Cinder and what she's based off, and then it should drastically shorten that list.**

 **Quick Overview about the new group**

 **Chernobog: it's a color name, meaning black god. Obviously, I made him black... don't judge me. Leader of the group. My idea/design**

 **Cobra: One of the more powerful fighters. Design by TheMischieviousPuppy. He's the guy with robotic snake, as mentioned earlier. Why doesn't he have it right now? Explained in the next chapter!**

 **Other guys are minions with experience in fighting.**

 **And lastly, a new fighter will arrive. This one comes from wolf master97, who sent me a character oc bios. It actually matched what I had been thinking in general, except he went into great detail with it. So wolf master97, your character shall be revealed next chapter! With edits of mine, of course.**

 **And for the most important part... REVIEW! NAM NAM NAM! Oh, and visit my profile and vote for the next story I should write on.**


	43. Chapter 43 Enemies&Treasures Abound

**New chapter! Hope you enjoy this one! Read and REview!**

* * *

"Jaune!"

Everyone watched in horror as the knife plunged into Jaune's chest. Ren was the one most shaken out of this whole thing. He had failed his duty. He screamed inside his mind as he tried to move, commanding them to obey his brain than be slave to the drug. His fingers twitched as the Dragon Marks began to slightly glow.

As Cobra raised his knife again, he noticed a rather pressing problem. His knife was quite clean. Sharpened daily and polished so no rust was on it, it had been synthesized using a dozen Rapier Wasp stingers and steel to create this blade. So why was there no blood on it? Taking the blade near the front of the hood, a long tongue stretched out and licked the blade, not even the slightest taste of a drop, this personally enraged Cobra. He slashed at Jaune's hoodie just to see a Mithril shirt on him.

"SSSo that's how you lived," mused Cobra as he raised his knife again, "My mistake for being greedy on wanting to taste the heart of a dragon contractor so badly, I was starting from the heart when I should've been aiming for your head instead!"

He tried to stab him once more, only he couldn't, he couldn't move the knife! That's when he noticed a dark glow was enveloping the knife. He looked at Pyrrha and was quite shocked to see her face unharmed. Pyrrha had manipulated her pauldrons to detach and protect her face at the last second before the shot hit. The impact did send her head snapping back, causing her to feel dizzy. However, her desire to save Jaune cleared it up. Watching Jaune being stabbed made her blood run cold.

Cobra tried to shoot Pyrrha by reaching for his gun again, but she forced the dagger he had to plunge into that arm. Cobra hissed in pain, not wanting to make that mistake again, this time he threw another capsule towards Pyrrha. She used her Semblance on her metallic armor to drag herself out of the way as the capsule exploded into a dark green smoke. After she got out, she coughed up blood again, the poison was still running inside her.

"Well, since that nuisance is out of the way, TIME TO DIE!" shouted Cobra as pulled out the dagger and plunged it straight for Jaune's head. Jaune was able to move his arms finally and stopped it, but all his strength wasn't back yet. He caught Cobra's arm as it swung down, but Cobra slowly pushed down. The tip was mere centimeters away from Jaune's eye, with Jaines trained eyesight he can make out Cobra was grinning like crazy. Suddenly, the ground shook, and thunderbolts flew everywhere, Cobra looked up and quickly brought up hid bloody arm to shield himself, the lightning bolt struck Cobra sending him flying back, his minions included. Several were dazed, while Cobra and his top soldiers looked to see Nora had slammed her fist into the ground. Near her mouth was a crushed lightning Dust crystal of the highest purity.

"Get... Away from my ….team!" grunted Nora as she tried to get up. It had taken all her strength to even grab the crystal, and when she found out she couldn't muster the strength to crush it with her hands, she used her teeth. Using all the lighting in the dust crystal when she bit into it, she channeled it into her hand and smashed the ground, sending bolts everywhere. She managed to get on her knees with the lightning circulating through her body, trying to overpower the drug.

"Damn pests," growled Cobra, looking to his arm that he blocked the bolt with, the wound he had was cauterized. "Why don't you just die already?!"

He threw his knife right towards Nora, annoyed at the interruptions. Nora had no way of dodging it, and it looked like it was going for her head. She closed her eyes, ready to die, ignoring everyone yelling. There was a thunk, and the sound of a knife penetrating flesh. However, Nora swore she could still hear everyone yelling. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Ren standing in front of her, arms spread out, back towards her.

"Ren?"

Ren didn't answer, but rather fell back to reveal to Nora a knife. In the chest. On the left side.

"RRREEEEEEENNNNNN!" screamed Nora in anguish.

"No! NO!" shouted Jaune as he slowly got up. The poison was still circulating in his bloodstream, but it was almost neutralized. Immediately he linked up with all seven of the dragons, intent on killing Cobra and those who threatened his friends and mate. Cobra saw it would be a good time to retreat for now.

"Well, it wassssss nice meeting y'all. Ssssshame I couldn't kill you all and feast on your corpses, but least one retainer's down. Drac will rule over all of you! Too-da-fucking-loo!"

With a snap, they all started to retreat, heading south. But before they could run any further, the sound of a gun came from the south, and one of the attackers collapsed, his head now had a gaping hole in it, pouring out blood.

"What!?" shouted Cobra in surprise. Even with a headshot, the man should've had some Aura left to protect him, and even if it shattered, it shouldn't had gone clean through. Instead, there was no sign of Aura protecting him at all.

Everyone looked south except for a sobbing Nora to see a young blonde man with one red eye walking forward. Both his hands carried guns, and one of them was smoking. He looked at Cobra with a questioning gaze.

"What do you want?" spat out Cobra, unsure what this man wanted. He was really getting sick and tired of these interruptions.

"Did you say... Drac? The great Dark Dragon?" asked the man.

"Ah yes! Are you someone who also adores her, since you used her proper title? You're welcome to join our group! We could use a man like you to finish off Jaune Ryu-Long right now. We-"

Cobra didn't finish as the man raised his weapon and fired at them. They were forced to dodge, but the man managed to somehow predict their movements easily and shot them in the legs. Cobra was the only one who managed to escape, though not without a scratch.

"Damn, if only I hadn't turned my weapons in for repairs and upgrades," muttered Cobra before tossing another poison ball at the insane man, who shot it in midair. Cobra used it as a smokescreen to escape, leaving all the other attackers on the floor. The man walked forward and shot another one in the head. Even when they begged for mercy, he didn't hesitate and killed them all.

'Guess that's over,' sighed Jaune.

" _ **Jaune, be careful. This man is dangerous,"**_ warned Lung Wang.

A second later, Jaune had to bring his shield up to block a bullet from piercing his head.

"What was that for?!" shouted Jaune as he brought his shield down just to look at the man glaring at him.

"You're also my enemy,"

"What? But I'm not part of... that crazy group!" replied Jaune, "None of us are!"

"But you're still in a form of contact with dragons," answered the man, "None of the dragons can be trusted. Anyone in contact with them must either break off or die."

With that, the man fired more shots at Jaune. He immediately summoned a stone wall, but had to dodge when he saw them pierce through it easily. As he was dodging, he found out that the bullets pierced right through his Aura as if it wasn't there.

"Oh what next?!" Jaune shouted in frustration as he thought 'This man is clearly dangerous. His attacks ignores Aura protection. Good thing Othim drove the point of learning how to dodge.'

" _ **Told you it would be useful,"**_ laughed Othim, _**"Never rely on your Aura to always protect you."**_

" _ **But who is this man, and why does his grudge extend to all dragons?"**_ questioned Aryz.

" _ **... I think I might**_ _ **have a theory**_ _ **,"**_ announced Ryo-Wo, **"** _ **Jaune, try asking about Drac."**_

'Who is this Drac?'replied Jaune.

" _ **We'll explain more about her later,"**_ stated Fafnir, _**"Just... ask for now."**_

"Hey!" shouted Jaune as he shifted his shield to hand cannon mode and started to fire back, "What's with you and Drac?"

At this, the man's expression turned into rage as he fired more bullets at Jaune, who was forced to duck behind his shield.

"Drac... DRAC! I'LL KILL HER! SHE AND THE REST OF HER KIND WILL DIE!"

" _ **That answers it. This person has to have met her in the past,"**_ said Andusk, _**"And this man... his current body does not match the true age."**_

Jaune rolled away and fired a blade beam at the man, who easily dodged it and rushed forward. He pocketed his guns and threw a palm strike. Jaune blocked it with his forearm guard, but was surprised to see sparks and hear metal clashing against metal.

"What?"

Jaune looked closely to see the man was wearing rough gloves with knives embedded inside. What was worse was this man seemed to be an expert in close combat. The man kicked him away, and the two stared at each other. It was a stand off now, who would make the first move, who would strike-

"Yahoo!"

Suddenly, Sun came jumping in with a drop kick to the head. Even though he attacked from behind, the man dodged it without even looking. He grabbed the leg and threw Sun into the ground.

"Ow…"

Just before the man's hands went straight for Sun's face, Jaune intercepted with his sword, swinging as hard as he could. The blade stopped the hand, but neither budged. Jaune threw a fist, but the man caught it and squeezed. Jaunce winced in pain as the blades dug into his fist, once again ignoring his Aura protection. He tried a head butt, but the man somehow predicted it again and let go of his fist and sword just to knee Jaune in the face.

Jaune stumbled back, and the man grabbed his pistol and aimed it at Jaune to fire. Sun quickly got up, spun on his back before launching himself in the man's arm and kicking the said arm. His shot went wild, and he growled in anger. Sun, however, from his pocket, drew out a pocket knife and slashed at the man. He was surprised to see it cut flesh.

He wasn't able to keep it up as the man focused on him and punched Sun in the gut. Sun was sent backwards, but he rolled back and recovered, although winded. He was lucky he was in his armor form, otherwise that punch might've ruptured some organs. The man stared down at Sun and Jaune, who were wary of him.

"This isn't right," muttered Jaune as he took a peek to see a paling Ren, "We don't have time for this, but this man seems to be able to predict our moves easily."

"Think it's a semblance?" asked Sun.

"Maybe, but if it is, then we don't have time for this."

The man pulled out his pistol and was about to fire when they heard, "STOP!"

A child ran out to the middle of the fight and put his hands outstretched. He looked at the man with a childish glare.

"Don't hurt them. They saved us!"

The man stared at the child for a bit. It looked like the child's plea was going to work when the man, without any hesitation, pointed his gun at the child and fired.

The child almost died if Jaune hadn't intervened and summoned a gust of wind to blow the child away, making the shot miss, clipping the boy's hair. The child stared in fear at this cruel man's attack. Suddenly, the two other Huntsman and Huntress that had been unconscious stepped forth and stood between the man and everybody else.

"Leave," said the Huntsman, "We've already sent an SOS, and Mistralian forces will be arriving soon. And I don't think you want to fight all of us."

The man made a tsk noise before pocketing his guns, turning around to leave. If he was lucky, maybe he could still catch up to the man called Cobra. As he was about to vanish into the distance, he turned around.

"I am Ezekial Liu-Wang!" shouted the man, "If you all know what's good for you, stop all contact with the dragons. They will use you like a puppet before throwing you away. As for Jaune Ryu-Long, I fear it is too late for you. I will free you from your imprisonment with your death. You'll thank me for it."

With that, he left, running after where he thought he last saw Cobra running.

With the enemies gone, the villagers rushed out to help.

"Get these boys to bed to rest!"

"Prep up the medical room! This boy's going into shock!"

"We don't have one! The bandit's looted that..."

"Then FUCKING MAKE ONE! WE CAN'T LET THIS BOY DIE AFTER SAVING US!"

* * *

Ren was quickly rushed into a room, where the village doctor was prepping up for surgery. Nora was still in shock that they had to carry her away. Pyrrha was also rushed into another room to treat the poison. Her skin was starting to turn green. All in all, only Sun and Jaune were standing while their team was down. They looked at each other, their fists tightened that blood spilled out. Especially Jaune. He hated this feeling of... losing. It was true they had been ambushed, but they should not had let their guards down so easily after preventing a Grimm attack.

"I hate this feeling," grumbled Sun.

Jaune could only look to see his team falling apart. Ren was in a life threatening situation, Pyrrha was trying to drive out the poison in her body, and Nora was in shock. He was angry, but there was nothing he could take his anger out on. He swore the next time he seen Cobra, he will kill him if it's the last thing he'll do.

"I need to train more," growled Jaune, "I need to get stronger, I need to be strong enough that something like this will never happen again."

Night fell upon them, and a few Mistralian airships arrived with supplies and personal. Any medics were immediately sent to Ren and Pyrrha to patch them up. Some tried to help the villagers and the other Huntsmen, but they all refused, saying those two were top priority. Nora was laid down in another room, still in shock. Jaune wanted to stay with Ren and Pyrrha, but was rebuffed, saying they couldn't afford any distractions. In the end, he stayed with team SSSN.

"So... Like, what are we gonna do now?" asked Scarlet.

Nobody answered as they were still depressed from the situation.

"Sun needs his new weapon now, more than ever," answered Jaune, "Your team can go look for it. I have to stay with mine. I'm sorry I can't help you guys out."

"We can't just leave you here to defend your team and the village by yourself," cried Neptune, "That's crazy! What if those guys come back?"

"Then I'll kill them," replied Jaune coldly, "I dunno how they managed to avoid my Aura sense, but it won't happen again."

"I don't think you need to worry about taking care of them by yourself," said Sun, "Mistral sent a team of Huntsmen here to help protect while this village gets itself back on its feet."

As they were discussing, Sage slammed his fist into the wall. They all looked at him in surprise.

"I was useless... AGAIN!" shouted Sage, "First the tournament, and now this? I got taken out of the fight before I could do anything."

He looked to Sun in shame, "I don't think I'll be any use in your hunt, to be honest. I'd probably hold you guys back. From what you said, it's a riddle and maze, and those aren't my strong points. If Jaune lets me, I'll stay here to help protect his team. Jaune should go with you guys. He can provide enough muscle, and with those dragons of his, can also help with any riddles."

"You sure?" asked Scarlet. When Sage nodded, Scarlet sighed, "Then I'll stay back too. It's probably better this way. I might get in the way, too."

Neptune was about to volunteer to stay behind, but Sun intercepted first, "Neptune, you're coming with me. I need the intellectual with me."

Neptune sighed, but agreed. Jaune looked conflicted. He wanted to help Sun acquire his weapon, but he didn't want to leave his mate and retainers behind. The whole attack had thrown their original plans into shambles.

Sage stood up, noticing Jaune's hesitation, and kneeled in front of him, "Jaune. I swear I'll protect your team on my life. Nothing will get past them, even over my dead body."

"What he said," added Scarlet, "If it weren't for them, I don't think we'd have lived if team SSSN went here alone."

Jaune looked at them with gratitude, but he hadn't made his choice.

"Give me a bit of time," requested Jaune, "I want to see how my team's doing before making any decision."

And with that, he left to go check on them.

As he passed by a few houses, the villagers were all thanking him and his friend for their heroic deeds, Jaune, however, still felt empty inside. He finally reached the makeshift hospital and entered. He looked to see an oxygen mask on Pyrrha's face while Nora laid in the next bed beside her. He looked left to see an operating room still being used.

Jaune pulled up a chair, sitting next to Pyrrha, grabbing her hand.

"Please... Make it through for me," whispered Jaune, "All of you."

And with that he fell asleep, sitting on the floor while his head was on her bed, hand still clasped on hers.

* * *

Jaune opened his eyes to see he was in his mindscape with all seven dragons, looking troubled.

"So, who is this Drac?" asked Jaune, "I saw their badges. It was a green dragon standing on top of another dragon as if conquering them."

" _ **Drac, the Invisible Dragon,"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"A traitor of our race."**_

" _ **It all began when we, the dragon race, w**_ _ **ere**_ _ **about to leave Remnant,"**_ sighed Alaerth.

" _ **Most of us agreed it was time for us to leave,"**_ began Ryo-Wo, _**"But there were a few of us who thought we should stay."**_

" _ **The Dragon Clan that we left behind as a legacy wasn't enough for them,"**_ continued Fafnir, _**"They wanted to ensure that the dragon race was to be remembered."**_

" _ **Out of all of them, the most evil one was Drac,"**_ growled Andusk, _**"She wanted to stay and all the races, saying it was their right. She even tried to lie when it was time to leave, saying she forgot something, and that she would catch up."**_

" _ **We caught her lie,"**_ said Aryz, _**"And confronted her**_ _ **, but it was t**_ _ **here**_ _ **that**_ _ **she showed her true nature and tried to kill us. There were a few dragons that allied with her, sharing the same thoughts. In the end, a short war raged on, and we were forced to kill them."**_

" _ **To think that bitch used to be part of the shadow dragons,"**_ growled Othim.

"But it seemed like she was alive," questioned Jaune, "Those guys were all worshiping her."

" _ **She is dead,"**_ replied Othim, _**"I saw to that myself."**_

"Then who are they worshiping?" asked Jaune.

" _ **Who knows,"**_ sighed Lung Wang, _**"Could be someone posing as a dragon."**_

"What about the man named Ezekial?"

" _ **That... we don't know,"**_ murmured Ryo-Wo, _**"He seems to have a grudge on all dragons, especially Drac, though. Maybe**_ _ **a human who has spoken to Drac herself.**_ _ **"**_

* * *

Cobra was panting in a hidden area as he dialed to Chernobog. Taking off his hood, it was revealed to be a man who looked to be just a few years older than Jaune, shaggy white hair that was long enough on one side to partially cover his left eye. His light green eyes had slit pupils that definitely resembled a snake. He snarled, enraged from having to run away, baring his front four canine teeth which was larger and sharper than most. Especially the top two fangs. On his cheekbones, just below the eyes, were patches of scales.

"Oum damn that bastard," groaned Cobra, as he placed some ointment on the bullet scratch that hit his arm. "If only I had _Yūdoku_ , I would've won. But no, I just had to turn them in for repairsss and upgradessss."

Soon, Chernobog's face showed up in his Scroll.

"Cobra. Did you sacrifice the ones you were sent for to Drac?"

"We had some problemssss," sighed Cobra as he reached into his cloak pulling out a small bag, taking out what looked to be a black pill, he popped in into his mouth and crunched on it, shivering at the disgusting taste. "I know these pills are sssuppose to help us, but remind me why I can't kill the doctor of the bitch who made these?.."

"Explain." Chernobog demanded ignoring Cobra's last question.

"Every one of my crew is dead. All of them. We found Jaune Ryu-Long and tried to kill him. I'm pretty sure we got one of his friends, and potentially his mate if the poison worked. However, before we could finish them off, some crazy bastard interrupted our hunt. Some blonde one eyed man with dual pistols that seemed to ignore any Aura protection."

"Did this man have scars on his face?" asked Chernobog sharply, "And a red eye?"

"Yeah. Why you know him or something?" Cobra asked with a raised eyebrow.

Chernobog closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before touching the scar on his throat. His face twitched as he remembered how he got it.

"His name is Ezekial Liu-Wang. He was the one who gave me this scar," snarled Chernobog, "Left me for dead. Luckily, Drac clearly though it was not my time yet. Avoid him if possible. His weapons and attacks bypass any Aura protection as if they don't exist. It's part of his corrupted Aura and Semblance."

"What if he allies with Jaune?" asked Cobra

"He won't," smiled Chernobog, "He hates all dragons. If anything, he'll be our enemy and our ally at the same time. If we're lucky, he's killed Jaune and all his friends for us."

"And why does he hate dragons?" asked Cobra, puzzled at this.

"Don't know," replied Chernobog, "The only thing I can tell you is that man has never aged a day. The last time I saw him was 30 years ago when I got this scar. I presume he still looks in his 20s?"

Cobra gulped and nodded.

"Thought so. Return to base for now. Your weapons are almost finished with the upgrades."

Cobra grinned before signing off. With his injuries being healed, he grabbed an item from inside his bag and grinned. From the bag, he extracted out some sort of blood red ring before donning it on his fingers. His Aura pulsed before he sped off towards the extraction point, blurring through the forest.

* * *

Ezekial was walking through the jungle before he frowned and instantly punched a tree. The tree snapped in half on impact. He had lost track of Cobra. One moment he could feel his aura just a yard away, the next he vanished.

"Dammit. There goes my link to Drac. Must've used something to hide or run, like a little cowardly snake."

Ezekial Liu-Wang was not a normal human. He had lived when dragons still existed, when the two brothers had left Remnant. He had been a naive man then. One day, the female dragon named Drac offered him the chance to become one of them and potentially become her mate if he followed her orders. He became consumed by the lust for that kind of power, so he blindly obeyed and killed others, all for her. When he fulfilled all her wishes, he was betrayed. She laughed at him, saying that it was impossible for him to even think about becoming like them, and even more to become her mate, that she was just playing with him for fun. She cursed him to live out his life full of emptiness. He could not mate with others, and she made him infertile and unable to become erect. He was immortal, but at too great of a cost. He had abandoned his own family for her!

Full of anger and lust for vengeance, he stole a special cream that she had made for to rub on her dragon eggs, and without care, put some on his eyelids. The cream had been something that was specially made for Drac's own kin. The resulting consequence was that it changed his eye color, corrupted his own Aura, and gave him precognition of about two seconds ahead if he was paying attention to a person. However, Drac found out and attacked him, toying with him before slashing one of his eyes making him blind. Drac was too fast for him to predict, and even when he did, he didn't have the reaction time. She would've killed him, if it wasn't for the fact that she spent too long toying with him for the other dragons to arrive. A fierce battle raged, and he escaped with his life.

But he looked back and saw the dragons raze down villages because of their battle. The lives of Humans and Faunus alike were lost. It was then he believed that all dragons were evil, and was glad to see them depart. When he heard of the Dragon Clan, he sneered at it. He didn't actively hunt them, but if he crossed paths with them, then his fingers would... slip. Over the years, he changed weapons, going along with the times. He saw cities and regimes rise and fall. But it didn't matter to him. He didn't care. All he wanted was the death of Drac's daughter, who had named herself Drac to honor her mother.

He found about his existence many years ago when he came across a group. They bragged about worshiping Drac. This put the spark of life back in him, as he had been wandering Remnant without any real emotions. He killed the group, and cut the throat of the last one before leaving. He soon regretted it as he forgot to ask for the location of their headquarters so he could kill more of Drac's followers. He ran back just to see the boy whose throat he cut had disappeared. And so, he kept with his search, doing odd jobs and hunts to eat, even if he didn't need to. He could not starve to death, though it annoyed him. The only way to die was be killed in battle, and nothing else.

"I will end you all," growled Ezekial, "And show them humanity is not something they can toy with."

* * *

Jaune woke up around six am to find that someone had draped a blanket around him while he slept next to Pyrrha. He shook his head to clear any drowsiness and saw that Pyrrha was looking a bit better. He stretched and saw Ren in a bed... with a white cloth over the top of his face.

"No..." whispered Jaune in horror. He quickly got up and ran over to him, hesitantly he slowly put his hands on Ren's face... to feel it was rather quite warm.

"Shhhh. He's sleeping."

He looked to see Nora with a finger on her lips, shushing him before slapping his hands away.

"Ren usually likes to put a sleeping mask on when he sleeps, but I didn't know where he put his. So I grabbed a cloth to substitute it," explained Nora.

"Oum dammit, Nora, you scared me," sighed Jaune, "I thought he was dead! You do realize a white cloth on somebody's head means death!"

"Na, just sleeping. Luckily the dagger didn't penetrate all the way through and knicked his heart. Once they got the dagger out, they had Aura transfer packets to help heal him. It was still quite a shock."

"What about you?" asked Jaune in concern.

Nora shivered, curling into a ball, "I thought I lost him. So many times, I imagined him as my shining knight. Only this time, it became a nightmare. I don't want to feel that again. It was already painful when we thought we lost you and then saw Pyrrha get shot."

Jaune nodded before telling Nora to look out for them before finding a doctor. The doctor assured him that both of them would be fine, but needed serious bed rest for a while. Jaune thanked him and walked out to see what he could do to help out the village. It was an hour later when team SSSN stepped out of the inn they had been staying at.

"Made up your mind?" asked Sun, "I'd prefer to leave as soon as possible."

"Yes," replied Jaune, "I just need to write a note for them, telling them I'm safe."

He quickly dashed back to the room, jotted down a quick note before leaving. Nora had ended up falling back asleep again. The doctor told him that when Nora finally snapped out of her shock, Ren had just finished his surgery. She stayed awake the whole night, making sure nobody could hurt her team. She was the one who put a blanket on Jaune.

Sage and Scarlet bid them good luck and went to stand guard at the medical room. Sage took this chance to do his practice swings while Scarlet scouted the perimeter.

* * *

As Neptune, Jaune, and Sun traversed west of Sion, they went through some heavy jungle.

"Hey Sun. Your weapon broke, right?" asked Jaune.

"Yea, still got the parts though," replied Sun, "Uncle Pig said to present my old one to the original _Jingu Banyu_ and it should mimic its form."

"Then where'd you get that staff?" asked Neptune, looking up from the tome he had been reading.

Sun was carrying a staff on his back that they had not seen him use a few days ago.

"Borrowed it from the village," answered Sun.

Back in the village of Sion, one of the village defenders was scratching his head in confusion. His staff was gone. Did the bandits steal it? But why?

Neptune and Jaune glanced at each other and sighed, knowing he most likely stole it. Neptune wasn't paying attention and accidentally stepped into a puddle, and somehow jumped onto Sun's back.

"Dude... You gotta get over this," deadpanned Sun.

"Get over what?" asked Neptune.

" _ **Really?"**_ deadpanned the dragons and Jaune.

Seeing their gaze, he grumbled, "Okay, Okay... I'm working on it."

Soon enough, they were at the base of a very high cliff.

"So... are we going up?" asked Sun. Jaune was ready to spread his wings when Neptune stopped them.

"No... we should be at the entrance, according to this tome," said Neptune, "All these stupid riddles, took me almost forever to solve them, but we should be standing in near the entrance. Look around. See if you can find anything suspicious."

"He's right," said Jaune as he placed his hand on the ground, linking up with Fafnir, "There's a cave entrance hidden here that leads underground."

"Can't you use your link and shift the entrance?" asked Sun.

"I could, but there's a hidden mechanism," replied Jaune, "If anybody uses brute force to open the entrance, it floods the cave with water. I can go in, but you guys…..."

"Let's not get too hasty," sputtered Neptune, "There has to be some sort of key or switch."

They were looking around the area when Sun noticed a tree with a carving of a monkey. The same monkey as his necklace.

 _Don't forget the necklace!_

'I wonder, was Uncle Pig right?' though Sun as he pulled his necklace out and placed it on the carving. It shone for a bit, and behind him, an entrance appeared with stairs leading down.. Sun quickly called Jaune and Neptune over, inspecting the entrance for a bit before finally going in. As soon as Neptune, who was the last to go in, stepped inside, the entrance behind them sealed shut, leaving them all in the dark.

"Hehehehe... that's not creepy at all," said Neptune nervously.

Sun, with his natural night vision due to his Faunus heritage, and Jaune, with his dragon eyes, they were able to see in the dark. Neptune put on his goggles that gave him some night vision ability, but not as good as theirs. They continued through the cave corridor until they found an open area. Suddenly, torches placed in the room all lit up as one, revealing a podium in the middle of the cave. In the podium were multiple gloves and a tablet with letters they didn't recognize.

"Any idea what this says?" asked Sun.

Neptune shrugged before looking into the tome, trying to see if there was any hints.

"Damn. Wish Professor Oobleck or Professor Horton from Haven was here," muttered Sun.

For some reason, they all could've sworn they heard two voices yelling from very far away saying "Doctor!"

" _ **Hmm. Haven't seen this alphabet before,"**_ declared Othim.

" _ **I have,"**_ said Lung Wang, _**"I'll translate it, you tell them."**_

"Guys, one of my dragons say they recognize the language," replied Jaune as looks over the tablet and repeats what it says.

 _Tablet Description_

 _Those who wish to seek the room of treasure,_

 _Must undertake the trials ahead._

 _Wear a glove to test your courage,_

 _And proceed to the corridor assigned,_

 _Where no protection will aid you._

 _Only one per corridor and all must reach the end and push the switch._

 _Or forever perish._

"That... doesn't sound good," worried Neptune.

"I'm sure we can do this," scoffed Sun, grabbing a glove and inspecting it. It seemed like a normal one.

"How about I stay here, and you two go in?" suggested Neptune.

"I don't think you'd have a way out," replied Jaune, "The entrance sealed itself, remember?"

"Crap," sighed Neptune before grabbing a glove.

They all looked at each other and nodded, simultaneously putting on the glove. Sun had to take off his first before putting it on. They felt their Aura somehow recede into them, and all felt cold.

"Whoa," gasped Sun, "I can't feel or use my Aura."

"Guess that's what they meant by no protection," mused Jaune, "Guess we'll have to do this trial without Aura protecting us."

"Great..," sighed Neptune.

What was a bit concerning was that they couldn't take the gloves off at all. It had attached to them like a second skin.

The trio looked around to see three doors sliding open. Nodding to each other, they each took one and entered with their weapons ready. The tome was stuffed into Jaune's bag so they didn't have to be burdened by it. The doors slid down, closing behind them.

* * *

Pyrrha woke up, finding herself staring at the ceiling. Then, she remembered what had happened. With a jolt, she got off the bed, hoping to see someone. She looked around just to see an empty room.

"No," panicked Pyrrha, thinking the worst had happened, "No, no, no, no!"

She slammed the door open and ran out just to see Nora outside stretching, with Ren sitting on a chair. Sage was practicing his swings a bit away. She didn't see Jaune anywhere though.

"If you're looking for Jaune, he went ahead with Sun and Neptune," shouted Ren, who had noticed Pyrrha's panicked face, "But you might want to apologize to Scarlet."

Pyrrha looked back at the door to see it slowly closing to reveal Scarlet in a fetal position. Apparently, by complete and horrible luck, the door knob had slammed right into Scarlet's nuts.

"I'm sorry!" shouted Pyrrha in horror at what she had done.

"Next time... I'm getting a permanent cup for down here," whimpered Scarlet as he rocked back and forth.

* * *

Jaune was walking through the corridor of darkness. Thanks to the glove, he wasn't able to use dragon eyes, although his vision had been improving a bit with all the training he had done, thankfully. It wasn't as perfect as a natural Faunus night vision, but it allowed him some vision. What was even more unnerving was that the glove was also making communications with the dragons a bit fuzzy. Lung Wang and the others took this as an opportunity for Jaune to overcome this trial by himself, something he agreed to. He needed to be stronger. That image of watching Ren almost dying in front of him made him quake with rage, not to mention almost losing Pyrrha. He stepped forward just to hear a click and the sound of slots suddenly opening from the right side. He immediately brought his shield up to the right and crouched beneath it. Arrows came flying out, but most of of it struck _Dragonscales_ while the others missed.

"Hope the others are doing as well as I am," said Jaune out loud as he continued forward before jumping to dodge a flying axe coming low.

* * *

"Oh crap!"

Sun had almost fallen into a spike pit, but he used his tail to grab a jutting rock, stopping in time. His head was one centimeter from being impaled. He looked around to see a few skulls, signifying that some people had come here before and died.

"Wonder how they even got in without my necklace," mused Sun before shrugging. He quickly climbed back out of the pit and took merely two steps before another pit trap activated, this time with some sort of liquid at the bottom. Sun slammed his staff into the wall before flipping himself onto it.

"That doesn't seem too dangerous," wondered Sun before a banana he had taken slipped out of his pocket and landed into the liquid. It immediately dissolved before his eyes. It was an acid trap!

"Ok, never mind! I take it back!" squeaked Sun before getting back up to land and continuing his path.

* * *

"NOOOO! WHY! WHY WHY WHY!"

Neptune was in a dilemma. So far, there had been no traps for him as he went down his path. There was some water dripping from the ceiling, but he avoided it as much as possible. However, his path was now leading him into a pool of water. He couldn't just jump across, as there was a solid wall with spikes on it. He tried to see if there was any other way.

"Dammit!" cursed Neptune. It seemed like there was no other way.

"I'll just head back. I'm sure they can do this without me," said Neptune before shaking his head. "No. Remember what the plaque said. All of us have to make it through."

He began to argue with himself, trying to make excuses. The side that said to go back was winning when a sudden realization struck him.

" _I trust you, man. You're my best bud, and you've always had my back!"_

Sun had said these words to him when they were young, and they had always covered each other. But now, Neptune was thinking about backstabbing them just because of his stupid fear.

"Enough!" shouted Neptune to his cowardly side, "I've had this fear with me for long enough! I am Neptune Vasilias! I was named after the king of seas! For me to be afraid of my own dominion is not cool. Today, I conquer it!"

And with that, he took a deep breath and dove into the water. He had basic swimming lessons before he feared the water due to an incident. At first, he slightly panicked, but he overrode his own fear and kept going. He soon saw that he was dealing with an underwater maze. Luckily, there were air holes for him to go up for air. He continued down his path, using his instincts as well as hidden guideposts written on the walls.

"Whew! Finally made it," gasped Jaune. His usual hoodie was torn, but he was thankful f

* * *

or all that dodging Othim drove into him. There were scratches all over him, but other than that, he was fine. He saw a suspicious looking hole at the end of his path and nothing else. Shrugging and having nothing else to lose, he stuck gloved hand inside. There was some sort of gear noise, and the glove he wore dissipated. Jaune felt his Aura return to him and felt his injuries heal. Seeing as there was nothing else to do, he sat down and began to meditate.

"Dangit. My shirt's all gone. Well, guess everyone can see my abs now, but there's nobody to show it off to."

Sun had reached the end of his path after dodging pit traps and falling spikes from the ceiling. For some reason, one of them involved a piano. Sun had no idea why, but it was effective as it almost crushed him. One of the walls had opened a hole and shot out acid onto the back of his shirt. Sun quickly got rid of it before it could touch his skin, but he went through the rest of it without his shirt. He sneezed quite a few times because it was so cold. He put his gloved hand inside the hole, letting it dissolve his glove. He felt his Aura come back and sighed in relief. Now he merely had to wait for the other two.

Ten minutes later, the wall with the hole suddenly moved upwards, creating a passage for Jaune and Sun to go through. They quickly ran through their own passages just to meet up in another big room.

"See you got through yours, though not without scratches," observed Sun, noticing the rips on Jaune's hoodie and pants.

"What about you? You're not wearing your usual white open shirt," asked Jaune.

"Acid trap. It hit my shirt, and so I had to get rid of it before the acid got to my skin," answered Sun.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The two of them turned to the source of the noise and had their mouths open in surprise when they saw Neptune entering the room completely wet.

"Neptune? Buddy are you ok?" asked Sun in concern. He knew Neptune's fear of water, and to see him drenched in said fear was a cause for concern.

"I'm... fine," replied Neptune, "You owe me one. I had to go swimming for my corridor and navigate through a maze. It was annoying! On the plus side, I'm no longer that afraid of water now."

With that, he fainted on the ground.

"You know what? I'm proud of him," said Sun after a moment of silence, "He's been terrified of the water ever since _that_ incident."

"What incident was that?" asked Jaune.

"Can't tell. It's one of the things I can actually keep my mouth shut about," replied Sun, "But what now?"

As if to answer his question, a pedestal arose from the middle of the room. On that pedestal was a staff that was red with golden tips, elegantly crafted from what looked to be of stone.

"That's the legendary weapon that my ancestor used?" asked Sun in confusion. It certainly didn't look like much.

" _ **Ah, the original Ruyi Jingu,"**_ grinned Lung Wang, _**"It doesn't look much, but it packs a wallop. Especially since it can change its shape easily on command. That, and it weighs about 8.775 ton, making it pretty much impossible for enemies to use it against him."**_

Jaune quickly told Sun that, who raised his eyebrow in doubt but stepped up to grab it. With a grunt, he pulled on the staff. Only to find it incredibly hard to pull it out.

"URGGGG!" groaned Sun as he tried to pull it out. Jaune quickly went over and tried to help him, but even with the two of them, they were unable to make it budge even a little. Trying to lift it upwards almost caused their backs to break.

"Okay! That won't work!" cried Jaune as the two blondes quickly let go, putting their hands on their back.

Neptune had woken up from hearing their backs cracking before asking Jaune for the tome again. The trio sat in the cave, eating some food Jaune had stashed in his bag and resting. Neptune was trying to find any hints for the staff when he came up with an idea.

"We can use Aura now! That means you should go into your armor mode, Sun! Maybe the staff will recognize you in that mode."

"Worth a shot," added Jaune.

Sun shrugged before focusing a little and donning his armor again. They heard some rocks crumbling and looked to see the staff was moving a little towards Sun, as if trying to reach him. Sun took a few cautious steps forward before placing his hand on the staff. It felt warm to his touch. He closed his eyes, gripping the staff with both his hands, and then with a shout, lifted the staff out of the pedestal. It felt so much lighter that any weapons he had used, and yet at the same time, he could tell that this weapon was heavy.

"Wonder how this extending thing works?" wondered Sun as he pointed it to the ceiling, "Do I just say Ruyi Jingu Bang, extend?"

He said this with a sarcastic tone, but all of a sudden, the staff extended up into the air, crashing right through the ceiling and kept going through.

"Huh. Neat," said Sun in amazement, "What about... Expand?"

Since Sun wasn't really thinking about his command on how big to expand, it suddenly expanded nearly the same size of the cave they were in.

"Holy Shit!" shouted Neptune, "Shrink it down, otherwise it'll kill us!"

"Umm, how?" panicked Sun, not noticing that even with its sudden size expansion, he had no problems holding it.

"Say shrink!" suggested Jaune.

"Shrink! Go back to being small! Go small! Retract! Go thin! Become normal!"

The staff shrunk back to its normal size, but there was now a gaping hole that led back to the surface. Suddenly, rocks started to collapse in on them.

"Grab on!" shouted Jaune as he sprouted yellow scaled wings. Sun and Neptune quickly grabbed onto him, but Jaune found it hard to fly because of the staff weight.

" _ **Tell Sun to shrink the staff so he can put it behind his ears and also command it to recognize you as an ally,"**_ Aryz told Jaune quickly.

Sun did as suggested, making Jaune feel a lot less weight now. With a mighty flap, the three of them flew up towards the sky, dodging falling rocks. Finally, they hit the skies, for above ground level. Jaune decided to use this and fly them back to Sion.

"You did good Neptune," smiled Sun, still holding onto Jaune's arm, "Does that mean you'll be able to use your Semblance, since your fear is almost gone?"

"Maybe," replied Neptune, "We'll have to see. I've held us back long enough."

"You've never done that," replied Sun, "None of us sees it that way. And none of us really blames you for your fear because of that incident. Instead, you found another way to improve yourself. That's all that matters, that you find someway to help and improve."

"Thanks," grinned Neptune before putting his fist up. Sun pounded it as the sun was setting, and Jaune was approaching Sion.

* * *

 **Whew. Getting a bit rougher now that I'm making my own storyline now, but hopefully, my muse won't run dry anytime soon.**

 **Usual thanks to all my beta readers, UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever for helping out.**

 **Cobra, who's face has been revealed, is a character made by TheMischieviousPuppy.**

 **And the newest character, Ezekial Liu-Wang, was created by wolf master97. Funny how it went, as he sent me the OC profile as a challenge to see if any OC made can make it to the story. Of course, I've put in my spin onto it, but the basic design is his. He's what I'm attempting at... a gray character. Blurring between the lines. Get's a promise, other side breaks it, and he pays for it.**

 **Draco... well if you like mythology, go look it up! Funny thing is that when I originally went at this story, I was going to try to use French dragon lores as the contracts, but most of them all have them as evil dragons. Must be a western culture thing, as eastern culture identifies them as good, and some bad.**

 **So yea, there are evil dragons. Woot.**

 **Also, new weapon for Sun! I'll obviously have some limitations on it, but for now, enjoy it! Also, I've been brainstorming what Neptune's Semblance could be, and I think I've got one! So sorry people who wants to give me suggestions, but I've already made it. Hurray for Neptune facing his fears head on!**

 **And now for the most important part of this message... REVIEW!** **REVIEW!** **REVIEW! Ok I'm done. See ya'll next time, next chapter will be focusing on the friends in the North. Oh, and poll, go vote on my profile on next story.**


	44. Chapter 44 Team RWBY at Atlas

**Sorry for the long wait people! Had a bit of trouble planning some parts out, as well as life being... life. Anyways, I'm sorry to say I will not be doing the scheduled weekly postings anymore unless you want quality of my work to drop. I will still try to release as fast as I can, but a week is too much. Instead, it will be more like bi-weekly to even tri-weekly updates, although I might still update in a week, depending on my muse. Thanks for still following, though, and I'll still continue this story and see it to completion!**

 **And now, for your story! Enjoy and review!**

* * *

Back at Atlas, team RWBY was living at the Schnee manor for the while. Jacques had initially flinched and held back words of protest when he saw that Blake, a Faunus woman, would be living with them for a brief time, but he had learned to swallow that arrogance before welcoming them in. Whitley, however, scoffed when he saw her. He did, however, keep on trying to find some private time alone with Ruby. He tried to persuade her with flowers at first, before finding it ineffective. He then switched to jewelry and other fashionable items, only to find it just as useless.

"I don't get it!" shouted Whitley in his own room, "Why can't I seduce her!?"

He had been very displeased to learn that Weiss would still retain the heiress position even though she was going to be part of a harem. He thought for sure that she would have to surrender the right and he would receive the title of heir to the company, but apparently, since Jaune was given the title 'Hero of Vale', it was good enough to continue the Schnee line. Whitley growled, trying to imagine him as his brother-in-law. If anyone should have a harem, it should be him! Even if he didn't inherit the Glyph Semblance, he still had the necessary genes to pass it on.

* * *

In the Atlas Academy gym, team RWBY was having a meeting while working out.

"Weiss, your brother's nice and all, but he's starting to get on my nerves," complained Ruby as she jogged on the treadmill, wearing a red gym bralette and shorts.

"It seems that he doesn't get that you're not interested in him," commented Blake, doing some advanced stretches with a black gym bralette and briefs.

"My little brother has a tendency to be stubborn when he wants something," explained Weiss, who was doing some bicep curls, wearing a white gym shirt and shorts.

"Well, tell him to back off. Ruby's already claimed, just like all of us," snorted Yang as she continued bench pressing 270 pounds while wearing a yellow gym bralette and briefs.

"That's the problem. He doesn't care, and if finesse doesn't work, he might use brute force," sighed Weiss.

"Well, he better learn, otherwise I'll break his face," said Yang, "Make it so he'll have to wear _Whitley Tighties."_

Everyone groaned at that, with Blake even adding "You've gotten so desperate for puns…" before Weiss decided to change the subject.

"So, are you ready for your surgery tomorrow?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah. Can't wait to break in the new combat arm," grinned Yang.

"YEAH! I designed my Sis's arm to be the best there is!" cheered Ruby.

As the two sisters cheered, Blake whispered to Weiss' ear, "Guess we should be glad your little brother doesn't know Ruby prefers cookies and weapons over flowers and jewelry."

Weiss could only nod in reply, thankful that Whitley didn't understand Huntresses, especially Ruby. She swore to herself that she would help keep Whitley away from Ruby if she didn't want him. She didn't want Jaune to suffer another heartbreak when she broke his heart.

The four of them finished their workout and headed towards the showers to clean up. While showering, Yang was cupping her breasts and checking for any bumps, proudly realizing there weren't any before letting them drop down and bounce a bit, when she noticed that the Mate Mark was on Blake's chest.

"You managed to get Jaune to give you the Mate Mark!?" shouted Yang in surprise. Ruby and Weiss quickly ran over just to see it in plain view. A bit embarrassed, Blake covered her chest before admitting that it was real.

"Wait, that means... when you went back home in Kuo Kuana, you did it with him!" accused Weiss.

"What juicy things did you two do? Spill!" demanded Yang, even though she got a general idea already from Jaune.

"Yang, did you get one too when you two did it?" asked Ruby.

Now both Blake and Weiss were staring at Yang, who was looking embarrassed now that Ruby had exposed her.

"You did it too? What's next Ruby? Am I the only one who hasn't done it?" cried Weiss a bit hysterical.

"Eww. Weiss, I just hit 16. I think it's way too early for me," replied Ruby.

"To answer the question, no, Jaune didn't mark me. I was ready to have sex, but not the marking yet," answered Yang.

"Why not?" asked Blake.

"...Don't get me wrong, I love him, and you better believe that the sex was great. It's just... I didn't feel like I was worthy of it yet," answered Yang, "I wanted to wait till I break in the new arm before sealing the deal. It's also a big deal, you know. Wanted to make sure I was really ready, not to pull a runner, like Raven."

Everyone nodded in acknowledgment before finishing up. When they got one, Weiss and Ruby both left to get redressed, and Yang decided to tease her partner by sneaking up on her and cupping her breasts, playing with them. Blake yelped in surprise before moaning.

"Did Jaune play with these? And have they grow a bit bigger?" Yang asked as she squeezed Blake's breasts.

"Yang!" Blake mewled before letting out a moan.

"Want to make it even? You can play with mine." Yang offered the blushing Faunus, who didn't quite know how to answer that yet.

* * *

It was late at night, and most of the people residing in the Schnee manor was asleep. All except for Yang. She looked up to the shattered moon before getting out of her bed, as she couldn't sleep. She got dressed and walked out of the room, walking to the main entrance of the manor.

"Is something wrong, Miss Xiao Long?"

Yang turned around to see Klein with a cup of tea on his hand.

"Would you like a cup of tea to ease your nerves?" asked Klein.

Yang thanked him, sipping on the tea before finishing it.

"I… I just need some air," said Yang, "I'll be back."

"I can't allow you to go alone," said Klein, "Give me a minute. I'll come with you. I can guide you around Atlas for a bit."

Yang thanked him, and a minute later, Klein was driving Yang to a nearby nightclub. Yang went inside and ordered a strawberry sunrise before looking around.

"Well ah'll be, ah didn't expect to see you here."

Yang turned around to see Dandy now sitting next to her, ordering a drink. The two sat there drinking for a bit, talking about their team when Yang remembered Dandy also had a robotic arm.

"Dandy? Can you... tell me more about your arm. And what you went through, if you don't mind?"

This surprised the Faunus, but taking account that she too lost her right arm, he couldn't blame her. "Sure can," Dandy began, taking a sip of his drink "Ah'm guessing you're havin' the same jitters as ah did before, maybe worse." This got a small yet hesitant nod from Yang, and with that Dandy began to tell her how he lost his arm.

"It all started back when me and mah team went to Kuo Kyo Hot Spring Summit when we were just first years like ya team and Jaunes! We were tasked with clearing out the underground cave that tha water for the hotspring ran through...apparently ah couple of Grimm got in there preventing the workers to fix the problem that was plugging up the natural water flow...ah team from Haven was sent there, but they never came back out...so they requested Atlas for the help since Haven wasn't sending any others to help not wanting to risk loosing any other teams…" Dandys eyes looked down at his drink, a small yet sad frown formed on his face

"Ah remember the cave being dark, water fell from the ceiling above us and you could clearly hear it do to how quiet it was. Too quiet if yah ask me. Ah was in the front, guiding mah team behind me using lightning dust to light the way with mah cane's disco ball. Soul stood behind me, his weapon in its sword form, Coral behind him trying to keep everything less eerie, while Onyx took tha back to prevent any Grimm flanking us. As we made our way deeper into the cave, we well...found the team that was sent in before us...or at least what was left of them." Dandy took a quick drink of his drink, hoping to gain a small boost in continuing the story.

"A severed arm on the ground, a leg impaled on one of the stalagmites, the complete lower half of a female body straight ahead, but the worst of all...not to far ahead past the torso, you could hear the sickening crunch of something crunching bone. Ah tell yeah...it was by far one of the worst things ah seen in mah life…"

Yang couldn't help but down her own drink as well, she couldn't imagine seeing that, but who can blame them...this was their life now, huntress and hunters, they possibly see these things everyday out in the field. It's what they are trained for after all, to prepare them against the Grimm and now mostly human threats too.

"Seeing how we had to move closer to the source of the sound and help the lives lost there rest peacefully in the afterlife, I shined mah weapon towards the sound. What we saw would not only haunt mah life forever, but also cement mah team's choice on being Hunters. Straight ahead, feasting upon the corpse of possibly the final member of the lost team was an Alpha Komolania, ah doubt you might know what those are since you wouldn't be learning about those till your second semester, but Komolania's also known as Skull crawlers, are a rare breed of Grimm known to stay within caves since they can climb up walls and cling to ceilings. It's a giant four legged lizard that almost looks like the non-Grimm version of the Komodo dragons found in Vacuo. The only difference between the two is that the Komolania are far more venomous and vicious than the regular animal. They may be slow, but they are extremely dangerous since one bite without Aura no matter tha area, it's venomous bacteria would quickly spread throughout your blood system and kill you within the hour...but considering it was an Alpha, no doubt the poison would kill someone within the 5 minutes they are bitten." This was where Dandy placed his right arm on the table, taking off his glove staring right at it.

So many memories filled his mind at that point. Sighing as he turned his head back towards her, a serious gaze within his eyes.

"Now tha smart thing to do was to leave, to run away and inform ah more professional hunter team to take the beast out...but if we did, no doubt there'd be ah massacre if the Grimm followed us outside. We had no other choice but to fight tha beast head on." That is when he started telling her about the fight.

* * *

 _Flashback, 1 and a half years ago._

 _"Dandy we need to leave! We can't take on an Alpha of this level!" Soul informed their team leader grabbing onto his shoulder to try and turn him away from the horror in front of the team. But he wouldn't budge, instead, he heard Dandy's hand tighten around his weapon, from what Soul could see with his left red eye, pure rage was on their leader's face, and he couldn't blame him either. Considering the poor soul that was currently being feasted on by the giant lizard was a Faunus girl, nothing but pure horror was left on the girl's lifeless corpse, her eyeliner smudged from the now dry tears that used to flow from her eyes._

 _The Grimm was too busy feeding on the body that it didn't care that there was prey behind it, it made Dandy think that even though it was an alpha, the Grimm considered his team weak, something by far he would not stand by._

 _"No.." Was all Dandy said, his voice stern and serious, he wasn't even using his accent he likes to speak in, he was dead serious at this point._

 _"But Dandy we need to-"_

 _"I SAID NO SOUL!" Dandy didn't even turn away from the sight, but his voice was raised that it echoed throughout the cave. "Even if we could run right now, no doubt the Grimm would follow us to the entrance...it would be a massacre if this Grimm got outside to the resort. Even if it didn't follow us, no doubt the Alpha would find its way out eventually. It must have been hibernating this entire time within these caves and undisturbed until whatever caused the rockfall that plugged up the stream woke this bastard up."_

 _Turning to face his team with a side glance, they could see the pure hatred and anger within their leader's eye, when Dandy was angry, all hell broke loose "It's our duty as hunters to fight the Grimm...and I will NOT RUN AWAY! I won't let the only remains of the fallen team be eaten just so there's nothing left to give back to their families...I'm not some cowardly lion, and I refuse to ever be one! Now..you 3 can get out of here if you want...but I'm staying."_

 _Before Dandy could shrug off Soul's hand off his shoulder, Souls grip tightened stopping him._

 _"Soul I said let-"_

 _"We aren't leaving without you...which is why we're staying. Ain't that right guys?"_

 _Dandy slowly turned his head, to be greeted with a thumbs up from Coral, and a small smile from Onyx._

 _"That's right! No way we leaving you behind! We're in it to win it!" Coral shouted with glee before Onyx gave a small nod._

 _"What would DSCO be without the disco ball? That and we did made a promise to become the top performers on the first night together mate, it wouldn't be the same without ya."_

 _Before Dandy could thank his team, the Grimm gave off a low growl slowly turning its massive long body. This is where Dandy turned his attention back to the Grimm and began shouting out orders "Ok thanks later, fight now! Onyx set up your weapon and provide us support, Coral you make sure the Grimm keeps away from Onyx! Me and Soul will do the damage while Onyx boosts us!"_

 _With a quick roger, Onyx and Coral made their way a bit away, with Onyx setting up his Shield in its table mode, once the old record player came out from the middle, Onyx connected himself to his weapon and started playing music from his weapon. If they were gonna fight this thing, they were gonna need one of the strength and speed booster songs Onyx had._

 _(Play Electro Swing; Grant Lazlo -Jericho)_

 _Suddenly two Aura strings colored a mixture of red and yellow came from the record player and made their way towards Dandy and Soul. Once the string was connected, their entire bodies became covered in an orangish like Aura. They felt far stronger than they did before. As the beast finally turned fully around they could see the blood that stained its bone plated jaws._

 _Soul scoffed at the beast as he turned his weapon in its ranged form ready to play and shoot ranged shots at the Grimm "If we don't make it out alive, then it's been a pleasure rocking with you guys.."_

 _Dandy just let out a low chuckle as he twirled his cane, the giant disco ball glowing a light blue to show ice dust was gonna be used. "Ah wouldn't be counting hah chicken that has yet to hatch Soul...we gonna get out of this alive even if it's tha last thing ah do!" With that said, Dandy leaped into the air and detached the giant blue ball off his cane slamming it into the ground, it caused a few cracks in the ground, before multiple Ice spikes began shooting up from the ground straight towards the Grimm. This was the start of the battle that would forever change Team DSCO's views of the world and a certain Lion Faunus forever._

* * *

"Ah tell ya…..that Grimm was no pushover, it did ah real number on us, everyone was low on Aura, including me. Things were rough...but in the end, we were able to defeat it.." Dandy said as he had gone over the details of the battle that occurred.

"How'd you guys defeat it?" Yang questioned as he had yet to tell her had to lose his arm. Surely it must have been bitten off and that was it...Right?

"Well...it took a while but, we managed to kill it, but not without ah price.." Dandys eyes seemed to have darkened a bit and he took one more quick drink before telling her how he lost his arm.

* * *

 _10 minutes later since the battle first started._

 _It was hard, with the way things were going they may be killed before they could even finish off the Komolania. They did quite a number on it, sure they managed to cause deep gashes, possibly fractured bones in its body, or even temporary hearing loss, it still wasn't enough! They were all extremely low on Aura, and Onyx couldn't use his semblance since he was nearly out of Aura, Coral was running out of breath and he only had a few shouts left. Soul's hooded jacket was slashed up exposing most of the scars he has had over the years, and showing that some of his chain that came out of his sweater looked almost like it was wrapped around his body, it was hard to tell really._

 _As for Dandy, he was missing quite a bit of his Afro, considering he had a few close calls with getting his own head chomped on. Luckily the Alpha didn't know about style of a massive Afro, since his own guess it thought his Afro was more of his head just looking differently. A giant chunk of his hair was gone making his Afro look like the moon above Remnants night sky, just without the remain pieces of moon rock floating nearby the crater that is. Not only that but he lost his golden vest since the Grimm got in a good scratch at his back. Luckily his aura protected him but there's not much to say for the vests. There was no way they could defeat it. Unless…_

 _"Guys! Provide me covering fire! I know how to defeat it!" Dandy shouted wasting no time rushing toward the beast, twirling his cane as he did._

 _None of them had a chance to protest against him running towards the Grimm. Providing the covering fire he needed with Soul playing the strings on his guitar as fast as he could firing ice dust at the creature, Coral shouting his last few shouts, and finally Onyx putting his weapon in shield form and blasting sound waves towards the Grimm._

 _As much as a pain the three were being towards the Grimm, it still focused on Dandy and crawled run towards him opening its jaw to get ready to bite him. When Dandy got close enough, the Grimm lunged forward and just before it hit Dandy, he jumped up at the last second, stepping on the Grimms head and with one powerful swing, swung his disco ball up from his cane all the way to the top of the ceiling. The disco ball was flowing a deep orange, showing that Dandy was using explosive dust, and judging by how bright it was glowing, he was using all of it!_

 _Just as the disco ball made contact with the ceiling about to explode, Dandy felt his legs be suddenly tugged back towards the ground. The Grimm after being lightly stepped on, leaned its body back and grabbed dandys legs with its mouth, swinging its body back down with Dandy in tow slamming him into the ground as the ceiling exploded from the disco ball. He lost his grip on his weapon when he was flung down and hit the ground hard. His Aura was barely hanging on at that point._

 _"DANDY!" His team shouted as they went full on sprint to save their leader as the Grimm looked down and was about to do the finishing blow before suddenly the save started shaking and rocks began falling. This stopped everyone including the Grimm. This gave enough time for Dandy to kick jump off the floor and turn around breaking into a sprint. Not even caring about his weapon._

 _"EVERYONE RUN!" The cave was caving in. And with how many giant stalagmites there were not even the Alpha would be able to stop them from impaling it. If it was gonna die...looking towards the retreating humans. It was gonna take them with it! Giving one final roar and using all of its leg strength it chased after them._

 _"YOU ARE CRAZY!" Soul shouted as Dandy caught up to them due to his long legs._

 _"Ah maybe crazy but it's our final resort! Ah ain't letting mah team die from a Grimm!"_

 _"So you rather have us die from a cave in?!" Soul shot back._

 _"We ain't gonna die! Now quit yah complain and keep running!"_

 _"I swear if we get out of this alive I'm gonna-" Before Soul could finish he felt a strong grip on his arm and seen Dandy grabbing ahold of him before suddenly tossing him forward. He was about to shout why he did that, but when he turned back as he flew towards his two teammates, his eyes widen in horror upon seeing what was happening. The Alpha had caught up to him and without even hearing it getting that close it was about to bite down on him...that was until Dandy intervened and threw him towards Coral and Onyx._

 _When Soul turned to see what happened and why Dandy threw him, he saw just in time for Dandy to bring up his right arm to stop the jaws from clamping down towards his head. But upon his arm being bitten his aura shattered and the teeth of the Grimm bit into his arm, blood splitting everywhere._

 _"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A scream of pain anyone would have never heard unless they were there echoed throughout the cave, stopping the rest of DSCO in their tracks._

 _"DANDY!" Just before the team could go back, giant stalagmites and rocks from the ceiling started falling down, the giant stalagmites and rocks from the ceiling started falling down, the giant stalagmites fell right on top of the grim, impaling the dark beast causing it to shriek in pain letting Dandy's arm go, that was there once chance. Soul who quickly used the last bits of his aura used his semblance and unraveled his chain, he had one shot at this. Taking his aim as quick as he could, he threw his chain right onto Dandy's bloody right arm._

 _"Forgive me bud" Soul muttered before yanking as hard and quickly as he could, even though Dandy shouted in pain once more from the tug it was for him own good to both get him over to them faster and have onyx use his shield to cover themselves from being hit by any rocks, and stop the poison from spreading out from his arm. After Dandy was right next to them laying on the ground, Onyx held up his shield above his team, and with the help of both Soul and Coral they manage to help Onyx hold up the shield. It took roughly 6 minutes til the rock fall came to an end. The Grimm was slowly evaporating after being killed from impalement._

 _Souls chain was still wrapped tightly around Dandy's arm however although it did prevent the poison from spreading, the poison had already spread out through his entire arm below the chain. The veins were colored a dark green, while the blood that leaked from the holes made by the teeth were also colored green. This was bad, very bad._

 _"Dandy hang in there buddy! We're gonna get you outta here!" Soul shouted as he kneeled before his fallen teammate, Dandy's breathing was quick and shallow, but he was still conscious._

 **(Dandy backstory was written by TheMischieviousPuppyDog)**

* * *

"The poison hurt like ah bitch...not too mention the bite wounds in my arm...if it wasn't for Soul wrapping his chain around my arm, the poison would have already spread out to most of my body. Sadly even if my team were to try and take me outside to get medical help, I wouldn't have made it...so there was only one thing we could do."

"Amputation…" Yang asked as Dandy simply nodded in return.

"It wasn't a pleasant feeling...especially for my partner Soul since he was the one who had to amputate my arm with his weapon since it was the sharpest and strongest. Sadly it took 3 swings until the arm came off, it would have taken one but I can't blame Soul, after all, he was the one cutting off the arm of his team leader and partner...sure it was to save my life, but having to do that to your own partner is something no one will never forget…Ah tell ya, it was one of the most painful experiences I've ever had in my life. Just know even though you lost yah arm, it ain't that bad, knowing how you like to punch things, the arm packs quite the punch and is able to lift much more heavier things." Dandy stated as he took one more swig of his drink. Yang couldn't help but look down at her own drink, just imagining having to do something similar to one of her own teammates, Oum forbid her own sister or Jaune.

"Wow," said Yang, "Thanks for the talk."

"Mah pleasure for a beautiful girl like you," replied Dandy.

"Why are you hitting on me?" asked Yang flirtatiously.

"Nope, just statin' the truth," said Dandy, "I have no desire of stealin' one of Jaune's girls, especially after he done saved my precious sunflower of a cousin Nala and that display of power."

"Dandy! C'mon, let's dance!"

They both turned to see Neon skating up to them. She noticed Yang and pointed at her in surprise.

"You!? What are you doing here? Are you here to steal my man?"

"My team is transferring for the semester while Beacon gets fixed," replied Yang, "And your man?"

Neon sat next to Dandy and leaned on him. Their tails intertwined as Neon cuddled him.

"Yep. There was an incident right after Yule Tide, and events lead after that lead to us dating," answered Dandy with a grin.

"Grats to you then," said Yang as she lifted her drink to them. Dandy returned the gesture and drank up.

* * *

The next day, Yang was ready for her surgery. She was wearing a hospital gown as she laid on the operating table with the best doctors the Schnee could afford.

"Let's do this," said Yang with confidence.

"Good to see your confident," said the lead surgeon, "Don't worry. This surgery on your arm will be _armless_."

"Was that pun made of paper?" frowned Yang, "Because it was _tearable!_ "

"Alright, I'm pumping the gas," said the anesthesiologist, "I don't want to hear the patient and lead surgeon trading puns right now."

As Yang fell asleep, the lead surgeon looked at his crew, "Aww c'mon. It was just _armless_ fun."

Everyone groaned and facepalmed. "Must be a coping mechanism." One of the nurses whispered to the surgeon.

The rest of team RWBY was sitting in the waiting room, just waiting for the news. Winter had arrived to show support. After the battle of Beacon, she had been recalled back to Atlas just in case whoever Cinder answered to tried to attack Atlas.

While waiting, Whitley showed up, carrying a box of cookies. It had taken him hours of spying, or reconnaissance and research as he would put it, but he had finally figured out that Ruby wasn't like the other girls he had falling for his dashing looks and money. Instead, she was like an excited child who just so happened to be a skilled fighter who was very deadly with a weapon. Obviously, she was not as mature as he was, but given their difference in upbringing, it was understandable.

"I brought cookies for you guys while you're all waiting," announced Whitley, opening the box and offering it to Ruby first. It seemed like he was just offering it to the first person near him, but Weiss and Winter could read him like an open book. He was trying to hit on Ruby again.

"Thanks," said Ruby distractedly while reading a weapons magazine she had bought as she grabbed one and took a bite.

Whitley grinned; with these cookies, she would surely fall for him. They were quite expensive to purchase, made from finest materials, with the best chef and machinery, these cookies would surely ensnare her. He himself had tried one and found them delicious. Add to that, they were healthier than all other cookies. Whitley was sure that Ruby was one who watched her health and what she ate. These oatmeal raisin cookies would surely-

"Bleh!"

Ruby spat out the cookie she bit into, "Oatmeal Raisin! Disgusting! Die! DIE! DIE! Whitley, you've forever become enemy number one for bringing me these cookies!"

She stomped on the cookie before rushing out of the hospital in hopes of finding a cookie store and buying real cookies to wash off the taste of what she just ate. Whitley stood there, shocked at what just happened while Weiss took some for Blake, Winter, and herself. They all bit into it and found it quite delicious, but Weiss and Blake already knew what was wrong. Their leader HATED oatmeal raisin cookies and deemed them as 'fake' cookies. It seemed like Whitley had yet to learn why, but they weren't going to bother telling him.

Winter frowned for a bit before taking Whitley aside for a little talk. She did not want a member of the Schnee family to be seen as a playboy and someone who steals other people's girlfriends or wife. Especially since Jaune had the power to beat the shit out of him for doing so, and none of the girls would lift a finger to help prevent it.

* * *

Jacques leaned back in his seat, taking the time to relax a little and enjoy a cup of coffee Klein had brought in. Apparently, the suggestion Weiss made to allow his workers a day off and a dinner worked wonders. They were now happier with their work stations and there had been a 4% increase in profits in the monthly sales. According to people, it made him seem more... humane? People were more willing to buy SDC products than relying on others. As he hummed, he remembered a memo he received from his other wealthy businessmen, reminding him about the charity fund for Vale that he had set up. He thought to himself on how to bring up the SDC reputation up. Perhaps a performance with his daughter singing once more before hosting a banquet, with items for sale such as paintings. All proceeds would go to helping Vale... after taking a bit of it to fund the charity itself. He pressed the intercom button to notify Klein.

"Klein. Please inform my daughter to come to my study as soon as possible."

A second later, Klein replied, "Of course. But Miss Schnee will be out all day, as it is her teammate's surgery day."

"Ah, that's right," murmured Jacques, "Never mind then. I will message her to see me later."

* * *

Yang woke up, feeling a bit drowsy. She put her _right_ hand on her forehead for a bit before she realized something. She could feel her right arm! She looked at it to see a beautifully crafted arm attached to her right stump. She could feel her right hand again!

"Ah. Good morning Miss Xiao Long."

She looked to see the lead surgeon in front of her bed, reading off something in the chart in front of him.

"As you can see, your new arm has been attached. Your surgery to remove those wilted nerves has been successful, as well as the integration process. You can thank Dr. Merlot's research for that. There seem to be no problems at the moment, but we'll have to have you do a few tests for us to make sure it won't malfunction in a fight."

"No problem," grinned Yang as she admired her new arm. It had been painted yellow, most likely because of Ruby. She went to grab a cup of water on the side, but accidentally crushed it, using too much force.

"Uh... whoops?" sweated Yang, looking at all the water on her mechanical hand.

"No worries. We've also made sure that it's waterproof, so feel free to get it wet. But that is why we do need you to go through a bit of rehabilitation. To make sure you can control it. Plus, there are a few more…. tools inside that arm of yours. Courtesy of your sister, I believe." said the lead surgeon, "Speaking of which, I should let her in."

He opened the door, and a red blur dashed right past him, tackling Yang.

"Yang! How's the new arm? Do you like it? Do you, do you? I-," Ruby started to babble until Yang got tired and flicked her forehead with her left hand, causing her to pout in pain.

"It's good," smiled Yang, "Though I expect my little sister to tell me everything she's put into this arm of mine."

"Of course!" replied Ruby, "Come, let's get to the testing arena!"

And with that, she dragged her towards the testing center.

"Least you won't be _disarmed_ of your weapon now!" called the surgeon, causing everyone who heard to facepalm while Yang chuckled.

* * *

"You want me to perform?"

Weiss was in her father's study when he announced he was holding a charity concert in two weeks, where she would perform. He mentioned that despite the fact Vale had survived and that the true culprits had been exposed, many people still blamed Atlas for what happened to Beacon due to the hacking of the Knights. So what better way to remind them that his daughter, the heiress to the SDC, had been there, helping to defend another Kingdom. Seeing her father's gaze, she decided to agree. Even if her father had been more.. relaxed, he was still the same person. He loved his daughter, but he was always trying to think of ways to cut costs or maximize profits. His latest ideas of bringing the reputation of the SDC up was mostly due to Winter and her prodding him to look more humane. At least this would help fund Vale.

As Weiss closed the door, Jacques leaned back in his chair. He frowned at himself. He was doing the same thing as in the past when he swore he tried to be a little better, more... 'humane'. He could tell Weiss was upset, and after the White Fang had actively targeted her daughters, he promised to be kinder to them. It was difficult for him to accept the fact that both her daughters were in the front lines, fighting for others. But he could not deny them the right to fight, as they had inherited the glyph Semblance. His father-in-law, their grandfather, Nicholas Schnee, was a businessman and a Huntsman, juggling both at the same time, and he still molded the SDC to what it was today. And Weiss was following in her honorable grandfather's name.

"I suppose I should tell her she can invite her team to watch and attend the banquet after," muttered Jacques, "Maybe I can get Jaune Ryu-Long to attend, too. I can have a ship pick him up or he can just fly here. That would help with the publicity. Hero of Vale, attending an Atlas banquet that will raise money for Vale. Would certainly get the people and paparazzi off Atlas, spouting conspiracy theories."

With that in mind, he dialed for Jaune's number. They had traded numbers after that family meeting.

She left his study just to encounter Klein with a cup of coffee ready. Klein was never one to mince words and cheered her up after telling her his jokes. If Klein was honest, out of the Schnee family, he loved Weiss the most. Winter was a close second, followed by Jacques by a long margin. Whitley was at the bottom, and he was about... the same distance from Vacuo to Mistral from third place.

Weiss went back to her room, where Blake was there reading her books as usual.

"Something wrong?" asked Blake, noticing Weiss' demeanor.

"My father wants me to sing in a charity concert," sighed Weiss, "I should've expected this. He even said it back when we were still at Vale. Even if he has approved my relationship with Jaune and let me keep my title, he's still the same greedy person inside. Everything he does is to make himself and the company look better. The only good thing is that he's doing slightly better now."

"Can't have everything," replied Blake, "The fact that the all-mighty Jacques Schnee, the ones the White Fang paint as a devil in human skin, actually decided to give his Faunus workers a day off and an all expense paid dinner is a miracle."

"I know," pouted Weiss, "And the fact was that Winter and I were the ones who had convinced him to do so. If it wasn't for the fact I was dating Jaune, I know he'd just ignore it."

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Klein with a tray of salmon slices on crackers. Before he could do anything, the dish disappeared from his tray and found its way next to Blake.

"Well, that saves me from walking," chuckled Klein, "Miss Schnee, your father wanted to tell you that you can invite your teammates to the concert and banquet. Although if Miss Belladonna is to attend, I would highly suggest she wear a bowtie to cover her cat ears. The company your father keeps is not exactly... understanding of the Faunus. As for dresses, Mr. Ryu-Long has already offered to cover any expenses for it. He sends his apologies that he is unable to attend, and hopes you have a nice time."

With that, he left, but not before bringing a fresh pot of tea for the both of them he had placed on the side.

"You know, your butler is very nice," commented Blake.

"I know," smiled Weiss, "He's taken care of all of us as long as I remember. And to be honest, I think he likes me the best."

The two of them chuckled before passing the time with a bit more gossip.

* * *

Two weeks later, Weiss was preparing herself for the concert. Blake had decided to attend, although she was wearing a bowtie for her disguise. Ruby and Yang declined, saying that they needed the time to make sure the arm proved no problem for her to use. Ruby had made so many new designs. The whole arm was made of Vibranium, as well as the hand, but the hand could be detached if Yang needed to clean the joints inside. The inside had a few stainless steel screws to make sure it held in place. A civilian model arm was also made if Yang ever wanted to use it for normal purposes, like cooking. For the civilian arm, it was made of steel, copper, and foam for reducing impacts inside, and wrapped in fake skin that made her arm look real, as long as she wore sleeves over the connector. Blake decided to wait and watch in the backstage, rather than sit near Jacques and Whitley Schnee, even if Winter was there.

" _And now, introducing Weiss Schnee."_

Weiss stepped out into the stage, wearing her new pale gray strapless long dress, with slits to show her legs. She also wore an ornate necklace with sapphires in the middle. A long sleeved shrug completed her dress. She took a deep breath and started to sing a song she had composed beforehand.

 _This Life is Mine-Opera Version_

The audience politely after she had finished her song. Weiss looked to her family and saw that though her whole family was clapping, only Whitley was doing it sarcastically again.

They were soon all at the banquet hall. Blake had worn a black halter long dress to the banquet and was currently next to Weiss and her family as Jacques was talking with some other bigwigs. Whitley looked like he was excited as he was paying attention to the conversation. Winter had already left to seek General Ironwood. Ironwood had made the decision to retire from being the headmaster as he felt like he could do more good in the military than raising Huntsmen and Huntresses, and so his time wouldn't have to be divided between the two. He did, however, spare some time to give lectures about strategies to the Academy.

"I mean, look at you," said the businessman Jacques was talking to, "You, out of all people, gave your workers time off and an all-expense paid dinner."

"It wasn't much," replied Jacques modestly, "I felt like it was time."

"I think our society as a whole could do well to follow that example," continued the businessman.

"You mean Atlas?" scoffed Jacques.

Weiss, already getting bored of this conversation, looked over to see a painting of Beacon Academy with the CTC still standing. She missed those days and looked forward to heading back to Beacon when it was fully repaired. Blake saw her gaze and patted her on the shoulder, fully agreeing with her.

The businessman continued his topic, "Atlas, Mantle... You can't deny the economic disparity between the two."

"I mean, what exactly are you suggesting?" asked the businesswoman.

Weiss started to leave, hoping to go anywhere but here when her father suddenly grasped her arm without even turning. While the businessman was talking about compensation and opportunity, Jacques turned to face her.

"Where are you going?" Jacques hissed.

Seeing Weiss's meek expression, Blake intervened, "We were going to give our regards to General Ironwood as well as seek out information on who the new headmaster is at Atlas Academy. We want to know a bit more information before we head there for our 2nd year.

Jacque's expression softened a little before letting her go.

"Just... be back soon, alright?"

"Of course, father," said Weiss before she left with Blake.

Jacques turned his attention back to the conversation while Whitley glanced at the two girls. He had hoped the Ruby would've come, but apparently trying to make sure Yang was all right was a higher priority. He sighed as he continued to plot other ways to get Ruby to fall for him. Maybe he could also sample her sister while he was at it. He had to admit, Yang had some killer curves… and a rather nice chest.

Jacques made a joke of being the good guy again, causing the other two he was conversing with to laugh.

Weiss and Blake were standing in front of the painting, The two of them barely had a chance to gaze at it until a voice called out to them.

"It's beautiful... You three match."

A man about the same age as them leaned on the railing. In the girls' opinion, he looked like a shitty version of Neptune.

Weiss crossed her arms, maintaining a cold expression before responding, "Yes, it's a lovely painting."

Blake was doing the same thing, except her breasts was a bit more pronounced, causing the man to stare at her for a little, "It's quite nice."

"So, that was my attempt at breaking the ice. How am I doing so far?" asked the man.

Weiss sighed before responding, "You are leaving a lot to be desired."

The man cringed a bit before responding, "Well, I've always appreciated honesty." He offered his hand before introducing himself as Henry Marigold.

Weiss turned around before lightly placing her fingers across his for a very loose handshake before introducing herself. Henry did the same thing for Blake, and her response was the same.

"I know, I saw your performance," said Henry towards Weiss before berating himself, "Obviously." He cleared his throat to continue, "You were wonderful. And I promise I'm not just saying that 'cause you're pretty. Though I'm not saying you're not pretty either, Blake."

Weiss turned her attention back to the painting in silence, while Blake replied, "I already have a boyfriend if that's your attempt in flirting with me."

Henry sputtered a bit before apologizing and turning his attention back to Weiss, who was still silent. He tried a different topic, turning to the painting in hopes of sparking something interesting. Of course, when he showed his complete ineptitude to read why the money was being raised for, both girls gave him an even colder glare.

"Get. Out," said Weiss with anger in her voice.

Before Henry could say anything, a hand landed on his shoulder.

"I think you should leave before you upset these girls further. And clearly, you can't read when the reason for the painting is stated right in front of you, as well as why this banquet is being held on both the invite and the entrance."

Henry turned around to see a hand pointing at the small pedestal in front of the painting, stating that all the proceeds would go to the Kingdom of Vale. Blushing in embarrassment, Henry left.

"I hope he wasn't bothering you two."

Weiss and Blake looked in surprised to see someone they recognized.

"Onyx? What brings you here?" asked Weiss.

"I was invited," replied Onyx, "My uncle is also one of the big wigs here. I don't really like to be here, though. As Dandy would say it, most of these pricks have a log the size of the CTC up their ass."

Blake and Weiss both giggled before scolding him about proper conduct.

"I hang with Dandy and Soul. They're gonna rub off me easily," grinned Onyx.

"That's true," snorted Blake.

"I suppose you have the bowtie just in case these guys get... rude?" asked Onyx. Blake nodded in agreement.

Weiss had closed her eyes to relax, letting conversations wash over her when she heard one the caught her attention. It wasn't hard, either, as the voice stood out in both loudness and the topic.

"But really, does it come as any surprise, what happened to Vale? It was a long time coming, if you ask me," scoffed a woman. She was clearly dressed in the best clothes, with heavy makeup and a beauty mark on the right, below her eye. Weiss, who had turned her attention towards her, could clearly she was a trophy wife.

The husband tried to shush her, but she shook it off, forcing him to give a nervous grin while he glanced around the room, hoping nobody listening.

"What?" laughed the trophy wife, "You said the same thing last night. If they're so arrogant to think they can get by without proper kingdom defense, then I say good riddance."

Weiss twitched and was about to yell at her when she felt Onyx's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. It's not worth it. Both of you," said Onyx calmly.

Weiss turned around to see Blake was also very tempted to call that woman out. Both of them huffed and turned away while the lady kept her rant up, getting louder and louder.

"And that freak with wings! The one they call 'Hero of Vale'. Nothing but a Faunus that Vale was lucky to have. We should have him locked up and dissected to see what we can learn. He's not a hero, just a -"

"SHUT UP!"

The room fell silent as everyone stared at the source of the voice. It had been both Weiss and Blake. Both of them were unwilling to let Jaune's name be slandered by someone who didn't know anything. Onyx was also glaring at the said lady.

"Excuse me?" asked the trophy wife, angry that her rant had been interrupted.

"Weiss?" asked Jacques, unsure what was happening. He had been busy with his conversation. Though the boy beside her right now seemed a bit familiar.

"You don't have a clue! And what give you the right to insult Jaune Ryu-Long?" screamed Weiss.

"Hmph, that riff-raff?" replied the trophy wife. The husband, recognizing that this subject was something that shouldn't be discussed in public, tried to pull her back, but she shrugged him off.

"He's just a barbarian with no sense of nobility," sneered the trophy wife, "I bet he'd sell himself to the highest bidder, and it just so happened to be Vale. Otherwise, why didn't he stop the whole thing in the first place? He probably stood at the side, waiting for someone like Ozpin to give him the highest price at the last minute before jumping in to show off. He should've been killed. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he helped plan the attack!" At the sides, some of the people seemed to be agreeing with the lady's rant, angering Blake. How dare they insult her mate!

"You know nothing!" growled Blake, jumping into the conversation, "Jaune Ryu-Long is an honorable man who wouldn't have done that. The only reason he came late was because he had been ambushed by others trying to kill him."

"Of course you would cover for him," scoffed the trophy woman, "After, freaks need to stick together, right _Faunus?_ "

With that, she snatched the bow and pulled. Blake had been shocked to find her disguise exposed so easily that she dodged the lady's hand too late. The lady had tried to grab her cat ears and pull, but missed and grabbed the ribbon instead, revealing her ears.

"You think you can fool me? The wife of the current Delaney patriarch? Our company is in charge of many exports and imports, meaning we have to deal with your kind quite often. Freak. I'm surprised you managed to sneak in at all. Guards! Get this freak out of here and into somewhere she belongs, like a whorehouse!"

With that, she tried to slap Blake, only to find a glowing armored hand grabbing her wrist. She looked up to see a fully materialized knight with its word on its back. It was the armored knight Weiss had fought, and she had successfully summoned it in its entirety. When she heard Mrs. Delaney insult Blake, she didn't hold back. She had summoned a glyph into her hand before releasing it into the air. The knight formed and protected Blake from being slapped.

"Apologize," growled Weiss, "Blake is my teammate, my friend, and a fellow Huntress-in-training. I was the one who invited her, and you have no right to criticize anyone with that attitude."

Mrs. Delaney glared, having no intention of apologizing, "Guess the Schnee name will fall with you as the heiress. Perhaps Jacques should be looking at his son to be the heir."

Weiss twitched, and the summoned knight reached behind itself, grabbing its giant sword, unsheathing it and holding it up in the air. At this point, Mrs. Delaney paled

"Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just leave me alone."

Before anyone could do anything, a bang went off, and everyone almost jumped in shock at the sound of a gun.

"That's enough."

Everyone looked to see Ironwood walking forward with a smoking gun. He had put in a blank round and fired so he could grab everyone's attention. Winter followed behind him quickly.

"Miss Schnee. Please, let go of her and dismiss your knight," ordered Ironwood.

Weiss took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before obeying. As soon as she saw the threat was over, Mrs. Delaney started to rant again, "Arrest her! What are you waiting for? She's insane, she should be locked up. Her and that Faunus whore..."

"What's going on here?" proclaimed a loud voice.

At the entrance was a man wearing an expensive Armani suit, with black hair tied in a ponytail down. Everyone recognized him as one of the member of the council, and the most vocal of them all. Even though Ironwood used to have two votes, this man could drive opinions in and play the field like an expert pianist, maneuvering through political issues.

"Councilman Beat! Thank goodness you're here, these two ladies are purposefully disrupting the-"

Mrs. Delaney didn't get to finish as Onyx waved to the man and said, "Hi uncle!"

"Onyx! My nephew! You didn't tell me you were coming," said Councilman Beat as he strode over to give his nephew a hug, "You mind telling me what's going on?" At this point, the woman's face was drained of all color.

"Just Mr. Delaney being quite rude," replied Onyx, "I was chatting with my friends Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee when Mrs. Delaney started her little rant. In short, she was talking about how Vale deserved its current condition and insulting Jaune Ryu-Long, a good friend of mine and theirs, before ending her statement with how he should be killed. Not to mention her rather archaic views about Faunus, considering our cousin is one."

"Is that so?" said Councilman Beat with a cold glare at the Delaney couple, who looked a bit nervous.

Jacques stepped up, coughing to catch everyone's attention and also clearing his throat, "Although I do not completely agree with my daughter's actions, I must say that Jaune Ryu-Long is indeed a valued friend of the Schnee family. Any insult to him is an insult to the SDC. Furthermore, I am well aware of my daughter's teammates and accepted it to see how this friendship would go. Not to mention, Miss Belladonna's father is the mayor of Kuo Kuana, making her of high-class state. So, Mr. Delaney, I apologize, but I will be not be renewing our contract with your shipping company, for I cannot, with good conscience, work with someone who's wife blatantly expresses such views."

"In addition," added Councilman Beat, "Your petition for further expansion is denied, Mr. Delaney."

"I will be having my soldiers withdrawing from your shipping company," grinned Ironwood, "My soldiers protect all of mankind, both human and Faunus. Not to mention, Mr. Ryu-Long is a Huntsman-in-training, although I would recognize him as a fellow Huntsman if not for his age. He has sworn to protect the light of our race, and wouldn't commit such acts as you suggested. Specialist Schnee, please escort these two out of here."

Mr. Delaney looked like his soul was escaping from his mouth as Winter escorted them out. By next week, his company would be ruined, and all the wealth would most likely be spent on trying to live instead of extravagant living. The mood returned to normal as everyone began their usual discussion again. Councilman Beat went to talk with Ironwood about the appointing the new headmaster, leaving Onyx with Blake and Weiss.

Jacques walked next to Weiss before asking a waiter for some drinks. After taking a sip of his margarita, he sighed, "Weiss. Although I understand you were defending your boyfriend, you must learn a bit of restraint. Summoning a giant knight and having it slowly pull out its sword in a threatening manner isn't proper."

Weiss meekly looked down while Whitley, who had been staying in the back, grinned. Maybe with this event, she would lose her title!

"You should've just insulted her until she did something drastic. You and Blake are both Huntresses in training. That slap wouldn't have even hurt. Although, I admit, seeing that summon made me remember the day I courted your mother. Your grandfather called me into his study one day and summoned a giant Alpha Ursa and had it gazing down at me, its claws near my neck, while he questioned me. He also had a King Taijitu wrapped around my body so I couldn't escape."

The girls couldn't help but giggle at this image as Jacques coughed and blushed at that memory.

"Anyways... act more responsibly. You are the Heiress to the SDC right now. You cannot just summon your knight on someone who's insulted you, your friend, and your boyfriend. Being honest, you merely needed to stand your ground while she made a fool of herself. Ironwood had already been heading over to stop her when she started talking about Jaune."

With that, Jacques left to talk with some other businessmen and to find another shipping company. It shouldn't be hard, as being friends with Jaune while having your daughter befriending another councilman's nephew would easily open doors.

"I see you've managed to completely summon your knight," said Winter as she finished kicking the Delaney family out none too gently, "Quite impressive."

"Almost," blushed Weiss, "It's really fragile if I do a full summon, and not always guaranteed to work. I was just angry that time. For a more stable summon, I can only summon the chest plate and both arms with a sword."

"Oh, Weiss!" said Onyx suddenly, "That song you sang was beautiful. However, I got an idea how to make that song catchier for the younger people! Wanna join my band in rehearsing a little? We could make a playlist to sell, and all proceeds could head over to fixing Vale."

"That sounds interesting," grinned Weiss before getting into a musical discussion with him.

"It's nice to see Weiss expanding on her friends and views," smiled Winter softly.

The banquet finished off on a good note. Weiss and Blake quickly returned home to see Ruby and Yang had fallen asleep playing video games in the guest room. Klein had kindly put blankets on them and lifted them onto the couch nearby to sleep. The two separated, going to their rooms to sleep. Meanwhile, Whitley gritted his teeth in anger. He thought for sure after this incident, he would get the title. He would just have to try harder and try to find the group he was in contact before again.

* * *

 **Oooh, Whitley's planning something drastic! What could it be! Find out next time! But first, an Omake!**

* * *

Omake:

"Soo, Blake. What do you like to read? I always see you carrying a book."

Jacques was attempting to make some small talk with Blake, with Winter by his side. Ruby and Yang had gone out for the day to get used to the arm. Weiss was at the music room, rehearsing for her song. Blake had decided to sit in their library to read, getting comfortable in their chairs.

"I read a lot of genres," replied Blake, "Mostly mystery and romance."

"I see," said Jacques. The silence began to stretch, making the conversation a bit awkward.

"Anything else?" attempted Winter.

"She loves to read those Ninja's of Love books!" shouted Weiss as she passed by the area, heading towards the kitchen to get a drink.

Blake blushed while Jacques and Winter stared at her for a bit. Jacques stood up, coughing a bit before walking over to a painting of Atlas. Winter looked out the door, waiting for Weiss to head back into the music room before signaling to Jacques the all clear sign.

"So, you're also an avid reader of Ninja's of Love?" asked Jacques as he tapped the painting at 4 specific points. The painting swung open to reveal a high-security safe inside the wall. It had a retinal scanner, thumb scanner, and even an Aura scanner on top of a security code.

"Then, tell me. What happens in volume 3, Ninja's of Love: Distance of Flight, on page 234-"

"The priestess, Lorei, prays for her winged knight in battle. She prays when there was a full moon out on the eve of the upcoming battle for her city when her knight descends from the sky," said Blake rapidly, before going into more detail.

"Wel, well. You are an avid reader," grinned Jacques as he typed in the security code, "Then feast your eyes... on my greatest treasure!"

Inside the safe, wasn't paperwork, or Dust, or even Lien. It was... the 5 volumes of Ninja's of Love.

"All five volumes that are out right now, and not only does it have the author's signature, it's the super golden plus edition!" bragged Jacques.

"I only managed to get the silver edition," blushed Winter, "They're in my dorms back at the military."

"So, what do say to that?" grinned Jacques.

Blake merely grinned before disappearing for a moment, telling them she'd be back. She came back carrying... _six_ volumes of Ninja' of Love.

"A sixth volume!?" moaned Jacques, "That's not even out yet!"

"Father! Look! She has the ultimate platinum deluxe collector's edition, complete with bonus scenes and author notes!" gasped Winter.

They both bowed down to her, chanting "We are not worthy!"

Blake softly smiled before commanding them to stand.

"I can see we have a beautiful friendship ahead of us, united by the holy book," said Blake. Then, she slowly opened the sixth volume before reading it out loud, with Jacques and Winter sitting on the floor like toddlers, eager to listen to the story. To them, when Blake opened the book, they saw holy light coming out from the pages. Klein had already served tea and biscuits before they started. He was used to antics like this and knew how to keep a secret.

* * *

 **There you go! A reason why Jacques is tolerable with Blake, because she's a fellow avid reader! Not only that, but she has the lastest volume! Anways, hope you've enjoyed the chapter so far! Review if you can! Also, My poll will be closing soon, so quickly cast your votes!**

 **Usual thanks to my betareaders UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever.**

 **Also celebrating I hit past 600 author follows, and LordHellPhoenix for hitting past the 1k mark on favs on his story Jaune Arc: The Elemental Swordsman.**

 **Dandy backstory written by TheMischieviousPuppyDog**

 **Beta Notes: Hello! It's me TheMischieviousPuppyDog! I just wanna say that up to now has been incredible for betaing for drgn! It has been a true honor helping with this story so far! The first time I sent him a message was right after I heard the song Wolf in Sheeps clothing by Set it Off, I knew it would be perfect do to Jaune's father Vlad fits the song. Anyway, I just wanna thank him for letting me be his beta and continue to help with this incredible story! And as Dandy would say, AH HOPE YA'll ARE HAVIN AH GROOOOOVY TIME READING~!**


	45. Chapter 45 Return,Visit,& Dire Situation

**Yaa new chapter! Decided to release this now! Enjoy!** **It's a mass release on all my stories, celeberating Labor Day! Yaaa!**

* * *

Dew sighed as she wondered about how Jaune was doing. They were back to a long distance relationship, except this time, Jaune was across an ocean. She desperately wanted Jaune to join Shade Academy for the semester, but she knew it was selfish of her to want him to come here. Especially since he didn't want to see anybody from the Arc family. The whole family managed to use their connections to obtain 'diplomatic immunity' and exempt themselves for their attempt on Jaune's life.

Since there was no real proof, they were released with a mere slap on the wrist and a fine. However, after some hefty protests from Ironwood, Vlad was forbidden to travel to the other kingdoms, including Vacuo itself. Overall, he was under house arrest. Aurelian Arc was on probation to stay within Vacuo even after graduating for 5 years, serving his time as a Huntsman for Vacuo only. This would limit the number of jobs he could do, but he agreed to it without any complaints. Boyd Arc was suspended from Shade Academy for a year before being allowed back in as the second year. His team was allowed to continue, with a new member of their team. They took the highest ranked Huntress-in-training at one of the lower academies on their 3rd year and had her replace Boyd's spot. Boyd would be put as a reserve for any team available when he did come back.

However, the social stigma would last for a long time. The Arc family was basically disgraced for their actions. Vlad cursed whomever he wanted, especially Jaune. Aurelian was quiet and seemed repentant. Boyd just didn't know what to do.

"Dew? Can I talk to you, sweetie?"

Dew turned around from the window she had been gazing out from her room to see her mother Chloe and her Aunt Dory at the doorway.

"Mom? Auntie Dory? What's up?" asked Dew.

"We want to talk about your next semester as a Huntress," said Chloe.

"What's there to talk about?" asked Dew, "I got mostly A's and two B's last semester, passing all my courses. Team NDGO should be doing fine heading into the second year at Shade Academy."

"Ah yes, you're all doing fine," waved Headmistress Dory, "But what I'm more interested is what one of my patrols told me. About a certain hero?"

"What about Jaune?" asked Dew, her voice a bit nervous.

"Well, it's just that they told me about how you disappeared from your teammates with Jaune," smirked Dory, "And then reappeared an hour later from a certain hotel with Jaune in your arms, looking quite happy."

Dew blushed at this accusation before clearing her throat, "And are you saying that you sent precious resources to spy on me while our kingdom could be using them for better things?"

"Protecting a future Huntress who happens to be the Headmistress' niece, and has a good connection with 'Hero of Vale' is something worth investing in," replied Dory, deflecting her accusation.

"What I'm more worried about," interrupted Chloe, "Is just how close you are to Jaune. He seems like a nice boy, but there are rumors that he's dating Pyrrha Nikos. I don't want you to be hurt by a person who thinks it's okay to two-timing a girl with another just because of his status."

"Jaune isn't like that! He stopped me fro-!" shouted Dew defensively before clamming up.

"He stopped you from what?" asked Chloe.

"We... I... ummm..," clammed Dew, wishing Jaune was here. She should've just told them she was dating Jaune when he was here.

"That's enough, sister," smoothed Dory, "What Dew does is her own business. We were talking about her future as a Huntress."

"What she did still relates to what you want," said Chloe coolly.

"First of all," interrupted Dew, "Jaune and I didn't do anything in that hotel. I changed my mind when we went in, and he didn't push it. Second of all... Pyrrha and I are aware of each other already."

The woman glanced at Dew, urging her to continue, "Jaune... is in a … relationship with both of us and both of us have already agreed to share him."

Both women were silent for a while at the news. As the moment of silence grew longer, Dory was the one who broke it first.

"So does that mean I'm going to be a great aunt soon?"

"Dory!' shouted Chloe before turning to Dew, "Why? Why would you choose him? I mean, sure he's strong, but there are plenty of other boys here. What about your Academy? Wasn't there someone chasing you?"

"There is no way I'm touching any Arcs," growled Dew, "I'd sooner be with a Grimm than them."

"Chloe, didn't you hear?" asked Dory, "The Arcs are basically a disgrace now. They were all trying to kill Jaune, apparently. Only their connections managed to save them from being thrown into jail."

"I see," said Chloe, "But there are still other boys to choose from."

"And none of them can even compare to Jaune," replied Dew, "Who would you even suggest?"

"That's enough," soothed Dory, "Dew had made her decision. One we have to respect. Don't forget that we respect the strong at Vacuo. And Jaune Ryu-Long is no doubt one of them."

Chloe could only sigh at this. She had a fiery stubborn attitude, and apparently, her daughter inherited it.

"Not to mention, our culture does allow... polygamy," reminded Dory, "Which brings up to our next point. Dew, how would you feel transferring to Beacon next semester when it reopens?"

Dew gaped at her aunt while she continued, "As you said, Mr. Ryu-Long wants to return to Beacon when the Academy reopens. I was hoping to convince him to come here, but he refused all my invitations. So instead, I want you to stay close to him. The fact that you're in a relationship with him just makes it better. So a strong man would do well if he passed his genes into our family. Speaking of which, why does the Arc family and Mr. Ryu-Long hate each other so?"

"That's for Jaune to tell," replied Dew, "And please, don't ask me. Ask them if you want. I will not betray Jaune's trust."

Dory gazed at her niece for a bit before dropping the subject and leaving the room, taking Chloe with her.

"You might want to tell your team about the allowance you've just been given. It's very rare that I'm allowing one of the top teams of Shade to transfer."

As soon as they left, Dew scrambled to grab her scroll before telling her teammates the news. It was very likely that they would all agree to it. Especially Octavia.

* * *

"Dory? Do you know why the Arc family harbors such resentment to Jaune Ryu-Long? You are the headmistress of Shade Academy." asked Chloe.

Dory remained silent for a bit before sipping her tea. The two of them were in the kitchen for an afternoon snack and tea.

"I have looked into it, and from what my sources tell me Jaune Ryu-Long was originally an Arc. He was banished and sealed by his own father at the tender age of ten. Nobody really knows why, but Vlad hates the child for some reason. The fact that Jaune became so strong all on his own is like a slap in his face and pride," replied Dory, "To be honest, I'm quite amazed that the boy lived after being sealed."

"Sealed!?" paled Chloe, "That bastard sealed his own flesh and blood before casting him out? If I could get my hands on him… How on Remnant did the poor boy survive the wilderness without any Aura and a weakened body!?"

"That's the mystery," said Dory, "It's also why I want him in my Academy. Very few can say they lived through a similar situation as Jaune. I'm sure Dew knows it, but she won't say anything."

Chloe sat in her chair, still reeling from the news before asking, "Is there another reason why you want Dew at Beacon?"

Dory looked down on her tea a bit before responding, "Despite the fact Ozpin lost, he is still easily the strongest of all of us. The fact that he's now focusing something other than his Academy is something I cannot ignore. He will most likely remain at Beacon as an adviser to Headmistress _Goodwitch_. Him, along with Jaune Ryu-Long, Beacon will be the safest place for now. The Grimm won't dare to even go near Vale after that show with the Grimm Dragon. There are talks of possible expansion to Mt. Glenn again, and if those two lead it, then it's very possible."

Chloe leaned back and couldn't help but agree with Dory. However, there was that tone she used when she spat out Glynda Goodwitch's name.

"You really haven't gotten over the fact that she beat you again in your last duel, making it 45-25 in her favor," teased Chloe.

"It's 44-26!" blustered Dory, "And I still say she cheated on our last one!"

* * *

Leo, the Headmaster of Haven, was a bit nervous. The reason for that? Arthur Watts was visiting.

"So, what are you doing here?" asked Leo calmly, hiding his shaking hands.

Whitley may have developed the virus, but it was Leo who had the basic blueprints. In order for the virus to work, they needed a special access code. Leo was the perfect one to get it from. Ozpin was obviously against them, Ironwood would sooner shoot himself, and Dory... well she was unique and would refuse after trying to drive her red heels up his ass. The lady had actually done it to one of Watt's men when he sent his feelers out. Leo, however, was perfect. Even though he was quite strong, he was also quite cowardly and didn't like to fight. When Watts approached him, Leo was hesitant. It was only when Watts convinced him that he would be on the winning side if he sided with them did he give them his codes.

However, it was clear that they had failed. Beacon and Ozpin were still standing, and Salem did not have her Fall maiden.

"Just... checking to see if you have any information on the maidens," said Watts. Leo was the reason why they had almost captured the Fall Maiden. He leaked information on Amber's whereabouts to them.

"I have nothing for now," replied Leo, "You lost your chance already. The new Fall Maiden could anywhere."

"We have... belief that the next Fall Maiden should be around this continent," said Watts calmly as he drank his tea.

What wasn't known was that for some reason, each time the Maiden's powers would transfer on random, they always had a certain place for it. Spring Maiden was near Vale, Summer for Vacuo, Fall for Mistral, and Winter for Atlas. Nobody was sure why, but it just happened that way.

"Well don't look at me," huffed Leo, "I can't risk seeing you guys. Especially after **that**. Plus, I'm having doubts about your group. Seems to me the other side is stronger. Maybe I'll tell them all about you and your little spy group."

"You do that, and Mistral will fall," threatened Watts.

"I can take my chance," replied Leo, "Jaune Ryu-Long is attending Haven Academy this semester."

"Is he now?" said Watts, intrigued at this, "But can he stay here forever?"

"I'll be able to get him to," bragged Leo, "Long as I can get Miss Nikos to stay, then Mr. Ryu-Long will stay with her. He loves her too much. Mistral is safe from your group."

Watts said nothing as he sipped his tea. This information might give them the edge on killing Jaune, given the fact Salem's faction now included what they called themselves 'Dragon Slayers'. However, it was very likely Leo wouldn't give them any information. This would make traps harder to set up. And given the fact the other Kingdoms were most likely upgrading the firewalls in their systems, they wouldn't be able to hack in easily. Not only that, but part of the bargain was that Leo's computer system and Haven's computer system was given a software upgrade, putting them ahead of Atlas's firewalls. Watts slightly cursed himself for making such a perfect firewall.

"Fine," said Watts as he stood up, "We won't maintain contact. But Salem does expect information about any Maiden's whereabouts. That is still part of the bargain. I'll see myself out now."

Watts left, allowing Leo to lean back. Leo was indeed betraying humanity, but not for the Grimm, but rather, for himself. When he leaked information about the whereabouts of Amber, he also leaked information to Ozpin's faction about a possible attack. It was how Qrow was able to intercept. He leaked information to both groups, trying to see which side was the winning side.

"No matter what happens, I will survive, along with Mistral," murmured Leo.

* * *

"So, what's Haven like?" asked Jaune. The groups were back together in the village of Shion, where they would be waiting for a ship to take them back to Haven Academy for their second year. It was a bit sad, but they wouldn't have enough time to train at the nesting grounds.

"It's pretty cool," replied Sun, "Professor Lionheart is laxer than Professor Goodwitch for sure. Our other teachers are strict though. I don't think they like me."

"Sun, the only reason they hate you is that you're always ditching class except for combat practice, which Professor Lionheart teach," sighed Neptune.

"Hey, don't see why we need all those extra classes when we're going to be focused on fighting Grimm," replied Sun.

"It doesn't hurt to be, like, more aware of cultures and stuff happening around us," reprimanded Scarlet, "Since our job does involve traveling a bit. We can't be ignorant and offend other people by accident by not knowing their culture."

"That's why I have you guys," said a very honest Sun, "So I don't offend anyone."

SSN all blushed and murmured, happy at the praise.

"Anybody else?" asked Ren.

"Hmmm there is old man Wong," said Neptune, "He's a bit of a weirdo, but he lives near the Academy. Nobody really knows why."

"Dude's grumpy as hell," muttered Sage, "Yet nobody really wants to tangle with him. We asked the upperclassmen about him before, but nobody can really say anything. The teachers themselves tell them all to leave him alone."

"Huh. Weird. Maybe he's part of a super secret society. Or maybe he's a secret agent, looking and inspecting all the Academies! Or, or, maybe he's part of the mafia run by your headmaster! He could even be some sort of m-" Nora went off.

Ren placed a pile of pancakes in front of her, distracting her from her thoughts as she dove into the pancakes.

"You really do have a handle on Nora, don't you?" chuckled Neptune.

"Which reminds me, where did you two go two days ago?" asked Pyrrha, "You two disappeared on us."

"Just patrolling the forest," Ren answered casually, keeping his usually stoic face.

"Really?" asked Sun, "With all the crazy stuff that's been happening, I would've thought you two would want some private time to, I dunno, seal the deal?"

To all those who knew Ren well, his mouth and hand twitched slightly, meaning Jaune and Pyrrha caught on while team SSSN didn't. However, the big spoiler was Nora, who choked on her pancake while turning bright red.

"Oh my Oum you guys did it in the forest," deadpanned Sun while Ren was quickly performing the Heimlich maneuver on Nora.

" _ **HAHAHA! Well done!"**_ exclaimed Othim, _**"As expected of the person that was blessed with my Dragon Mark!"**_

"Man, you guys are getting all the girls," cried Neptune, "We're team SSSN, the manliest group! Why aren't girls flocking all over us."

"He does realize that there are fans back at Haven with posters of our face, right?" whispered Scarlet to Sage.

"Eh, don't tell him. It's funnier this way," snickered Sage.

"Well then," said Sun, grabbing 2 bottles of wine and cups via clones, "We should celebrate, then! I propose a toast to me getting my new weapon, Ren and Nora losing their virginities, and most importantly, Neptune finally getting over his fear of water!"

"Wait, what?!" shouted Sage and Scarlet, "How?!"

"I took a swim on a life and death situation," deadpanned Neptune, "Kinda hard not to get over my phobia with that over my head."

"Important thing is, Neptune's finally gotten over it," said Sun, "To all the things I just said!"

"Hear Hear!"

The drinks clanked with each other in the air before everyone took a drink.

"Hey! Who took the 2 bottles of wine! They're worth 250 Lien! Each!"

"Sun!" shouted SSN and JNPR while Sun ran for it.

* * *

Back in Atlas, Whitley was walking towards Ruby and Yang's room, carrying a box of chocolate chip cookies.

"Alright. This time, you got it," muttered Whitley. He had made sure to get some expensive chocolate cookies after the oatmeal raisin disaster. Ruby actively avoided him because she thought he was trying to poison her, via 'fake' cookies.

He was going to give these cookies to Ruby, convince her to go on a trial date, and then seduce her. He would steal her from that blasted Jaune, crush his heart, and be able to command her sister to do anything he wanted, even if she was the heiress. She would have to obey Ruby, and he would train Ruby to obey him.

Whitley knocked on the door and waited. Ruby opened the door before glaring at Whitley.

"Can I help you?" asked Ruby coldly.

"I came here to apologize for that incident," said Whitley, trying to sound sincere, "I did not know you hate oatmeal raisins with such… passion. So, instead, as an apology, I have brought you chocolate chip cookies."

He held out the box for Ruby to slowly inspect until she grabbed one. She sniffed it for a bit before confirming that it smelled like a real cookie before biting into it. After chewing it for a bit, she gave it a pass. It was delicious, but it still couldn't beat her mother's cookies. Not even Daddy Taiyang could make it just right.

"Apology accepted," declared Ruby.

"Great!" exclaimed Whitley, "Do you have some free time right now? I was hoping to go catch a movie and have some nice seafood dinner, and was hoping you could accompany me before you have to leave for Atlas Academy."

"Well, I don't know if my team all has time," started Ruby, but Whitley stopped her.

"I meant you and me only. Together. Alone."

"Like a date?" asked Ruby.

"Exactly," said Whitley, thankful that Ruby finally got it.

"You do realize that I'm already dating Jaune?" said Ruby, hoping to clear it up.

Whitley's eyebrows twitched at that before continuing, "Ah, but he's not here, is he? You would think, as a loyal boyfriend, that he would've gone to Atlas to be with you all. Instead, he chose Haven. Who's not to say he changed his mind and wants to be with Pyrrha only?"

Ruby hesitated, but only for a moment. She remembered that Blake had been marked, too. If what Whitley said was true, why did he even bother mate marking Blake, then?

"Don't try that psychology stuff on me," hissed Ruby, "It won't work. I would've gone with you as friends, but not anymore. I don't care if you're Weiss' brother, just leave me alone!"

She tried to slam the door, but Whitley quickly put his foot in to prevent that.

"Listen, I'm sorry I said that" apologized Whitley quickly, changing tactics, "I guess I only said that because... well I think you're cute and was hoping to get to know you better."

Ruby paused for a second, blushing at the compliment before changing her expression back to being cold, "That still doesn't excuse what you said."

"I know," winced Whitley, "Allow me to at least make it up to you with a dinner of your choice."

Ruby looked at him before deciding to agree to **one** dinner. Whitley thanked her and was about to give her a peck on the cheek when Yang showed up behind him, wearing a bikini. She had just finished swimming, getting used to the fact that her arm was also waterproof. Whitley couldn't help but stare at her magnificent body before Yang told him to move before actually moving.

"You can stare, but it's not yours," taunted Yang cockily as she entered the bedroom before putting her arms to her chest, lifting them up to make them seem bigger, "These baby belong to one person only."

She let them drop, bouncing and jiggling quite enticingly before she shut the door in Whitley's face.

"I look forward to making Ruby my own," muttered Whitley, "If she has the same DNA as hers, then her chest must just be as blessed. Plus, who knows. Once I take her, I might have her fall to me next. I deserve the harem and spread my genes, not that blasted Jaune."

* * *

So, we got, like, a week and a half until it's time to head back to the Academy. Any plans?"

Team SSSN was hanging out with Team JNPR at a cafe. They had arrived back to Mistral two days ago and had tested out Sun's new weapon. He still called them _Ruyi Bangu_ and _Jingu Bangu_ , but they had performed a lot better than he expected. Not only could he shrink it down to carry it behind his ear, but they still had the shotgun function when split into nunchaku.

He was practicing the ability to extend and expand in battle. Having Neptune translate and giving him some ideas helped out a lot. Sun even managed to win against team ABRN, who had just been in the arena. Nadir had been the first one to be knocked out in the start from an extending pole shot, knocking him off the arena. Poor guy had been training ever since the tournament, and he didn't even get to show off. Bolin and Reese were next to go when Sun used his armor form, managing to get them together just in time for Sun to toss his pole to them. They caught it and fell to the floor, the pole trapping them while they tried to regain their breath. Arslan was harder to deal with as she had also plenty of training with hand to hand combat. She launched fireballs from her fist, but Sun managed to dodge them and get close enough to use his tail to trip her before recalling his pole and suddenly smacking her off the arena. However, he did realize that it took quite of bit of his own Aura to extend/expand his staff. The longer or larger he made it, the more Aura it consumed, and the rate increases exponentially.

"I'm going to take Nora to the doctor, just to make sure nothing's wrong," said Ren calmly, "It doesn't hurt to check."

"After that, Renny's taking me to see Hephaestus to see if I can upgrade my hammer!" shouted Nora.

"I have to meet with my agent," sighed Pyrrha, "They want me to take another photo shoot."

"What about you, Jaune?" asked Sage, "If you don't have anything planned, you can hang out with us, and we'll show you around."

"Actually, I was thinking of flying to Atlas to visit Team RWBY before the semester starts," mused Jaune out loud, "I haven't seen Weiss at all, aside from video calling her."

"Think you can make it to and back in time? Paying for an airship gotta be expensive," said Scarlet.

"I think I can," grinned Jaune as he sprouted yellow-scaled wings.

"Alright, have fun," said Sun, "You might want to leave now, otherwise you're going to be mobbed."

Jaune looked around to see he was right. A crowd was gathering, and half of them were fangirls with hearts for eyes. After saying goodbye to his team for a bit while giving Pyrrha a passion filled kiss with lots of tongue, he took to the skies and flew towards Atlas.

"Alright Nora, let's head over to make sure everything's ok," sighed Ren before dragging her with him.

"I'll see you back in the Academy," waved Pyrrha as she left to meet with her agent.

"Guess we'll have to do something. Wanna hit the arcade?" asked Sun.

"Actually, can we... go for a swim?" asked Neptune. They all stared at him in a bit of shock as he continued, "I haven't gotten over my phobia of water completely. I want to change that. So if I swim a little, maybe it can take the edge off. And with you guys with me, least I won't be laughed at too much."

Sun put his arms around Neptune, "Trust me, nobody will be laughing at you. We got your back."

The other two nodded in agreement.

* * *

Jaune was enjoying the moment of flying. It was rare for him to just to fly for leisure with his training now. He had stopped to land for a moment, using full immersion link to link up with Lung Wang and Alaerth, sprouting orange-scaled wings before launching away with a sonic boom. It took him about 2 hours of flight to reach Atlas before landing down a quarter of a mile from Atlas.

" _ **Looking forward to seeing your other mates?"**_ asked Fafnir.

'You know it.' Jaune replied as he came down.

The only problem was when he entered, he found himself staring at what seemed to be 30 guns pointed at him.

"Halt! Identify yourself!"

"Uhh Jaune Ryu-Long," replied Jaune, unsure what was going on.

"Ha! I don't believe it," sneered a soldier, "Heck, I barely believe the 'Hero of Vale' actually did do what people claim."

"Umm, Tuck?" said another soldier, "Maybe you shouldn't be saying that out loud. Remember what happened to the last person who said that in front of General Ironwood?"

"Bah, he's not here!" replied the man named Tuck, "So, are you going to tell us who you really are, or are we going to play rough? I hope you choose the second one."

"STAND DOWN!"

A voice rang out through the entrance, and everyone turned to see Winter walking in. The soldiers all quickly saluted while putting their guns down.

"Jaune, what a pleasant surprise," said Winter warmly to Jaune, causing many of the soldiers to gape. Winter was not one to show warmth easily, giving her the title Ice Queen by the soldiers.

"Just came by to visit Weiss and the others before the Academies start," said Jaune.

"They'll be happy you came by," replied Winter, "I'm sure my father wants to speak with you, too."

"Lead the way," smiled Jaune, and the two of them left the soldiers staring in shock and awe.

As they walked towards the Schnee mansion, Winter started to apologize.

"Sorry about that. Security has gone up ever since the Battle of Beacon. Not many people can just waltz right in through the front doors. Many choose to ride airships into Atlas, where they are checked out there."

"So next time, I should just fly into one of the air docks?" snickered Jaune.

"Probably would be easier," replied Winter.

Once they arrived at the Schnee manor, Jaune heard three familiar voices.

"Jaune!"

Yang, Weiss, and Blake all tackled Jaune at once, happy to see him.

"It's good to see you all," chuckled Jaune before giving them all a quick kiss on the lips, "Where's Ruby?"

"At a fancy cafe with my brother Whitley," scoffed Weiss, "I can't believe Ruby accepted his invitation for a dinner."

"Are they going as friends, or...?" asked Jaune, his jealousy starting to leak.

"Hardly," replied Weiss, "Although not for the lack of trying. Whitley has been hitting on Ruby ever since she arrived here. He keeps hinting that she should go for him. I believe that he only wants her because she's the leader of team RWBY, which he thinks that, in turn, will give him control over me if he controls Ruby."

"Ruby kept saying no," added Blake, "The dinner is basically a pity date while also finalizing the fact she's not interested."

"If he tries anything funny, I'll beat him," grinned Yang, "Doesn't matter if he's your little brother. He deserves it."

"If anything, I'd be happy watching," grinned Weiss.

"How long have they been out anyways?" asked Winter.

They looked at the clock and calculated the time.

"Huh. They left at 7, and it's already 9. No way it should take that long," said Blake.

"Miss Schnees!"

They looked to see Klein walking towards them as fast as possible.

"What is it, Klein?" asked Weiss.

"I had a bad feeling, so I went to clean up your brother's room. I found this!"

Klein pulled out an orange bottle with some pills in it. Winter took it and gasped.

"This... drug! One's that quite illegal to have. The only way to even have it is to be a licensed pharmacist with special privileges in our highest security prison!"

"One that was somehow broken in?" asked Jaune.

Winter blushed before coughing to regain to dignity, "Well yes, but we've upgraded our security after that event. Anyhow, this drug inhibits Aura and weakens a person's muscle temporarily. It's used for prisoners that get too rowdy, even in Aura inhibiting cuffs. But how did Whitley get some?"

"There's more to be worried about," said Klein, "I phoned the restaurant they were at. Apparently, Whitley took Miss Rose out of the restaurant 15 minutes ago. The manager said that she acting rather intoxicated when Whitley called a cab. I fear he may do something drastic."

"That's IT!" shouted Yang, "He's going down! Ruby already suffered once back at Mt. Glenn. I won't have her go through it again!"

"I'll have the police department on the high search for Whitley and Ruby," said Winter.

"We should go. The more eyes outside, the more likely we can find her," said Blake.

"What's going on?" asked Jacques, who just came in.

Suddenly, they all felt a chilling presence. They all looked to Jaune to see him completely enraged. His eyes turned to slits.

"Not **AGAIN**!" shouted Jaune, using full immersion link with Andusk. He flew out through the window, shattering the glass panels. Winter, and team WBY quickly followed him out.

"Klein? Explain. And also, call the repairman," said Jacques, watching Jaune fly away.

* * *

 _Approximately 40 minutes earlier_

"Here is your lasagna, Miss."

Whitley and Ruby were at a fancy restaurant that served some food that originated from Vale. Whitley had gone for veal marsala, and right now, they were at the main course. Ruby was wearing a modest but fancy red strapless long dress with slits on the side, while Whitley was wearing a tuxedo.

"This looks... delicious!" cheered Ruby.

"I do hope you enjoy it," smiled Whitley, "It's quite... out of this world."

As the server passed by, Whitley passed a white Lien card to him. As they continued to eat, Ruby felt like her muscles weren't working right.

"Ooh, I think I ate too much."

"No worries. We can go home. Check please," said Whitley, waving for a server.

He paid the bill and took Ruby to a certain hotel with a special room he had reserved. One that catered to special services with complete secrecy. Nobody would know what happened inside, for they kept paparazzi out, armed with state of the art silencing equipment and even Aura blocking walls, to prevent people from sensing Aura from the outside. They had bouncers with special weapons to 'deter' other people. Only a few people of high class knew about this place at all.

"Where... are we?" asked Ruby in confusion. She hadn't been paying attention. Somehow, she didn't notice being dragged here and being place on a rather comfy bed.

"At a special place," grinned Whitley. Ruby didn't like that grin.

"Umm, why aren't we back at the Schnee manor?" asked Ruby, a bit scared now. She still couldn't move her limbs like she wanted to, and she could barely feel her Aura working.

"Why to ignite the passions of _our_ newly-found love," grinned Whitley maliciously before grabbing Ruby's arms and putting them up above her head. She tried to struggle, but Whitley was overpowering her.

'How?' thought Ruby. She trained to be a Huntress, and she was losing to a boy her age with no prior training? Then, she thought about the food she ate.

"You drugged me," snarled Ruby.

"Clever girl," replied Whitley, "But sadly, too late."

He grabbed a pair of handcuffs before snapping them both onto the rails, one on each wrist so Ruby couldn't move. He sat on Ruby's waist so she couldn't move. He slowly traced Ruby's face with his finger but drew it back when she tried to bite him.

"Feisty," smirked Whitley before drawing his hand and slapping her, he had hoped to get her to cry out, but she held it back, "That's not something I want in a girl."

"Then you… picked the wrong person!" Ruby snapped as she tried to move or kick, but found that she still couldn't. She glared up at him, and Whitley decided it was time for some fun. He pulled down the chest area, revealing to him a perky B cup breasts. She hadn't worn a bra because the dress was made to be worn without one.

"No bra? Naughty girl, you were looking forward to this, weren't you?" He mocked lustfully as he began to play with her breasts. He squeezed them hard, making Ruby hold back a moan. He hummed, "Not as big as your sister, but I'm sure you'll grow to her size,"

Ruby struggled, but couldn't get him off. She tried to use her legs, but they lacked power. Soon enough, against her will, her nipples were erect.

"It's good to see you're enjoying yourself," smirked Whitley before reaching down to touch her panties, "Oh? And it looks like you're getting wet."

"Just a physiological reaction," Ruby quickly replied with hatred, but her voice couldn't hide how scared she was. "I'm not enjoying this, you creep! Get off of me!"

"Tsk, tsk, can't have you behaving like that," lectured Whitley, "Luckily, I have a solution for that."

He got off Ruby before going into a briefcase that he had left in this room on purpose. He grabbed a jar and showed it to Ruby, who shrieked in fear. For inside the jar, was a Grimm. It looked like a worm parasite.

"You like?" leered Whitley, "This Grimm was specially made. For once I put it on you, it'll go into your ear, where it'll reside in your brain. All your pleasure senses will be amplified. And once I take you purity, you will forever only learn pleasure from me, and nobody else. You will become mine"

"It's a mind control Grimm?!" shouted Ruby, her eyes widening in fear.

"Put it in simple terms, yes. You'd be surprised what can be found on the black market. Now, just give in to me as I take you for myself, **forever** "

Ruby struggled even harder to the fact her wrists started to bleed when Whitley opened the jar and place the Grimm on her forehead. The Grimm stared at Ruby for a second before moving slowly towards her right ear. To her horror, Whitley slipped his hands into her dress, touching her thighs before lifting the dress up, bunching it to her waist before slowly separating her legs apart. He quickly unzipped his pants to show his erection, to which Ruby made an insulting remark about its size. Whitley ignored it as he took some scissors and cut her panties open, revealing her maidenhood.

"And soon, we shall become one, and you will be **mine**!" laughed Whitley as the Grimm parasite slipped into Ruby's ear. Ruby screamed as she felt the slimy parasite worm its way in. Her eyes glowed silver at once, causing Whitley to look in confusion.

Then, there was a flash of light.

* * *

 **Dun, dun DUNNNNN! What happens? Why do I keep putting Ruby in these situations? Find out next time!**

 **I was debating on that last scene whether to have Whitley to actually go through with the act, but I thought, naa, way too much angst. Decided to tone it down a little.**

 **Read and Review! More reviews I get... the faster I might release the next chapter muahahaha! Though in reality, I'll probe release the next chapter within a week for this cliff hanger.**

 **Also, next chapter for the special scenario scene is up. Dealing with Nora and Ren.**

 **Side note, I released a third story, Fairy Tail Team Dragon of Destruction. Come take a look at it! Deals with Grand Magic Games Arc. Read my other stories, too!**


	46. Chapter 46 Aftermath and Mark?

**And here we go! New chapter! Also, a reminder I wrote a new story. Come check it out**

* * *

"WHERE ARE THEY?" roared Jaune as he took to the skies, trying to sense Ruby. He didn't care that the people of Atlas could see him in the air, some even taking photos.

He had to find her, but he couldn't! He _needed_ to find Ruby! Winter had already called Ironwood to tell him about the situation so the soldiers wouldn't think Jaune was the enemy and shoot him out of the sky.

" _ **Land on a building and focus,"**_ ordered Lung Wang, _**"Link up with more of us, at the same time if you can."**_

Jaune obeyed, landing on a building before fully expanding his senses. He had arrived at the restaurant and asked where Whitley and Ruby went. The manager said that they had been indeed here, but they took a cab and left, to which Jaune growled in disappointment, before leaving. Winter and WBY arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later and asked the same thing.

"No, no, no!" growled Jaune as he scanned through people's Aura, going through random buildings at a time. He was running out of time!

" _ **Wait, scan that building again,"**_ said Andusk.

Jaune did so and found the empty to be devoid of Aura. Which was interesting because he saw people coming and going in the building. He noted bouncers outside.

" _ **Link up with me and tap the building,"**_ suggested Fafnir, _**"We can see if you can use the vibrations to sense people inside."**_

Jaune did so, ignoring the bouncers yelling at him to land. He was surprised to see it not go all the way through some rooms.

" _ **As I thought,"**_ murmured Fafnir, _**"This building not only blocks Aura, but they have state of the art silencing equipment and vibration mufflers."**_

" _ **Add to the fact that this seems to be some sort of hotel,"**_ added Aryz.

One of the bouncers got nervous and fired a TASER, meant to send 10,000 volts into a person's body. Jaune dodged it before glaring at the bouncer, slowly descending into the ground while spilling killing intent at the bouncer. Said bouncer relieved himself in both ways before fainting. The other bouncer looked nervous as he took out a stun baton.

Jaune ignored them and walked forward into the entrance. The bouncer was about to stop him when he felt something hit him. He shook his head to see Jaune had used his wings had smacked him aside. The bouncer decided wisdom was better than valor and ran away.

Jaune walked up to the front desk, but instead of ringing the little bell in the front for service, he punched the desk, smashing it into pieces. That certainly got the manager's attention.

"You boy! What ar-" The manager didn't get to finish his sentence as Jaune grabbed him by the collar and forced him close to him, face to face.

"Did a white haired boy with blue eyes named Whitley Schnee and a red haired girl with silver eyes named Ruby Rose come in here?" demanded Jaune.

"No," replied the manager plainly.

" _ **He's lying,"**_ said Fafnir, _**"His pulse just quickened, and his muscles just twitched."**_

Jaune grabbed the manager by the neck and squeezed before saying "I'm going to ask nicely again. Did. They. Come. Here?"

"Freeze!"

Two security guards came out, pointing their guns at Jaune. Without looking, Jaune grabbed his shield, shifting to hand cannon mode and shot the two guard's guns out of their hands. The manager started to sweat at this display of control.

"I'm sorry," said the manager, "But we do not reveal our customer's names. Part of our confidentiality with them. After all, we do receive many famous guests here who have a tendency to enjoy the company of others, and they don't want to let the paparazzi know."

"You're not answering my question," growled Jaune.

Just in time, Blake, Weiss, Yang, and Winter popped into the building. They had noticed Jaune tap the building before descending down and quickly ran to catch up. Ironwood was coordinating with the police force for a search.

"Jaune! Why are you holding this man up?" asked Weiss.

"He's withholding valuable information, and I intend to get it out," replied Jaune.

"Jaune, you can't do that. He's a citizen of Atlas, and you're not part of the Atlas military. It's illegal to interrogate someone from Atlas," said Winter, causing the manager to smile, "Instead, allow me to perform the interrogation. I'm part of the Atlesian Special Forces, and I get a few special privileges along with being a Schnee."

The manager frowned again and almost spat at Jaune when Winter grabbed him from Jaune's hand and punched him in the stomach. She threw him into the ground, where she summoned 3 Beowolves and had them growling at the manager. Each one placed their rather razor sharp paws on a vital organ.

"Now, you're going to tell me. Is Whitley Schnee, my little brother, here? I am her older sister, so I should be allowed to know."

Before the manager could say anything, there was a brilliant flash of light that they all couldn't possibly ignore. It came from the upper levels and overloaded the Aura inhibitors in the walls for a second before they started to work again. But it was enough for Jaune to sense Ruby and her distress.

"She's upstairs!" shouted Jaune as he ran out of the building, as going up the stairs or the elevators would take too long. Jaune already felt where it had come from, flying up to the 15th floor, floating outside one of the walls. He grabbed his sword, infusing it with Light Aura, extending the blade length before slicing right through the walls. The walls gave way, revealing a semi naked Ruby with her head to the side while Whitley was shaking his head from the light show. His manhood was still erect as he approached towards Ruby, intent on still claiming her.

"Well, that was an unpleasant surprise," said Whitley, not noticing the walls had fallen, "But still, I will claim your purity!"

Whitley wasn't able to do anything else as Jaune flew into the room and grabbed Whitley's head with his left hand. He slammed Whitley into the wall, his blade pointed at his throat.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you right now, you little bastard!" roared Jaune.

Whitley wasn't able to respond as he had fainted from Jaune's killing intent. Disgusted, Jaune tossed Whitley to the side before hurrying to Ruby.

"Ruby! You're safe now! Please, wake up! It's me, Jaune!"

When Jaune lifted her up, her head lolled to the side, as if completely unresponsive.

"Ruby? Please, wake up!" cried Jaune, but Ruby didn't respond. Her eyes were open, but they looked empty.

With that, Jaune cried, howling into the night sky as security quickly made its way up to the room, along with WBY and Winter.

* * *

" _And in later news, the Atlas military forcefully disbanded a hotel that was apparently catering to 'questionable' services. Once such victim was a young Huntress-in-training Ruby Rose, who was apparently with one of these customers was Whi-"_

The television set was powered off right after that. Jacques Schnee was sitting in his study room behind his desk. He had a cup of coffee next to him that he had not touched. Sitting on one of the couches was team RWBY, with Ruby still unconscious. Medics had confirmed that she was still alive and unharmed, but they weren't sure why she was in a coma. One of the more horrifying bits of news was that when they did an x-ray of her whole body earlier, they found a Grimm parasite swimming in her brain. It was inactive right now, but the fact it was in there was cause for concern. Right now, both Yang and Jaune were not letting Ruby out of their sight. She was placed in a sitting position, her head leaning onto Yang's shoulders. On the other side of the couch were Winter, Jaune, and Ironwood. Klein was standing behind Jacques, massaging his shoulders to relieve some tension. Klein was acting as an adviser, something that he rarely did, and only did so when Jacques felt like he needed another opinion on a big decision. Whitley was standing in front of the desk, as if on trial, although his smug face made it seem like he wasn't worried.

The silence seemed to stretch when Jacques suddenly stood up. He walked over to Whitley, putting his left hand on his shoulder. Whitley looked down on the hand for a second before looking up at his father, thinking that Jacques would tell him that he would take care of it, that it would be okay.

He received a right straight from Jacques. Right in the nose.

Whitley stumbled backward into the bookshelf before sliding down on his butt. Books fell on him, but he was in shock. So were the other two Schnees.

Jacques Schnee, actually punching someone? Sure, he may slap. Winter got one for telling her father she was joining the military without telling him earlier. Weiss was spanked when she was younger. Any heavier punishment was dealt by Klein, with slaps on the hand by a ruler, etc. But a punch was something he never did before.

"You... FOOL!" roared Jacques, "Do you have any idea what your stunt cost us?"

"I-" started Whitley, but Jacques cut him off.

"And _don't_ think I'm just talking about Lien here! Our reputation! Our dignity! Our… our…" Jacques sighed angrily, holding his head with his hand, unable to come up with words to finish expressing his rage. He sat back down onto his chair, trying to finish what he was going to say. Klein gently put his hand on Jacques's shoulder. Jacques looked up to him, both of them staring at each other's eyes before Jacques nodded. Klein stepped up, his eyes light-brown.

"Due to the exposure of Whitley's action," began Klein, glaring at Whitley for a bit, his eyes turning red, "The stocks for the SDC has dropped a lot."

His eyes turned back to light-brown before continuing, "Not only that, but the council of Atlas has ordered the SDC to halt all productions due to investigations. Ironwood has his men investigating everything Whitley has done, been to, or even touched. Not to mention once he got his hands on the manager, he confessed that you were the one who put the briefcase in that room. The one carrying that Grimm parasite!"

Jacques took over, "James is a trusted friend and ally to this family. But his investigations must be revealed to the public due to demands. Winter has been suspended from the military without pay, and may even face dishonorable discharge. Not only that, but because of this, there is a chance that the SDC, Nicholas's creation, our family's legacy, might be forced to dissolved!"

"In short," added Klein, his eyes turning purple, "The company and your family's wealth might go bye-bye!"

Winter and Weiss gasped, while Whitley stared.

Finally, he gave a reaction, but not a very good one.

"Fuck those peons," cursed Whitley, "We are Schnees. They should be praising us, bowing to our whims. Ruby should've been honored that I chose her. She-"

Whitley didn't get to continue as he felt overwhelming killing intent from WBY. Jaune was the most evident, but he was being restrained by both Ironwood and Winter for the moment, though both of them were tempted to let him go.

"Dammit," sighed Jacques, "I lost that bet."

He handed Klein a white Lien card before explaining further, "I thought that you would at least show some sort of remorse for your actions. Even some sort of penance for causing your sister to potentially lose the position that she earned. Klein has told me repeatedly that you were too spoiled, but I kept ignoring in favor that you might be the Heir I wanted, or at least be the man I hoped you would be. I have let myself be blinded too much. No longer. Whitley Schnee, you will relinquish any claims you have to the Schnee Dust Company. Even if Weiss relinquishes her heiress position, it will fall to either Winter or her child." Whitley looked at him, eyes wide in shock, but Jacques continued, "Furthermore, I am sending you to boot camp. James will take you in, where you will learn the discipline that you are in very much in need of. He will be the one to teach you what it means to be a soldier, and will provide regular reports on your behavior. Be thankful he is the one doing it, and not some other general. He is someone I can trust. And lastly, I will cut off all your allowance. Any Lien you need must be earned."

Whitley finally found his voice, "But... that's barbaric! I will not participate in such a barbarism such as fighting. That's for commoners!"

Anything else was suddenly put on hold as there was a knock on the door. Klein walked forward and opened the door, talking with the maid outside before frowning.

"It seems we have visitors," said Klein.

"If its the paparazzi, send them away," sighed Jacques.

"It's not," replied Klein, "It's much worse."

"Who could be much worse?" asked Jacques wearily.

"The absolutely livid parents of Miss Rose, as well as Adviser Ozpin," answered Klein, causing everyone to freeze.

"As if the situation couldn't get any uglier." said Ironwood, knowing all of their personalitys. If they got the full story and went out of control, then he feared the manor would no longer be standing, along with several more property damage.

* * *

 **"I'll** **FUCKING KILL HIM!"**

Qrow was trying to get his hands on a terrified Whitley, who had been put into a jail cell hastily constructed in the middle of the dining room, where they had moved to continue the meeting. The reason Whitley was in the cell was for his own safety.

 **"LET ME HAVE HIM!"**

Qrow wasn't the only one trying to get him. Taiyang was on the other side, trying to get his hands on the brat. Raven would've actually joined if it wasn't for the fact that she was busy inspecting Ruby's condition, along with Ozpin. And for once, Ozpin wasn't even trying to stop Qrow and Taiyang from trying to brutally murder a boy.

"Can you help her?" asked Weiss worriedly.

"It'll be hard," answered Ozpin, "Luckily, the power of the silver eyes activated before the parasite could go in too deep, but I'm afraid a little too late."

"I'm more concerned on how he managed to get his hands on that," commented Raven.

"What's wrong with Ruby?" asked Blake.

"That version of the Grimm parasite changes a person's brain function. If Ruby had not activated her hidden powers and Jaune's intervention, then I'm afraid that Ruby would have become... Whitley's sex slave. She would not be able to live without him, whether he abused her or not."

 **CLANG**

Everyone looked up to see Yang joining in the attempt to maul Whitley, with flaming hair and red eyes.

" **YOU! BASTARD! I! WILL! KILL! YOU!"** She roared in a voice that reached demonic levels, each paused yell was with a punch that smashed against the cell's bars.

"Is there any way to cure her?" asked Winter, "Money is no problem."

"Indeed," added Ironwood, "I can have our top surgeons help remove it."

"What about micro Dust bombardment?" offered Jacques, "Expensive, but I can pay for it. We could destroy the parasite inside.

"That may be difficult," said Ozpin, taking a look at the X-rays, "The Grimm parasite has partially embedded itself into Ruby's brain. Any attempt to remove it may kill her in the process. Dust bombardment is also risky as it is in the brain. It would destroy her brain cells near it, and could cause problems in the present and future.. She is in the coma right now because she froze it, but the fact it's in her brain now is a problem. The only cure may very well be for Whitley to finish what he started to wake her up, although it would mean she would become his slave, though to a much lesser degree."

 **SLASH**

They once again looked up to see Raven had finally snapped and joined in on trying to kill Whitley this time. All four sides had a relative of Ruby, trying to kill Whitley. Whether it was the father, the uncle/second father, the aunt, or the cousin/sister, they all had one common goal: kill the brat.

"Qrow! Raven! Tai-Yang! Miss Xiao Long! Please, calm down, now!" demanded Ironwood.

"Don't stop us, Jimmy! This brat deserves what's coming!" roared Qrow, "He almost raped my daughter, almost took her virginity, and now Ozpin tells us that the only way is for her to become his slave? I'LL KILL HIM! I JUST GOT MY DAUGHTER BACK INTO MY LIFE!"

Ironwood could only look away in pain at Qrow's rant, and he really couldn't blame Qrow's action.

"Sis!" shouted Qrow, putting out his fist.

"Got it!" replied Raven as she put her fist to meet his, and together, they both closed their eyes and activated their semblance.

Their luck combined, both working for a way to get Whitley. Whitley had all the luck against him now.

Yang was continuing to punch when one of the bars broke off. There was a crack behind it, and Yang had hit it just right. The other two bars beside it cracked a bit. Taiyang rushed to that spot, taking Yang's place, and with a roar, pried it open wider. He leaped back just as Qrow and Raven slashed horizontally into the open area. The result was that several bars all fell down, giving them room for a person to enter in one at a time. Qrow entered into the cage, dragging a babbling Whitley out of it. Ironwood tried to intervene, but Taiyang stopped him. Winter herself was halted by Yang.

Whitley nearly fainted on the spot when Qrow lifted him up by his collar, also pissing his pants as he was slapped awake.

"Can't have you going to sleep on us," muttered Qrow, "Raven?"

Raven nodded and jabbed a point at Whitley's body, forcing him to wake up so Qrow could continue to inspire fear into him

"Listen you little brat," started Qrow, looking right into Whitley's eyes, "You messed with the wrong person. Now, I'm going to kill you, but not right away. I'll slowly shave off your life force, little by little. I'll make your life here a living hell until you do go to hell."

"You won't do it," coughed Whitley, "You're a Hunter. And the fact is that Ruby needs me to live. So let me go if you want her to continue living. I'll be sure to.. _treat_ her well."

Qrow twitched and punched him in the stomach. Raven grabbed his head and plunged his head into the floor.

Jaune did nothing, he just stood and watched with satisfaction.

"There are other ways to control a man," said Raven seductively. Yet this tone of voice chilled Whitley.

"We only need you to do it every once in awhile. The other times, we'll just lock you up, making sure you get the basics just to barely survive. Not to mention, we can also... make sure your time with her will never be enjoyable."

"Enough."

Jacques stood up, standing proud and walking towards Raven and Qrow. He stared at them for a bit, and they stared back. Then, they were all shocked when Jacques got onto his knees and bowed, his forehead touching the ground. The prideful Jacques Schee was actually bowing.

"Please. Leave my son's punishment to me. I will make sure that he learns his lesson heavily. But in the end, he is still of my flesh and blood as well as one of my last links to my dead wife."

Qrow glared at Jacques before sighing, letting go of the weapon on his back. Raven twitched and let go, but not before breaking Whitley's wrist.

Whitley screamed silently before slowly getting up, still wanting to get the last laugh, "So, shall I take Ruby to my room? Will we be having our wedding night?"

Whitley was promptly punched into the wall, this time by a pissed off Jaune. It was very surprising to see Whitley not dead yet, but he was still alive, for now, and had been rendered unconscious.

"I'll take him to his room," sighed Klein as he dragged Whitley by the foot. He was careful enough to make sure hit Whitley's head against the door as he walked out... as well as every stair as he took the future cadaver to his room.

"Qrow. Raven. Taiyang. I have something I need to ask of you," said Jaune seriously before getting on his knees. "I was talking with my dragons earlier. We may have a solution for Ruby, but it involves me marking her. So I ask. With your blessing, may I propose to Ruby?"

"Whoa, a little early that, isn't it?" stammered Taiyang.

"Explain," asked Ozpin.

"When I Mate Mark someone that I love, I flood the body I mark with my Aura and the chosen dragon's power. And because of that, there is a very high chance that I can destroy the Grimm parasite with the dragon's power without harming her."

"Well, then get on with it!" urged Qrow.

"It's not that simple," replied Jaune, "Once I do so, we have 72 to hours to... consummate our 'marriage', so to speak, or it fades."

"Can't you just let it fade and then mark her again at a later time?" asked Raven, intrigued.

"No," replied Jaune, "If I mark her and we do not do the deed, then it fades, and Ruby will never be able to receive the mark ever again. She would never officially be my mate, and I refuse to let that happen because of that little asshole!"

Qrow fell down on his chair, unable to decide. Klein appeared next to him with a bottle of expensive whiskey, to which Qrow grabbed the whole bottle and chugged it. Jacques frowned and wanted to scold Qrow, but with her daughter in a coma because of his son, he didn't have the heart to do so.

"...Is there no other way?" asked Qrow weakly.

"Unless you have a better one, then go ahead," replied Jaune sadly. "Trust me, I don't want it to be like this, but I don't know what else to do."

Nobody was able to bring up any suggestions. After all, it was either let the snot nose brat Shitley get his way or Ruby having herself deflowered early by someone she actually loved.

"Fine," grunted Qrow, "I didn't want Ruby to get married so fast, but if it's the only way to save her, then... just do it."

"You can still walk her down the aisle," snickered Yang, "Just because Ruby has the Mate mark doesn't mean she can't get the wedding she wants. We don't have to put it in the papers saying they're married."

"Speaking of which, Yang, are you also marked?" asked Raven, causing Taiyang to perk up.

"No," sighed Yang, shaking her head in the process "I didn't feel like I'm ready for such a big step yet."

"Well, I suppose that's something," muttered Taiyang. At least his daughter wasn't married yet.

"Should we leave then?" asked Jacques.

"Preferably," replied Jaune, "I have to bite into her chest, and I'm sure Qrow doesn't want anyone seeing her daughter being undressed."

Ironwood coughed awkwardly while Qrow glared at every male not part of Ruby's family. Jacques stood up and left with Winter, Klein, Ozpin, and Ironwood.

'Holy shit this is so messed up. Why did it have to be like this?' Jaune asked himself. 'If only I had gotten there in time…'

" _ **Don't blame yourself, young one. This isn't your fault. Keep your thoughts in the here and now. Ruby needs you."**_

"Alright, here goes," breathed Jaune as he fully linked with Andusk.

" _ **Don't worry,"**_ murmured Andusk, _**"I'm sure it'll work."**_

" _ **And although Ruby is young, she did just pass her 16**_ _ **th**_ _ **birthday,"**_ added Aryz, _**"I'm sure she won't reject you."**_

'That's what I'm afraid of most,' replied Jaune, as he moved Ruby's upper clothing aside, exposing her bare chest to him and her family. Leaning down he was hesitant at first, but with a deep breath and a bit of assuring confidence from the dragons, he bit Ruby's left breast, right above her heart.

Ruby's body twitched as the dragon essence and Jaune's Aura were infused into her body. As the Aura traveled to her head, the Grimm parasite twitched. Then, it shrieked as the Aura began to destroy it without harming Ruby. It struggled, hoping to burrow deeper, but the dragon essence prevented it from doing so. With one final struggle, the Grimm parasite dissolved, leaving no damage to Ruby's brain.

Ruby slowly woke up to see her family, friends, and boyfriend all standing around with worried expression.

"What happened?" asked Ruby in confusion. She blushed as she saw her left breast expose in her dress when she remembered what happened. Whitley, slowly molesting her. The Grimm parasite. Then, Whitley closing in on her maidenhead.

"No... NO!" cried Ruby, starting to struggle out of Jaune's arms.

"It's okay!" shouted Jaune, hugging her, but she struggled to get out.

Qrow closed in, asking Jaune to move. Jaune complied, and Qrow hugged his daughter.

"It's okay," whispered Qrow, "It's all right, my little Rosebud."

Ruby stopped struggling before her eyes cleared up.

"Dad?" whispered Ruby, her voice cracking.

"I'm here," replied Qrow softly, kissing her forehead, "It's alright. Daddy's here to protect you."

"Dad!" cried Ruby as she burrowed her head into Qrow's chest, "I was so scared!"

"I know, Rosebud. I know."

Qrow hugged his daughter, trying to get her to calm down. Taiyang and Yang reached out and hugged her, too, making her feel safer. Raven merely put her hand on Ruby's shoulder to show support. Weiss and Blake quickly joined in, hugging their friend and leader as Jaune rejoined, all of them surrounded Ruby in a circle of love and care.

It took an hour for Ruby to finally calm down, and once she did they explained the situation to her.

"So, I don't have the Grimm parasite in my brain anymore?" asked Ruby as she shivered. She hated that feeling of that worm going through her ear into her brain, "How'd you guys get it out? Surgery? Dust bombardment?"

"No. Any of those options were too risky and could cause death or further problems," answered Weiss, "One 'safe' option was for Whitley to finish what he started. Obviously, nobody wanted that."

"Instead, he may have forced Jaune to play his hand," finished Blake, pulling her own shirt down a bit to reveal her Mate Mark.

Ruby's eyes widened as she looked down and saw a white dragon's head on her chest.

"Ruby," said Jaune softly, causing Ruby to flinch. They all noticed this and cursed Whitley for awakening the phobia of men again.

"There was no other way. With the Mate Mark, I flooded your body with Aura and Andusk's essence. Like Pyrrha, I healed you and destroyed the Grimm parasite. However, now it is your choice whether you want to consummate it or not."

"You got our blessings," muttered Qrow, "So no worries there. You saved my daughter's life, so right now there's no other boy on the planet I'd approve for now."

Ruby looked at Jaune before she started to shake again a bit.

"I... don't know," whispered Ruby, "I'm scared."

"It's okay, I don't blame you. I'd be scared to." Jaune told her soothingly.

"You have 72 hours to think about it," Raven told her calmly, "Take this time to think."

"No matter what you decide, I'll always respect your decision," said Jaune before standing up and leaving, not only did he want to give Ruby some time to think, but he also REALLY, need to let off some steam from this whole situation. Perhaps the Grimm near Atlas's borders may do the trick.

* * *

Jacques was in his study, drinking a Bloody Mary. The SDC was in trouble, and it was all because of Whitley. It was ironic how the beginning of a great company was going to be ended not be a person marrying into the Schnee name, but rather a blood of Schnee. He opened his computer and went through his mail. He had hired the best lawyers to help mitigate the damage, and they were sending him reports. It wasn't looking well for them.. Soon, he heard someone knocking on the door.

"Come in," called out Jacques.

Ironwood stepped into the room with Winter, Klein, and Ozpin. All of them had a frown on their face.

"We just found out Whitley has a lot more skeletons in his closet than we thought," announced Ironwood.

"Of course," sighed Jacques, "Just tell me everything. Better to rip through this quick."

"Whitley, in addition to owning illegal items, has been found guilty of conspiring with the enemy that caused the whole incident at the Vytal Festival and the attack on Beacon, as well as the creator of creating the virus that hijacked the CCT in Vale," stated Ironwood.

"WHAT!?" shouted Jacques, standing up, forcing his chair to fall backward.

"His computer shows evidence of creating that program. He kept it inside a hidden file within the databanks that my technicians almost missed while going through it," continued Ironwood, "He had a triple password lock and everything. One wrong guess, and the whole file gets deleted."

"Luckily, I am familiar with Whitley's life that I could guess it," spat out Klein. Jacques noticed that he had taken the usual way of addressing one of his family out, but decided not to call him out on that.

"What we found... was disturbing," continued Winter, "Whitley knew of the attacks, and yet did nothing but encourage it. We found his journal files and he wrote on them how he would become the Heir, and how he wished his dear sisters would get out of his destined path. We think he agreed to help out on the chance that Weiss might be killed or suffer a condition where she would no longer be a viable Heiress. Not only that, he has several photos of female Huntress-in-training with the label 'Reward'. Ruby Rose was on that list."

"What concerns me the most," finished Ozpin, "Is the program. As smart as Whitley is, I don't think he could create one that falsifies itself to access the system as a Headmaster or Headmistress of an Academy. Which means that he managed to grab a copy of a Headmaster's codes."

Everyone froze at that. How did Whitley get something so valuable? If not him, then Salem? Was somebody leaking information?

"We'll have to change the access codes and try to find a better firewall," summarized Ironwood as he turned around and slowly made his way out.

"Agreed," stated Ozpin, "More than ever, we need to be prepared."

"James," Jacques called out before Ironwood reached the door, the Tinman turned and looked right at Jacques, "When my son wakes up and recovers, you will take him with you. I want you to put him through the harshest training imaginable. Make him go through what experienced soldiers have to do. Don't let him have any room for comfort. Discipline him. Destroy that behavior he has now so he can rebuild himself. Make weekly reports and make sure you yourself inspect him once a month to see if he shows signs of getting better."

"And if it doesn't work?" asked Ironwood his brow raised, wondering what Whitley's father would choose.

Jacques closed his eyes, resolving himself for the next words he would say, "If it fails, then send him to a correctional facility. Some prison time may help. Sentence him there to however many years he deserves."

"Understood," nodded Ironwood before leaving with Winter escorting him.

Jacques leaned back on the chair Klein had already picked it up and placed back behind him, "Where did I go wrong with Whitley?"

"I have told you, sir, you spoiled him a little too much. But there were also other factors that could play into it," replied Klein.

"If I may," added Ozpin, "I believe Whitley feels jealous towards Winter and Weiss. The glyphs are a hereditary Semblance passed down in the Schnee family. The fact Whitley was unable to do so caused him to feel isolated from his sisters and hatred that he did not get it."

Jacques sighed at this. He had spoiled Whitley too much, but he couldn't help it. When he saw Winter and Weiss both knew how to use glyphs, he had already known that they would take a path similar to his father-in-law. When he saw Whitley was without one, he had hoped to mold him into a savvy businessman in hope of being able to expand the company. He gave him everything he needed to know, and then some more. He didn't think it would backfire like this.

* * *

 **MORE DRAMA! MORE WAITING! MUHAHAHA READ AND REVIEW.**

 **A few side notes, when I first wrote this story, I had Mama Schnee written as already dead. So no, she won't make an appearance. I may be a little slower in releasing the next chapter due to... things... cough Destiny 2 cough.**

 **Also had a random idea spout in my head. What if I made My Hero Academia fanfic where I made Deku, aka Izuku Midoriya, was a Dragon contractor? No harem though, I'm just going to have him with one dragon. Bahamut! He'll use Aura for attacks and be able to create dragon scales, etc. Pairing undecided. If someone wants to use the idea, though, go for it. Just tell me so I can read it. Dunno if or when I'll have time to write it.**

 **Review Corner! Been awhile since I did this, gonna answer some guest reviews.**

 **Hope: Someone wants to do a reaction reading, go for it. I'm not going to do it because it would take too much of my own time. If anyone does want to do one, just pm me so I can send you some of the chapters so you don't have to write out the story, just copy and paste.**

 **Madman479R: SSJ Jaune? Haven't really considered it for a one shot.**

 **Guest: Adding Ddraig and Albion into the story might be hard. I'd have to find some way to incorporate the legends in.**

 **Welp, hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter, look forward to the next one!**


	47. Chapter 47 Decision and a New Year

**Hey everyone! Still Alive! Just been shut in my house studying... and playing Destiny 2. A lot. Did a blind run of the raid Leviathan, meaning my clan mates went in without looking up a guide. Anyways, on with the story! Also, the *special scenario* scene will go up soon.**

* * *

Two days had passed since the marking, and Ruby had not agreed to finish the marking ritual by making love to Jaune yet. The rest of JNPR, as well SSSN, NDGO, CFVY, among others all called to see if Ruby was alright. She was getting better, but she was still afraid of men.

The deadline was approaching, so Ruby either needed to agree to go ahead with it... or they would split up.

Jaune refused to have a mistress, even if it was Ruby. It hurt him, but he refused to have sex with Ruby if she didn't want to. He would never sink to Whitley's level. He had given the Mate Mark out of love to save her, so he would never betray her by doing something that was the exact opposite of true love.

Right now, all he could do was look up to the shattered moon and prayed.

"Ruby..." said Yang tentatively, "It's almost time. You need to make a decision. Break up with Jaune or do it."

They were gathered in Weiss's room, having an emergency team meeting. Ruby was still mixed about doing it. Whitley's attempted rape had mentally scarred her, and it wasn't going to fade easily. However, she still loved Jaune very much, but she just didn't want to do it so early. And yet, because of him, she was faced with either do it or break up with Jaune.

"I'm scared," whispered Ruby as she hugged a pillow, "What if it hurts? What if Jaune doesn't want me because of what Whitley did? What if we're about to do it, and he can't because of what Whitley did?"

"I highly doubt Jaune is like that," answered Weiss, "He is noble and understanding. Do not compare him with my… monster of a brother."

"If it helps, we could tell you about our experience with Jaune," suggested Blake.

"What... did you guys do?" asked Ruby curiously, slowly revealing her face that she had been hiding.

"Well, you already heard from Pyrrha," shrugged Yang, "She enjoyed it. She took his first virginity while he took hers, and enjoyed it."

"I wanted something that he never did before," blushed Blake, "After he ravaged my…

"Pussy?" Yang suggested.

"Not as a pun, but yes. After he ravaged me there I had him... put it in my ass after ravaging my vagina." Blake finished.

"Eww, your butt?" wrinkled Ruby.

"I enjoyed it," said Blake hotly, "Nothing feels better than having a connection with the one you love. It did hurt, but I say it was worth it. Like I said, I wanted to do something he never did before. I 'took' his anal virginity."

"Dew gave him a blowjob back at Vacuo, from what he's told me," commented Yang, "They haven't actually done it yet, as she said she didn't feel ready yet. As for me, I had him screw me until the lights went out for me, I mean, wow we went at it like rabbits. He made my girls here feel like precious treasures." Yang said as she proudly jutted out her breasts. "While Blake took his butt, I gave him his first titty fuck, and he was in boob heaven."

As Weiss and Ruby both blushed at Yang's bluntness, Weiss looked down at her own chest and frowned. As the year progressed, Weiss had researched on her own time food or exercises to increase her chest size. As of now, she was only 32A, barely even touching the B cup size.

"It'll be harder for you to do that with your chest," teased Yang, knowing what Weiss was thinking.

"Shut up!" roared Weiss in embarrassment, "I have my own qualities. Plus, everyone knows the bigger the breast, the more fat that's in it."

"Ah, but boys love it when it's gathered there," returned Yang. "Nice and soft, perfect pillows, while less… gifted girls are a bit harder."

"Oh I'll show you hard!" Weiss snapped as the two began to squabble, causing Ruby to chuckle.

"I... want to do it," decided Ruby, "But I'm still afraid."

"No problem. If you want, I can be there with you," suggested Yang, "Then-"

"Oh no!" interrupted Weiss, "If anyone is going to be there for Ruby, it's going to be her partner. Me! You all took his different first times already. Ruby and I will take Jaune's first time in a threesome!"

She declared this with such conviction that it caused them all to be silent. Weiss turned crimson red when she processed what she had just declared.

"So, going to lose your virginity at the same time?" asked Blake, a small knowing smirk forming on her face, very much intrigued by the prospect.

"N-n-oo," she blushed, "I don't think I'm ready for that just yet. But I do want to be there for Ruby if she needs someone. It's my brother's fault this happened in the first place. I should be the one to help her back on her feet."

"I... wouldn't mind if it was Weiss," admitted Ruby, "No offense sis, but you've already had your turn with Jaune. It's ours now. Besides, it would be… too weird if my sister was there for my first time."

"Aww," pouted Yang, "I was looking forward to having another turn on his magical sword."

"Perhaps after," grinned Blake, "We don't get to see him for the next few months when the semester starts."

"Yeah!" cheered Yang, as she leaped forward and grabbed Blake. "The Bumblebee combo on Jaune. I'm sure he'll love it, I know I will!"

Blake blushed deeply and quietly agreed, "I think I will too."

* * *

Jaune was in the library, reading a book when Klein entered in. "Excuse my intrusion, Master Jaune. Miss Weiss would like to see you in her room."

Jaune shrugged, getting out of his chair and was about to put the book back on the shelf when Klein stopped him, saying he would do it, and that he should make his way to her room post haste. Deciding to listen, Jaune walked through the hallways when he heard voices coming from around the corner.

"You can't do this to me! I am a Schnee, a person above fighting, above the lower class scum! I don't deserve to go to that barbaric place and you don't have the right to make me! You merely married into the name, father!"

"You forget, your grandfather, Nicholas Shnee, was a Huntsman first before becoming a businessman. It's time you been taught some discipline and moral codes. Obviously, I have failed on this part, and I apologize to you for that. I hope James will have better luck, along with Winter."

Jaune looked around the corner to see Whitley being dragged by Winter out the door. Looked like Whitley wouldn't be home for a long time.

Whitley caught a glance at Jaune and screamed out "You! You bastard! You ruined everything! I'll kill you, you low-class, insufferable, wretch!"

His ranting was finally ended by Winter knocking him out cold with a swift bash to the head. Winter looked at Jaune and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, Jaune. Whitley was just leaving."

"No need to apologize. I'm sorry he turned out like this." Jaune said sadly.

Winter sighed and nodded, "I am too. Thank Oum mother isn't around to see the monster he's become."

Winter saluted Jaune and went about her job 'escorting' her younger brother out of the manor and Jaune kept walking through the halls until he finally arrived at Weiss's room before knocking.

"Come in."

Jaune entered the room and froze, his jaw nearly dropping at the unexpected sight before him.

Standing in front of him was Ruby, looking incredibly shy with a blood red blush upon her face, wearing nothing but her underwear with Weiss standing right next to her, wearing a white see-through nightgown.

"Jaune," started Ruby as she walked forward, "I made up my mind. I want to keep this mark. So please, take me tonight."

"I'm here to help Ruby out," blushed Weiss, "And... to be the first one to give you a threesome. But no penetration! I won't do it yet! I'm still not ready."

Jaune could only nod dumbly as the girls dragged him to the bed and pushed him on it.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want to rush this. I love you too much to make you do something you don't want to Ruby. I… I don't think I could live with myself if I ever hurt you or any of my loves." He said.

Tears welled up in Ruby's eyes as her heart began beating fast. "I… I'm sure, Jaune. I can't let Whitley win this. I can't let him take me away from you and ruin our friendship and our… love. I want to do it, Jaune. Get ready," warned Ruby as she unhooked her bra while Weiss helped her out of her panties, "We're going to wear you out."

Jaune woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. He stretched his muscles to find Ruby sleeping on one side while Weiss was on the other. Both were completely naked as they snuggled against him. Weiss had stuck to her oath, as she admitted she didn't feel ready yet. She did, however, come close to it during their activities, which including various rubbing, stroking, massaging, kissing, licking and sucking of various parts.

" _ **I told you there was no need for concern,"**_ soothed Aryz.

" _ **Yeah right,"**_ chuckled Othim, _**"You kept pacing."**_

" _ **Shush, you,"**_ reprimanded Alaerth.

"Mmmm, cookies," muttered Ruby. It was easy to see what she was dreaming about until she added, "They taste soooo good on Jaune." Suddenly the big smile she had on her face made a bit more sense.

"I don't even want to know what she's thinking about," said another voice beside Jaune. He looked over to see Weiss had woken up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Who knows?" snickered Jaune, "Maybe me covered in cookie dough."

Weiss gave a disgusted face before she pushed Jaune back down on his chest and fell atop it, snuggling into him across Ruby.

"Uh, Weiss I…"

"No, you're not moving. It's too early to contemplate these things, and your chest is comfortable. You're staying." She said, matter-of-factly.

* * *

"So, it's official?"

The Branwen/Xiao Long family was sitting at a dinner table with the Jacques and Weiss, along with Jaune and Blake. Ozpin had already left for Vale. Ironwood and Winter were at an army camp, forcing Whitley to go through initiation.

"Yes, Qrow. Whitley has been taken by James Ironwood to undergo the harshest training he can force upon him. With this, perhaps it will instill discipline and honor, and… maybe make him see the error of his ways," replied Jacques stoically, "Winter is there to ensure that he does listen. I apologize for all this happening."

The SDC had luckily survived, if not barely. Though there were going to be major cutbacks on some of their plans. They had wanted to expand on another potential Dust mine but now lacked the funds. Some of the R&D would suffer some cutbacks, too.

"Long as your boy stays away from my girl, I've got... less of a problem with you," grunted Qrow.

"A restraining order will be made and enforced," insisted Weiss, "I do not want my brother near Ruby either."

"So... how was your night?" whispered Yang to Ruby.

"Fine," Ruby quickly replied with a mad blush.

"You're gonna have to go into more details than that, sis," teased Yang.

"Not in front of everyone!" whispered Ruby back, mortified.

"Oh c'mon! You just had a threesome. I want some details when I drag Blake in with me onto Jaune. Maybe get Pyrrha in it too, I'm thinking harem orgy." replied Yang.

"Yang!" half-shouted Blake, although her mind was already going through the scenarios, each one more naughtier than the other.

"Not on the breakfast table," groaned Taiyang.

"So, Jaune. Are you headed back to Haven today?" asked Jacques, desperately attempting to change the subject, he really didn't want to hear about his daughter's sex life.

"Yea. The semester starts tomorrow. Pyrrha and everyone else was worried when they heard of Ruby's condition."

"And you're sure you can't consider studying at Atlas?" asked Jacques.

"My team's already decided," sighed Jaune. In truth, after this incident, he was a bit wary of leaving Team RWBY alone after what had happened.

"Don't worry about us," comforted Blake, "We'll be alright. We need to stay here to get used to Yang's arm."

Jaune nodded, and they all finished eating their breakfast. Jaune walked out after kissing his girls goodbye, making sure each one of them felt loved and making sure Ruby was feeling better. With a great flap of his wings, shot into the air and flew towards Mistral.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that," squinted Qrow, watching Jaune disappear in the distance, while Jacques departed for his office at the factory, intent on trying to get everything back up and running."Well, since we're here, Ruby, Yang, we're going to see if you inherited the Branwen trait."

"Branwen trait?" asked Yang.

"Raven and I can transform fully, unlike Jaune who only grows wings or scales," explained Qrow, "We transform into a raven and crow respectively, hence our name. Now we need to see if you two inherited something similar to our power, as it's actually linked with our Semblance a little."

"Cool!" cheered Ruby, with her silver eyes glowing.

"Umm, Ruby, your eyes are actually glowing," said Yang hesitantly.

"I think it has to do with my mark," replied Ruby, "Linking into Andusk, the original dragon who blessed people with the silver eyes, boosted its potential."

"Huh. Neat," shrugged Raven.

* * *

Jaune arrived back at Haven at night, where he spent the remaining time with Pyrrha. Soon enough, they were back in session. Team SSSN had taken them on a quick tour before the freshmen candidates arrived. Jaune hadn't noticed when he first arrived, but Haven Academy was located at the top of the mountain, in a very large Eastern looking dojo type building. A waterfall could be seen near the entrance.

"Interesting, ain't it?" asked Sun, "Haven made it an important part of its style to mix in with nature and the arts ever since the Great War."

"I've seen this building often when I was a child, but still it's actually quite something to be standing here again," admitted Pyrrha, "Funny how my sponsors were adamant about me coming here instead of Beacon, and now, here I am."

"Cmon, let's go see the new fresh meat," grinned Sage, "I think we're having bigger acceptance amount since Beacon isn't having one. Since each Academy takes in ten new teams in total, Atlas will be having four extra teams while Shade and Haven will get three extra teams."

"How does Haven conduct their initiation?" asked Jaune.

"You'll see," grinned Neptune.

Suddenly, there was some shouting near the courtyard. Team JNPR and SSSN went to see eight freshmen candidates harassing a seemingly old man sitting on a bench.

"That's old man Wong," whispered Scarlet, " Wonder why those kids are messing with him?"

"You stupid old man! You tripped me and scuffed my 300 Lien shirt and pants!" shouted a rather rich looking brat.

"Oh, that's why," said Sun in amusement, "Must be from one of the snobs from the rich district who thinks they're all that."

Scarlet gave him a slight glare, but Sage pulled him in, "Easy man. You know Sun doesn't mean it like that. To be honest though, that freshmen is proving Sun's statement true. We all know you're not like them."

Scarlet sighed and lessened his gaze from Sun and more on the newcomers. The old man named Wong didn't even seem to be scared of what the snob was yelling. He picked his ear before turning back to the freshman.

"I apologize for the scuff, but you were the one that tripped on my legs without looking. I have been sitting here for the past 10 minutes, not moving at all when you and your friends walked by without looking and tripped on my leg."

"Shut up old man! Why are you even here?" shouted another, "This is a place for people to fight monsters! An old man like you should be decaying in the slums."

Wong merely stood up, stretching his back, before turning his back to them and walked away, ignoring them all completely.

"Don't walk away from your superior!" shouted another boy as he charged forward and grabbed Wong by the shoulder.

"Now, now. Let us be civilized," warned Wong, positioning himself right beside the offender.

"Huh, and what are you going to do? Who's going to do anything for you?"

Some other people were yelling at him to let Wong go, but he held on tightly, ignoring them. Jaune was about to walk forward to stop it when Wong looked at Jaune and the others and winked. Jaune stopped, confused at what Wong was going to do.

"Then I'll do something!" replied Wong. Before the offender could react, Wong's right leg kicked him in the face at what seemed to be an impossible angle. Then, he kicked the back of the student's head, then the front, and repeated it four more times. The student stood there stunned before falling down unconscious.

Everyone stared at what just happened, shocked at the sudden violence. Upperclassmen spat out drinks they had been drinking when they saw what happened.

"Get him!" shouted one of the members who tried to bully the man.

They ran forward, all about to punch the man. They didn't use their weapons, as they underestimated the situation and didn't want to draw their weapons as it could potentially kill the man with a lucky strike. Wong suddenly lashed out with a kick that would've made Mercury jealous at the speed and power. He knocked away 5 of the 7 who charged forward. The sixth tried to attack, but Wong grabbed his punch midway. The prospective student realized the man had an iron grip, as he couldn't even jerk his hand out. Wong also had his right leg on his chest, preventing him from coming forward.

"Watch the fist," warned Wong as suddenly threw the opposing first into another attacker, sending him reeling back. The 'prisoner' was so surprised at the sudden use of his fist to attack his own ally that he didn't move as Wong grabbed his right fist once more. The snob, who seemed to be the leader of this group, tried to attack as he got behind his friend. The prisoner tried to kick Wong, seeing his fist was useless.

"Watch the leg," warned Wong once more as he jumped slightly and kicked the attempted low kick. The kick was strong enough that the prisoner's kick went backward, hitting the snob on the knee. The snob cringed in pain, going slightly down to nurse the attack before standing up to attack.

"Watch your back," warned Wong again as he used his right leg he had on the prisoner's chest to prevent him from moving and kicked the outstretched arm of the prisoner. The prisoner was forced to spin, his arm still outstretched. He ended up being forced to attack the snob with a spinning back fist to his head.

This irritated the snob immensely, he was being made to look like a fool!

"Watch my fist!" raged the snob as he punched his 'friend' in rage before trying to attack Wong, who dodged it easily.

"Watch my low kick!"

Wong denied the snob such an attack as he intercepted it with his right foot, kicking it back down.

"Watch my mid kick!"

The snob tried a back thrust kick, but again, Wong blocked it with his right foot.

"Watch my...OH FUCK TOO HIGH!"

The snob had tried a high kick, but Wong once again intercepted, but this time, he made his foot go under his and pushed up. The snob may had been training, but he wasn't flexible enough to do splits, nor a front kick high enough that from his left leg to his right leg, the groin angle being at more than 170 degrees.

"Had enough?" asked Wong coldly. He didn't even seem to be struggling to maintain his position as he held the snob hostage in his position.

"YES PLEASE!" cried the snob as he tried to get his leg back down.

Wong stayed there for a few more seconds before deciding to take pity on the brat and put his foot down, releasing his hold on him.

"Next time, be careful where you're walking… and have a bit more respect for your elders," warned Wong. He ducked as the last student that tried to attack from behind.

"I'll snap him like a twig!" shouted the last attacker as he jumped into the air to stomp on him, but Wong easily dodged it.

"Twigs may be frail, but roots are slippery," Wong said sagely before tripping the said attacker.

The attacker, who had flowing red long hair, growled and started a barrage of attacks. For some reason, he kept naming them, but Wong easily dodged them all. At the last attack, Wong slapped the student on the back of his head.

"Angry crow takes flight!" shouted the student in frustration from the slap he has received before jumping into the air.

Wong sighed and jumped into the air, "Thank you for sharing, angry crow."

And with that statement, he landed a kick into the student's stomach. The student spat out air as Wong then lifted him up with his leg and fired him down into the pavement. None of the students wanted to fight Wong after that, so Wong left in peace.

"Whoa..." Sun looked amazed at what just happened.

"Did any of you guys know he can kick ass like that?" asked Nora. Team SSSN shook their heads in unison.

" _ **You should consider getting that man to teach you more about**_ _ **close quarters combat**_ _ **,"**_ advised Lung Wang, _**"He seems to be a master**_ _ **of**_ _ **the art. Just learning from us, your friends, and your professors aren't enough."**_

'Point taken,' thought back Jaune as he started to walk towards Wong. However, before he could reach him, an announcement rang for all freshmen to head towards the auditorium.

"Let's get going!" shouted Sun, "I want to get some good seats. Plus, we have a job to do."

"We do?" asked Nora.

"Yea. We get sent to rescue anyone who's in over their heads," explained Neptune, "2nd years have to help out. You guys didn't get the notice?"

Team JNPR shook their heads.

"Must be because you're still in Beacon's systems," theorized Scarlet, "Probably didn't get the mail. Well, guess that's what the others are here for anyways."

* * *

Soon, all second years were positioned at different areas, though Sun made sure to get an area near an initiation area. Team JNPR saw that Haven's entrance exam was at a more luscious jungle than a forest. Soon, Professor Lionheart stepped up to give his lecture along with his vice-headmaster.

"Today marks the first day of a new step. In the jungle, you will be fighting various Grimms native to this region. Do not hesitate, or you will perish. Now, as you've all heard, the formation of teams begins today. It would best suit you if you partner up with someone you can fight with. However, the person you partner with while you traverse this jungle may not end up being your partner, but it is still within your best interest to team up with someone through the jungle. While going through the jungle, your goal is to reach the sacred grounds. You'll know them when you see them. On the grounds will be a small container you need to collect. Inside will be the relic and key to who you are partnered with. Each Huntsman or Huntress will take one each and return to here. You will not look inside the container until instructed to, and if you do you shall be disqualified. When all relics have been collected and brought to the starting point, the test ends, and all others will be recalled. Now, take you landing strategies."

All the candidates prepared to what was to come. Team JNPR noticed they were all standing on a rather suspicious gray platform all across. And then at once, the ground opened up beneath them. The applicants all went shooting down some underground tunnels, yelling out in mixed emotions; fear, exhilaration, etc...

"Huh. Going through some tunnels first," commented Jaune.

"Yea, that part is easy," said Sun, "The staff and upperclassmen make sure there's no Grimm in the caves they get chucked into. Once they make it out, then it gets harder."

"Was Neptune your partner throughout the whole time?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yep. Got lucky with mine," announced Sun, "We drew the same relic by chance. Scarlet and Sage had different partners for theirs before joining our team. Sage hated his, while Scarlet was indifferent."

"Almost punched the cocky brat," grunted Sage, "Thankfully, he got kicked out for disobeying the rules. I don't think I could've taken a year with him without breaking his nose."

"Ah, greetings team SSSN and JNPR."

Leo had walked over to greet them while his Deputy headmaster was looking at the cameras in case of danger.

"I see you're getting along with our students. That's good to see. Now, it has occurred to me that most of Beacon's transfer students that are in the second year didn't get the memo that they needed to help secure the area. That would be my fault. I forgot to check and add the transfer students. It's been chaotic dealing with new prospective students as well as transfer students. No matter, I'm glad to see that most of them got the message anyway."

"Headmaster, what do we do?" asked Ren for clarification, "Are we only to intervene when you say so or are we to use our own judgment?"

"Good question," replied Leo, "You are to use your own judgment. When the first student leaves the caves, you will all be receiving a map with their location on it. My staff will be monitoring the whole thing from afar. When any of the student's life is in danger, it will flash on their screen. They will automatically alert the nearest teams to intervene if necessary. You and your team will observe any students and use your own judgment and observation skills to see if it is required. This is to test your own abilities to judge a situation correctly. Of course, when the staff tells you to go in, you go in, no questions asked."

"Fair enough," said Jaune, "We observe to see if intervention is needed. Going in too early might not let the student show their full strength, but going too late is also bad."

Yes, it's about not overestimating or underestimating the situation." Pyrrha added with a nod.

"Hey, I think the first one is coming out!" announced Scarlet. They had been waiting on the cliffs for ten minutes when they heard noise coming from a cave entrance.

"I told you it was this way, damn moss ball!"

"Shut up, spiral eyebrow!"

Two male students came out arguing and insulting each other. One of them had teal-green short hair while the other had wavy blonde hair that covered one of his eyes, and he indeed have a spiraling eyebrow.

While they were arguing, Four Beowolves jumped forward to rip them apart. The two students easily beat them down, with the green hair using a katana and the other one kicking them, his shoes had explosive Dust weapon embedded in his shoes, making his kicks explode upon impact. After taking the Beowolves down quite comically, they continued to walk and argue.

"Well, that's a thing," sweatdropped Sage.

"I think they'll be fine," shrugged Sun, "They argue, but when they fight, they're good and know each other's moves. Probably friends that love to argue."

They watched a few more come out in varying groups. Some they actually had to intervene and tell them they were disqualified.

"Geez, it's like some of them joined just to be a fangirl," sighed Jaune as he disqualified a purple haired girl named Ami.

She gushed over Jaune and asked for a signature before trying to seduce him. Pyrrha easily put a stop to that with a toss of her spear, sending her flying back up on the cliffs where the disqualified members waited. Pyrrha denied that she did it to spite her as she summoned _Akouo_ back from the tree trunk she had pinned Ami to by her skirt. It had ripped to reveal her panties, something Pyrrha denied doing on purpose.

Soon, all participants had cleared the cave area, and the staff notified all second years to proceed into the jungle to judge the participants

"Wonder what the other school's initiations are like?" asked Nora as she an orange spiky haired male slash through an Ursa with oversized khyber knife.

* * *

 _At Atlas_

The new students were taken in on a huge battleship. About 150 prospective students were sitting or standing in a room where they were told to wait, all wearing numbers on the front of their clothes. All of them had been 'advised' to wear or bring warm clothing and to best get to know other people and form friendships. The new Headmaster, Floyd Timber, appeared on holo-tv all around them, that in ten seconds, the initiation would begin. Most of them got their weapons out and prepared while a few stood there clueless. The floor beneath them suddenly opened, dropping all the students down 32,000 feet in the sky with snow beneath them. Their objective was to ascend the mountain they were being dropped off at. Once they hit near the peak, they would be guided into a safe room where they could warm up and safely wait for others to finish. And of course, time was also a factor.

Teams were formed automatically by the students when dropped off. So many had linked up hands to help each other. There was even a group of sixteen that helped each other out. Of course, those that thought to be the lone man found themselves in trouble except for two. They managed to link up with a group of two or three. One of them managed to land safely alone.

"Wonder what happens to those who don't seem likely to make it?" asked Ruby, looking at the falling people through her scope. She pressed two numbers that she saw on their chests, judging them to being unable to land safely. The other members of team RWBY also had binoculars.

"Ironwood makes sure there are precautionary measures," scoffed Weiss.

As if to prove a point, two people who had paired up but had no way of landing safely suddenly had parachutes. Each student had been given a badge to wear on their backs. When danger seemed imminent, it automatically activated to put out parachutes for safe landing. Of course, doing so disqualified the student. Many second-year teams had been placed around the landing zone to observe which student was in need of help.

"This year's batch looks interesting."

Team RWBY turned to see team CRDL walking towards them, with Russel and Sky keeping track of the falling students. Dove wasn't watching because of his narrow eyes.

"Hey, you guys decided to join Atlas?" asked Yang cheerfully. Blake and Ruby turned their attention back to the falling students.

"Yea, decided Atlas might be useful for now. They got some high-tech armor I want to sink my hands into," replied Cardin.

"Heard about what happened to Ruby," said Dove, bowing to Ruby, "My condolences."

"Eh, thank Jaune for saving me," replied Ruby, still focused on the students.

"Right, Hero of Vale," chuckled Cardin, "I'm quite amazed I'm still alive after pissing him off back in our first year."

"Eh, Jaune didn't hate you completely," replied Weiss, "You were just an irritant. Like a pest on his back."

Cardin raised his hand to argue but dropped it down. He really couldn't refute that, but it did depress him that he was referred to as a pest.

"I'm more surprised you guys didn't go with Jaune to Haven," said Russell, still focused on the falling students.

"We wanted to get Yang the best combat prosthetic arm," replied Blake, "Atlas was the best place for Yang to get one and learn how to use it properly."

"Alright made it. I'm SUPER ready!"

Team RWBY and CRDL were staring at a bright blue haired big man with hair that curled up who was posing with his gauntlets. It was interesting to see that when place together, a star could be seen. What was disturbing was that this man clearly ignored the staff advice and wore swim briefs and a flashy button up shirt to which he didn't button up. He wore no shoes and let his physique be shown to the world.

'Pervert!' thought many of the females who saw him.

"I'm also ready, believe it!"

"Hahaha, I'm all fired up!"

"Yosh! Your flames of youth is greatly flowing! I will join you!

A blonde man with whisker marks, a salmon haired student and a student with a black bowl cut and thick fuzzy eyebrows also joined in on posing.

"... Well look's like Atlas won't be boring with those guys joining," joked Yang.

"It will surely be more annoying," Blake said dryly.

* * *

 _At Shade_

The incoming prospective students had to go out in the desert, grab a relic, and survive for a day in the desert, and then return to the starting area. Each student was given a piece of a map. The students needed other students with different copies of the map. Some students had duplicates, so some partner choices were already out. There were various factors to consider also. One could just find the first different three copies and leave, but have a horrible team to pair up with. Or one could take the time to find good teammates with different copies, but take too long, as the desert got more dangerous at night. Not to mention at the relic zone, there was limited amount of food and water.

"Man, there's seems to be a lot more students this time," whistled Octavia.

"Obviously, because we're accepting Beacon's usual batch into ours," deadpanned Gwen.

"I know that. It just seems larger than normal," whined Octavia.

"She's not wrong," commented May of team BRNZ.

"Come on, let's do our jobs," commanded Nebula.

They were tasked with making sure there were no stragglers or people getting lost. They also had to judge whether or not the said person would make it.

"Yosh! Let's go on an adventure!"

"Dammit we haven't even gotten all the pieces. Plus you'll get lost without me so just wait!"

A straw hat wearing boy with a scar mark under his right eye was trying to go out, but his friend, an orange hair girl with a collapsible bo staff was preventing him from doing something stupid, something she had to do quite a bit.

"Arr let me go already!"

"No, otherwise you'd do something stupid!"

Besides them was a male Faunus with dog ears and white long hair wearing red who was being stopped by another black haired girl with a bow and arrow behind her back.

The two girls looked at each other and sighed.

"You too?"

"Yep. If I didn't love him, I wouldn't be dealing with this shit."

"True that, sister."

Fortunately, all four of them had different copies of the map, so they formed a team and left.

"Yo, did you notice that straw hat kid? He doesn't even seem to have a weapon," snickered Roy, "He's going to get his ass kicked."

A second later, the said kid punched a Grimm Hyaenida into the air. The said Grimm was shortly followed by its companions as they hunted in groups, all by the same kid.

"Never mind."

* * *

 _Back at Haven_

Teams JNPR and SSSN were traveling through the jungle, making sure no other candidates were hurt. They kept themselves hidden, which was quite easy thanks to Jaune and Ren. Only a few had been disqualified so far, while the majority seemed fine. All the cases had been taken, and the students were heading back to the starting location. The green haired one almost went the wrong way every single time, and ended up being tied to the blonde to make sure he wouldn't wander off. Another man with a pompadour hairstyle and a pointed beard while wearing a white suit and a purple shirt was walking with the student with the oversized khyber knife. Both had a case.

"Looks like that's the last of them," stated Neptune, "Let's head back to the auditorium, I want to see the new team formations."

They were passing by a river when they met a surprise.

Suddenly, a Grimm popped out, roaring at them. It was like a mash of animals parts together, with a serpent head in the end. In the front, it had two heads, one of a lion and the other of a horned goat. It was a Grimm Chimera. It had plated skin all over its body, and was bigger than the usual one, making it part of the Alpha series. The Grimm Chimera Primary.

"Huh. Guess we'll have a warm up before the school year officially starts," grinned Jaune.

"Wait. I want to fight this one," declared Neptune, moving forward, "It would be a good time for me to officially get over my fear and use my Semblance."

The others looked at each other and nodded before moving back. Sun stood next to Neptune, though.

"We're partner," said Sun, interrupting what Neptune was about to say, "You fight, I fight next to you."

Neptune smiled as the two of them got ready to fight. Sage and Scarlet stepped up, too.

"We're, like, a team," stated Scarlet.

"You can't expect us to stay back," grinned Sage.

"Alright, then, team SSSN. Let's move out!" shouted Sun.

* * *

 _At Atlas_

Team RWBY was climbing the mountain with Team CRDL. Most of the applicants had made it, and the cut off was about to end. They were making sure that there were no stragglers left when all of them had their gut sense tingling. They immediately threw themselves to the ground just to dodge several spikes burying themselves in front of them. They looked back to see a Grimm Manticore growling at them. It's head was covered in hardened skin, along with several plating on its chest, back, and tail. It turned its horned head with a black mane and a spiky tail swinging lazily.

"That's rare," glared Cardin, "Grimm are suppose to be scarce here because it's too cold. What's a Manticore doing here? And not to mention, it's a Dawning Manticore, an Alpha."

"Who cares," growled Yang, making a fist and pounding them together, "We beat the crap out of it first and ask question later. I can finally put my new arm to the test against a Grimm."

"Same here. There's something I want to test out on my Semblance ever since Jaune marked me," remarked Blake.

"Ooh, me too. I want to test out my new powers!" cheered Ruby.

"I believe that I can provide aerial assistance against this foe."

They looked back to see Penny with the rest of team CPPR all landing on the snow.

"Penny! You're back!" cheered Ruby.

"Yup. My father made some upgrades, and I am functioning at 100%." Penny responded as Ruby ran forward to hug her friend.

* * *

 _At Shade_

NDGO was watching as a Grimm Genesis Sand Worm burst out from the desert, scattering the students. It was an intimidating twelve feet tall and fifteen feet long.

"We need to help them!" shouted Nebula, "This Grimm's not one new students should consider fighting!"

"Gogogo!" commanded Brawnz to his team members. May already had her sniper out and shooting at the eyes.

"Finally, something to kill!" She said as she opened fire.

The same white-haired Faunus had drawn out his huge falchion sword. In its sheath, it was the size of a katana, collapsed for portable purposes. When drawn, it quickly expanded to its original size. While drawing, it would keep expanding in parts, making it look like he had fit the oversized sword into a small sheath.

"I wonder if I can eat it?"

The straw hat student was rotating his arms, ready to fight.

Their respective partners sighed, but also get into fighting positions.

"This happen to you often?"

"You mean always having to fight battles that you want to run from but your boyfriend charges in? Oh, yea."

If looked independently, then the chance of a powerful Grimm appearing wasn't something people looked at. However, all three initiation stages were being attacked by seemingly chance Alpha Grimms. Salem had sent them in hopes of crushing the future Huntsmen or Huntresses as well as hoping to kill some of the staff to weaken the light.

The students got ready to fight Salem's forces.

* * *

 **And done! Next chapter will be up hopefully soon! Also, just a quick note, All those easter egg characters will NOT be part of the main story. I just added them for fun. Cast would be way too big to even consider it. I just didn't feel like making more characters and designing them.**

 **As usual, special thanks to UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever for being my beta readers!**

 **Side note, UGX7 is back from is small break and continuing his story RWBY: Destiny of Remnant.**

 **Read, enjoy, and Review! Almost to 2k follows!**


	48. Chapter 48 Results of Initiation

**New chapter! Took me a while to think up of some team names that would make sense! That and beating Destiny 2 raid in one breath with my clan! Now the next goal is to reach 305 light, but I'm being screwed around with that. They won't give me the gear I need T.T.**

* * *

 _Haven_

"Alright, let's do this!"

Sun charged in without his armor. He didn't want to always be reliant on it, as it did drain his Aura the longer he fought with it. Grimm Chimera roared against the newcomer and charged, its claws swiped at the Monkey Faunus, but Sun jumped above it, pointing his pole towards it.

"Extend!"

Sun's new weapon, _Ruyi Jingu Bang_ , extended and slammed into the Grimm's back, roaring in pain. The serpent head hissed and tried to bite Sun, but he dodged it. Flipping in the air, he landed behind the Grimm and swung his extended pole at the back of its feet. It tripped and fell flat on its stomach, which Sage tried to take advantage of, roaring as he tried to slice off its head. The lion head roared and spat a fireball at Sage, who immediately put his sword in front of himself to defend. Suddenly, a stream of water slammed into the fireball and extinguished it.

Team JNPR looked to the source and were all surprised to see Neptune putting one hand into the river and pointing his Guandao, _Shore Shocker_ , at the fireball. Tendrils of water wrapped around his arms until he stood back up, where the water wrapped around his arms and chest.

"Whoa," said Jaune, impressed, "You can control water?"

"Kinda. I can't make it myself, but as long I got a source, then I'm good. Though there's a limit." Neptune explained as they fought the beast. "I can control up to a half a gallon total, and I gotta touch the water first. Can't be steam or ice, got no control over that stuff. Nothing like what I've seen you do. And you look close enough you'll notice the water I'm controlling is completely clean. I can only control clean water. It's drinkable, but that means if you give me 3 gallons of murky water, I'm only going to be able to pull out whatever percentage of clean water is there. The rest stays, and it gets harder to filter if the water is dirtier than usual."

"Impressive," noted Ren, "Just how clean is your water, though. Pure?"

"Nope, that's way too hard," grinned Neptune, "It's still got some minerals in them, making it just potable water. Perfect for my weapon."

With that, he charged forward. Scarlet had managed to hook open the goat's mouth while Sage occupied the lion half. Neptune shot a ball of water towards the open mouth, and with the next second, transformed his weapon back to rifle mode and fired a bolt of electricity into the water. The electrified water went into the goat's mouth and shocked the Grimm, giving Sage a chance to land a good hit on it with an upwards swing of his sword.

"Gotta say, it's sweet to have your Semblance back," grinned Sage.

"Maybe our fights will be easier now," commented Scarlet as he began firing his bullets. They made no visible marks on its flank. "But this thing's got too much plating all over itself.

"How about under!?" shouted Sun as he slid under the Grimm with a shrunken pole.

He pointed it upwards, "Extend and Expand!"

The Grimm Chimera found itself being lifted up 30 feet into the air. However, the bottom side was also plated.

"Hmm. Sage, charge up. We're going to need your muscles for this one," ordered Sun.

Sage nodded and concentrated his Aura into his sword. Sun jumped into the air, switching to nunchucks and made a few clones. They came down and began to wail on the thick hide, after ten swings each, they all spun and swung their last attack downwards. As it went down, the Grimm spat a fireball at Scarlet, who dodged it by hooking himself away. Neptune came in with his weapon in trident mode and stabbed the falling Grimm. It managed to penetrate the hide a little, just enough to make it stuck. Then, he turned on the voltage to the max while he used the remaining water around him and fired it into the Grimm's flank. The water conducted the lightning, electrocuting the whole body once more. With a shout, Neptune swung it to Sage, who was chanting to himself.

"Always take a step forward towards your path. Never let anything block. Step forward and CUT THROUGH!"

Sage roared with a great burst of Aura and muscle, he sliced the Chimera in half. The Lion and serpent tail went to the right, while the goat head and other half of the body went left.

"Nice job," praised Sun, bumping forearms with Sage.

"Team SSSN got this in the bag!" bragged Neptune as the four of them turned to walk away, putting their weapons away. They didn't notice the serpent tail suddenly lash out towards Scarlet.

"Watch out!" shouted Nora as the four of them turned around in a panic as the serpent opened its mouth to bite Scarlet.

Pyrrha, however, reacted. She manipulated the sword in Scarlet's waistband and made the hilt go up right into the serpent's mouth. It bit down onto the hand guard instead of flesh.

"Oh Fuck!" swore Scarlet in surprise when he saw his hand guard melt in the serpent's mouth.

"How is it still alive?" shouted Sage, "I sliced it in half!"

"It can still move," stated Ren as the lion part stood up and growling. It morphed into a small body with four legs again, while the goat part also stood up to form a Grimm Aegagrus.

"Need help?" asked Pyrrha, grabbing her weapons.

"Umm, yeah, we gotta get back to the auditorium if we don't wanna miss out the team formations," stated Sun.

"Let's do this," grinned Nora as she lifted her hammer up.

"Scarlet, provide fire support. Same with you, Ren. Pyrrha, with Nora against the goat. Sun, Neptune, Sage, and I will take care of the lion and serpent head," commanded Jaune, already fully linked up with Lung Wang and Ryo-Wo.

"Go!"

* * *

The Grimm Aegagrus screamed loudly as it charged Pyrrha and Nora, who both flinched at the grating noise. Pyrrha held her shield it as it used its horn to bash into her shield. Scarlet helped out, firing at the Grimm's flank since it was no longer as armored as it used to be. The Grimm flicked its head, sending Pyrrha back a few feet. Nora came from the side and slammed down with her hammer, but the Grimm caught it with its horn. However, Nora smirked as she pulled the trigger, causing the Grimm to flinch down from the ensuing explosion. Scarlet jumped to a tree and shot his grappling hook at the horn of the Grimm, catching it perfectly before jumping down from the thick branch. It forced the Grimm's head up, and jerked its body up off its feet. Pyrrha took advantage of this and rushed underneath it to slash into the Grimm's underbelly a few times before spinning sideways, slashing and firing bullets into the Grimm. The Grimm brayed at the sudden damage and kicked its legs everywhere it could, trying to hit Pyrrha, but it was no use. Nora finished it off when she charged up her hammer with lightning Dust and ran forward as fast as she could and swung down into the Grimm's front knees. It yelled in pain as its legs were broken, but Nora wasn't done yet. She used the momentum of her first swing to spin before slamming the Grimm with a horizontal swing.

"YAAAA!" She cheered, as the Grimm burst into Ashes.

"Well done, Nora!" Pyrrha congratulated, but noticed that her partner was pouting.

"Awww, I wanted to break its other knees," the energetic redhead whined.

"Maybe next time," smiled Pyrrha, patting her partner on the back.

* * *

The fight against the newly formed Grim Chimera was harder. Since it was smaller it was now agiler, not to mention they had to dodge the serpent head trying to bite them. Sun was sure his armor could take the hit, but he didn't want to risk it.

"Gotta take that tail down," advised Jaune.

"On it!" replied Sun, try to get a good whack in. The serpent head was agile and dodged his thrusts easily. Suddenly, Ren came from above, deactivating his Semblance and pinned the serpent body with his chakrams.

"Now!" shouted Ren.

"Expand!" shouted Sun, pointed his pole down. The serpent head found itself being crushed under a giant and rather heavy pole, pinning the Grimm in the spot.

"Neptune, you're up!" shouted Jaune. Neptune transformed it into trident mode and pointed at the Grimm, ready to slam it down. Jaune manipulated the water at the river and formed a spinning drill right in front of Neptune's trident. Neptune added some of his water into it and maintained the drill when Jaune let go control. The drilling water was now completely in Neptune's control. He wasn't able to form it, but he could maintain it.

"This is going to be awesome," grinned Neptune as he positioned himself, right hand holding his trident near the end shaft. His left hand was in the front, almost touching the drill. He started to run forward with his weapon towards the Grimm.

The Grimm saw this and began to struggle to escape harder. It shot a ball of flame at Neptune, hoping to drive him away, but Sage stepped in front and with a roar, sliced the fireball in half. Jaune took control of the splitting flames and made them arc back into the Grimm, hitting it from both left and right. The Grimm froze after taking the hit, giving Neptune the perfect opportunity.

"I know this is going to be nerdy and stealing from a show, but no way am I not going to shout this one," shouted Neptune as he finally got close enough to the Grimm after running full speed.

"Giga!" The drill suddenly turned larger than normal. Neptune was straining his Aura, putting most of it into this one shot.

"Drill!" The drill suddenly had sparks of electricity around it. Neptune had activated the lightning function of his trident, and the water drill was spinning much faster.

" **BREAKER!"**

Neptune's speed seemed to increase at the last minute, and he forced his remaining Aura into his legs and jumped towards his target. Neptune thrust the drill into the Grimm Chimera, his own speed increasing, Aura blasting past him. It roared in pain as the drill pierced through the heavens... *cough* the armored plating of on the head. Not only that, it sent a large voltage running through its entire body. It collapsed and turned into ashes, vanquished by the mighty attack.

"Dude. That.. was... awesome!" praised Sun as he shrunk his weapon so he could put it behind his ear.

"I know, right!?" cheered Neptune.

"Umm, not to barge in on your victory, but we're going to be late if we dally too long," reminded Scarlet as he, Pyrrha, and Nora reunited with the rest of the group.

"Oh crap! Run!" shouted Sun as everyone took off to head towards the auditorium.

* * *

 _At Atlas_

The Manticore roared and fired spines from its tail.

"Dodge!" shouted Ruby as they all scattered to dodge the spines.

"Careful, ma'am," said Ciel, "Those spines all have poison on them. Even if you are immune to it, it will still damage your body."

"Understood," replied Penny.

Ruby noticed a few stragglers still trying to get up the mountain. They were in danger since they were in the Dawning Manticore's path.

"Cardin! Can your team to take those people to safety?" shouted Ruby as she began firing at the Manticore, running at high speeds that she left rose petals behind. The others began to follow to when the Manticore roared and suddenly grew wings, taking to the air.

"Yeah, we can do that," said Cardin, motioning his team to fall back and try to redirect the late students. They would most likely not become students as the quota had almost been filled up, and there were likely students ahead of them. He silently cursed himself for not being useful against aerial enemies while he led the initiates away, and put it in a priority that he be able to get a ranged weapon or learn how to shoot out Aura attacks like he saw Blake and Jaune pull off before. Maybe he could get some notes and make his mace do something similar. That, or use his time in Atlas to get something that would do that job for him.

Penny's other two teammates had the typical Atlesian model guns and fired at the Manticore. It roared in annoyance and fire spines at them. Penny intercepted them with a few swings of her swords, knocking the spines away or cutting them into pieces.

"Penny! Jetpack up and try to see if you can force it down!" shouted Ruby.

" The best way to do that is to blast it right where the spine meets the wings," analyzed Ciel, who was using her Semblance _Analysis_ to find the Grimm's key weak points.

Penny nodded and had her swords rotate around her back and flew into the air with a jetpack. She then transfigured the rest to try to hit with an Aura beam blast, but the Manticore was moving too fast for her to get a good aim. Not only that, it would try to eat her.

"Weiss, give me a boost," asked Blake as she saw Penny having trouble.

Weiss nodded and summoned the arm of her knight. Blake landed on its hand, and Weiss put another glyph under that hand. Then, with a swish of _Myrtenmaster_ , she sent Blake flying into the air at very high speeds. Blake threw _Gambit Shroud_ with her ribbon attached to it and manage to pin her weapon onto the few open flesh parts of the Grimm Manticore. She swung herself above the Manticore and summoned a shadow to boost herself down. As she dove down, she summoned two more clones. They each mimicked the original's movement and drew their swords.

"Wait, she can do that now?" gasped Yang, noticing her clones were also moving.

Blake smiled at Yang's surprise as she and her clones landed three huge slashes down across the Manticore's back, causing it to give momentarily freeze in the air.

"Target locked! Firing!" shouted Penny as she fired her huge blast beam into where Ciel recommended.

The Grimm Manticore shrieked as it went spiraling towards the ground but managed to spread its wings to prevent itself from slamming into the ground.

"Let's test out my new arm!" grinned Yang as she pointed her right arm at it.

"Yang, not here," scolded Weiss.

"Aww, why not?" pouted Yang.

"We haven't even fully tested it outside basic combat, this Grimm is far beyond basic." replied Weiss.

"Plus, I want to try out my power," said Ruby, her eyes closed. She opened them to reveal her silver eyes glowing brightly. The light exuded from her eyes first before it expanded into wings and shot towards the Grimm. The Grimm Manticore shrieked in panic before the light slammed into the whole body, petrifying it. It fell from the sky, crashing down into the snow.

"Huh. Petrified, just like the parasite," noted Ruby, "Guess my eyes really do petrify Grimm. Wonder if I could get more information about the Silver-eyed warrior from Andusk."

"It's not dead yet," examined Weiss, poking it with her summon, "We should kill it, otherwise it will attract more Grimm. I'd say we should take it for study as its rare we can even find an Alpha Grimm Manticore, but we don't have the proper equipment to transport it. Not to mention, it might be too dangerous for us."

Everyone agreed with the statement, making Weiss command her summon, which was now a set of arms, a sword, and a chest plate. She could actually equip it over herself if she needed to. With a swift command, the sword stabbed into the Grimm's brain, going from the back of it's head, where there was minimal protection. It was a weak point almost all the Grimm had. The only tricky part was actually landing it if the Grimm was alive, as they made sure not to expose that weak point easily. The Grimm Manticore dissolved into ashes.

"So, when were you going to tell us you could make solid shadows to attack?" asked Yang as she put her arms around Blake, who had rejoined them.

"Oh after Initiation." Said Blake's voice… from somewhere else.

They all looked to see another clone of Blake walking forward with a smirk.

"Wait.. what?!" stammered Yang, pointing to one copy that was under her arms and another one walking forward.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" teased Blake that was under Yang's arm.

"You both can talk!?" exclaimed Weiss.

"And you're both solid! I thought your shadows disappear after getting hit or being used," said Ruby breathlessly as she ran around poking the other Blake.

"That was before I got marked," explained Blake as she grabbed a chibi Ruby up in the air to stop poking her, "I can make my shadows turn into copies of myself now with a bit of concentration and Aura, able to take a hit and fight harder, though their endurance is weaker, so three good hits or a vital shot will make them disappear. They don't transfer information to me when they die, but I'll still know if they're gone. Other than that, they're basically a copy of me with my abilities, minus the Semblance, both new and original, as that's still me only."

"So which one is the real one?" asked Yang.

"Can't you tell?" said both Blakes, "I thought I was your partner."

"Arghh!" shouted Yang, her hair flaming up in irritation, "You're both the same person. How am I supposed to tell? If there was an evil doppelganger, yeah sure, but this is an exact copy of you that you made!"

"My sensors indicate that the Blake under your arm is the fake one," stated Penny, looking at the two Blakes, "The other one has a higher Aura level."

Blake under the arm grinned and snapped her finger, causing other Blake to disappear, dropping Ruby.

"Did I forget to mention just like my original Semblance takes the hit for me, I can swap places with my clones if needed? Though it takes quite a bit of my Aura to do so, depending on distance."

"That's so cool!" shouted Ruby, ""I need to see what else my mark does."

"Damn, I'm tempted to just ask Jaune to give me the mark the next time I see him," said Yang, impressed. Even though she said this, she still wasn't sure she was ready to be bound to him only yet. She was still a bit afraid she might follow her mother's path and abandon Jaune and their potential child.

"Come on. The initiation should be over. I want to see the new team formations," interrupted Weiss. They all nodded their heads and left for the pickup point.

"Sooo... got some plans with those clones of yours?" whispered Yang, "Perhaps fulfill a twins fantasy?"

"Yang!" scolded Blake, blushing at the implications.

"I'm sure you've always wanted to taste your own pussy while being screwed by Jaune," teased Yang, "Or eating yourself out after Jaune already came inside."

"Shutupshutupshutup!" hissed Blake, already planning on doing that the next time she saw Jaune.

* * *

 _At Shade_

"Die!"

"Kill it so we can eat it!"

Team NDGO and BRNZ were watching four rookies taking on the Grimm Genesis Sand Worm with surprising results. All the other students had fled as fast as they could while these four stayed behind to not only buy those initiates some more time, but to prove themselves. However, they were still new students, and couldn't take care of this Grimm. The Grimm spat out sand bullets as the black haired girl was about to fire some arrows, hitting her all over the place. Her boyfriend quickly moved in front of her and slashed the bullets away, but it grew too numerous that he also took hits. The strawhat boy landed a punch into its eye, causing it to wail in pain as his fist exploded on impact. The bo staff girl was using fire and water Dust to create clouds before firing a thunder crystal into the now formed cloud to zap it. However, the Grimm shook off the attacks easily. It was at this NDGO and BRNZ decided to intervene.

"We got this," stated Nebula, standing in front of the future students.

"You guys have a test to do. It'd be a shame not to have you guys as underclassmen," added Octavia.

The guys seemed to disagree, but their respective girlfriends had the final word and dragged them to where they needed to go.

"Take it down!" shouted Nebula as her team and team BRNZ charged forward. May began sniping, trying to hit its eyes. There was just so many of them. As team BRNZ chipped at any weak parts, Nebula had jumped on its back with Dew creating a whirlwind for them to ride up. They began to stab the head, trying to get it to go down.

"None of this is working!" shouted Octavia as she created a blade beam, barely cutting into its flesh.

"Try Blade Storm!" commanded Nebula, "Aim for its mouth, maybe it's weaker inside."

Dew and Gwen both jumped high into the air before turning towards the Grimm. Nebula and Branz managed to make it look up and roar.

"Ready?" Gwen asked her friend.

"Let's do this!"

Dew created a tornado in front of them while Gwen began to spin her whole body, firing countless knives into the tornado. Once the hit the tornado, the knives accelerated, and soon about a hundred dusts coated knives smacked into the insides of the Grimm and exploded. The Grimm roared in pain, but it wasn't out yet.

Dew quickly made a small tornado below them for a soft landing.

"Umm, I think you just made it angrier!" shouted Nolan as the Grimm began to thrash about furiously. It suddenly jumped into the air and slammed the ground with enough force that the sand shifted and cracked, making them all lose their balance. Then, before anyone could react, it picked Roy up by the collar of his shirt, tossed him into the air, and opened its mouth wide open.

"No! Not like this!" shouted Roy as he fruitlessly struggled in the air.

The Sand Worm rushed up, and in one bit, swallowed Roy whole.

Everyone froze in shock.

Roy was gone.

"BASTARD!" cried May, firing all her shots into its eyes, trying to kill it.

Branz and Nolan let out similar battle cries as they began hitting it with everything they had trying desperately to kill it. NDGO was shocked to see a classmate die.

"Coming through!"

They looked back to see the Faunus wield his falchion sword jumping into the air. The straw hat kid was next to him, grabbing his legs. He started to spin as fast as he could, rotating half-a-dozen times before flinging the student towards the Grimm. The Faunus himself started to spin forward until he was a blazing windmill.

"TES_A_GA!"

The blade cut through the Grim's head vertically but stopped just before hitting the flesh, cracking the mask. Suddenly, another student with slicked-back black hair with a tint of green jumped above the Faunus, pointing his index finger like a gun

"Eat this! AURA GUN!"

An Aura blast slammed into the Grimm's head. An orange haired girl with twin tails growing almost to her feet and with blue and green eyes wielding a giant steel harisen jumped onto the back of the Grimm, running up to its head and smashing her weapon with her mighty strength.

"What are you kids doing?" shouted Nebula, "You guys have an initiation to pass!"

"Like hell we're leaving you guys to deal with this!" shouted the kid who shot the aura blast, "We're trying to become Huntsmen and Huntresses! We can't just leave you guys to handle it yourself. It's just not in our nature to run if we can help!"

"What he said!" shouted the orange hair girl.

Another boy wielding a lance with a cloth at the end of it came charging in to stab. An ash blond female followed him wielding a scythe, trying to slice into the Grimm. However, for all their help, the Grimm shouted and shook them all off easily, despite the damage they were dealing it such as the cracked mask.

"There's gotta be something we can do!" shouted Octavia as she caught one of the kids.

Dew looked at her spear, an idea forming. She quickly stabbed the shaft part down, the spear pointing up. She gathered as much Aura and poured it into her Semblance. She slowly moved her hand over the tip, repeating the motion of gathering wind onto the spear's edge. Soon, ball of wind formed on the tip, raging like a small but fierce typhoon. This was an idea her Aunt suggested to her, but it was taxing on her mind and Aura. She could only do this once, and this was it, so she needed to make it count.

She quickly grabbed her spear, spinning it behind her before she ran towards the Grimm, the small typhoon ball still on the tip of her spear.

"Nebula! Arrow lift me up!" shouted Dew as she jumped as high as she could.

Nebula quickly shot her arrow, aiming it right at the peak of Dew's jump, under her foot. Dew's right foot stepped on the arrow and jumped even higher. She looked down and took a deep breath. She pulled her right arm, carrying the spear, as far back as she could and threw it down right at the crack on the Grimm's mask. The small typhoon suddenly expanded on impact, the winds howling as it drove the Grimm's head down into the ground. It kept going until it finally stopped to reveal the whole cranium of the Grimm to be gone. It started to fade into ashes.

"We did it!" heaved Octavia, falling to the floor.

"Yes, but at what cost?" said Gwen sadly, looking at the remains of team BRNZ.

May was crying, her head buried in her arms while Nolan and Brawnz slammed their fists into the ground in frustration at this feeling of helplessness and sadness.

BZZZZZTTTTT

They all looked to the source of the sound, which was coming the Grimm's fading body. The stomach part started to move when suddenly, yellow buzz saws stuck out. They kept rotating as it went from head height all the way down.

"OUM ABOVE THAT WAS DISGUSTING!"

Roy stepped out of the fading Grimm's body, covered in black slime.

"ROY!" shouted team BRNZ before tackling him into the ground, hugging him.

"Alright, alright!" chuckled Roy, "You guys know me. I'm stubborn. No way I'd die from getting eaten. Though I admit, the damn thing's digestive track almost burnt through me. Who knew Grimms even had those?"

"That was close," sighed Nebula in relief, "If you didn't get out in time, I fear that you would've gone with the ashes of the Grimm. Anything the Grimm eats usually goes with it when it does."

Roy turned his head to see the last remains of the Grimm turn to ashes and paled. It had been a really close call. After May and the others finally stopped their tears, they sniffed a bit and immediately backed from Roy.

"Whew you smell!" shouted May.

"Not my fault!" shouted Roy.

"We're getting you a bath right away," ordered Brawnz, "Nebula, think you can handle this?"

"Yea, we go it. Go get your bath and relax," waved Nebula. "You earned it."

Brawnz nodded and called in an airship for pickup. Nebula turned around to the 8 people prospective students that may had sacrificed their own careers to help them.

"What am I going to do?" groaned Nebula. She really liked these newcomers and wanted them to attend Shade.

"Easy. We take them to their destination," chirped Octavia, "We can't just leave them like this, plus I'm sure Headmistress Gale will understand."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can convince my aunt," said Dew, who had been laying on her back, "She'd understand. She'll see that they have a lot of potential since they helped us defeat that thing."

"Then it's settled," grinned Nebula, "You eight, follow us. We're take your location as fast as possible."

"Will there be meat?" asked the straw hat kid.

"I'll make sure you get some," chuckled Octavia as they all walked to their destination."

"YAAA!"

* * *

 _Back at Haven_

"We made it in time!" cheered Sun as the new teams were being formed.

"Hey! You guys are here too!"

Team SSSN and JNPR looked to see Velvet waving at them. They quickly found some cushioned seats near team CFVY.

"You guys had babysitting duty?" asked Coco, "Anything exciting happen?"

"We got assaulted by a Grimm Chimera Primary," replied Jaune, causing team CFVY to stare at them.

"Damn, you guys had something. Last year, the most excitement we had for initiation was people failing to do their landing strategy, forcing us to intervene. I swear, one of them didn't even have one as he flailed his arms as he was falling and spinning. Yatsuhashi had to catch him." Coco elaborated.

'Wonder if that would've been me if I stayed in the Arc family,' thought Jaune. In the many other universes, the Jaune's sneezed as one.

"So what brings you guys to Haven?" asked Sun.

"Yatsuhashi and Fox are actually from Mistral," replied Coco, "So we decided to head here so they can have some more chance to hang with their family until Beacon's back up."

Meanwhile, Lionheart was announcing team formations. Apparently, he had use playing cards for this year's team formation, making any four of a kind.

"... you have all retrieved the Ace cards. From this day forward, you shall be known as team SKRZ".

"Dammit, I'm with moss head. Why couldn't I be with a lady?"

"Shut it, Ero-cook! The feelings mutual."

The two of them began fighting once more in front of the whole crowd, making them all sweatdrop. Their other two teammates just shrugged. Lionheart continued, awarding the leader position to the orange hair student with the giant khyber sword.

"Well, that's going to be an interesting team," commented Jaune.

Sun had been off discussing with some other team leaders before frowning and coming back.

"We weren't the only ones who get hit by the Grimm," said Sun, "Other teams also met random Grimm packs, including the Chimera versions. There were only two Alpha versions of it, and we took care of it. Two teams are injured from the pack, one of them from Beacon. The last Alpha took on another team, and forced three of the members into critical care while killing the last one."

"That's not good," frowned Ren, "Are we the only ones who got hit by Grimm?"

"Hope RWBY and NDGO are alright," stated Pyrrha, "This might not been a coincidence."

* * *

 _At Atlas Academy_

RWBY and the others were watching the new students being welcomed. Penny had gone to report to a commanding officer about what had happened.

"...From this day forward, you shall be known as team CNDL."

"OW! SUPER cool!"

"Hey, they made it," commented Yang, "This school year should be interesting."

"That boy's lack of clothes are hurting my eyes," moaned Weiss.

"C'mon, we've already seen Jaune naked," chirped Ruby, "You should be used to it."

"Our boyfriend is pleasing to the eyes," snapped Weiss, "That man hurts my eyes."

"Lucky jerk," grumbled Russel, who had heard their comment.

"Salutations!" cheered Penny, appearing behind Russel, who jumped into the air and landed in Sky's arms.

"Better put a bell on her," Dove muttered.

"Penny! How'd it go!?" waved Ruby.

"Although we managed to kill our Grimm Dawning Manticore, reports say that there were other attacks at different places during initiation with a variety of Grimm," replied Penny.

"One team was injured, and another team completely wiped," finished Ciel.

"You mean...?" gasped Cardin.

"Yes. Dead. Death confirmed at estimated 1400 hours by impalement and poison by another Grimm Dawning Manticore. It was team BLUE of Beacon." Penny confirmed solemnly.

Ruby frowned, tightening her fist. She knew she couldn't be everywhere, but it hurt still. Not to mention, it was one from her year, too. Granted, she barely spoke with team BLUE, but it still hurt.

"General Ironwood is investigating these sudden attacks," added Penny, "He is contacting the other Academies to see if anything has happened."

"I hope nobody else got hurt badly," whispered Ruby. Her team nodded in agreement.

 _Shade Academy_

"What?" said Headmistress Dory, "Repeat that to me again?"

"Six of the initiates are dead," repeated a faculty member, "And a team is heavily injured. Reports suggest that they were attacked by Grimm Genesis Sand Worms."

"This can't be a coincidence," murmured Dory, "We reduced the population of Grimm just two days ago with our third and fourth years to make sure it wasn't too dangerous. How did something that big get under our radar?"

"We will need to investigate a possible new point of entry. Meanwhile, team NDGO and BRNZ are recommending 8 initiates to join the Academy, regardless of their late arrival to the camp and being guided there. They state that these initiates were only late because they stopped to help them fight the Grimm with them."

"I'll take it under consideration," replied Dory, "For now, double the guards. I want third-year teams down there to make sure we don't suffer any more losses."

When the others left, Dory leaned back in her chair and turned to face the window. She closed her eyes, trying to replay through the events that happened today.

"I need to call Ozpin and the others," murmured Dory before standing up.

She clacked her heels three times together before disappearing in a red flash.

* * *

"So, Salem launched her strike," commented Ozpin, sipping his coffee. Glynda was sitting in the Headmistress' chair while Ozpin stood on the side as an adviser. On the screen was Lionheart, Ironwood, Dory, and Floyd, the latest addition to their group. They were using a high-security channel, courtesy of Lionheart. Ironwood twitched in anger when he found out Lionheart had a better security system than his own school.

"She is aiming to strike at the seeds of Light," commented Floyd, "Luckily, we had fast response teams on the go for us, but we still lost people."

"My school suffered a bit," remarked Lionheart, "Luckily, the strongest went against JNPR and SSSN. They defeated it without any serious injuries. But another annihilated another team. I do not think the surviving students will be able to continue as Huntress or Huntsman because of the injuries, as they are too crippling to heal."

"I suppose mine suffered the worst," sighed Dory, "Six initiates dead, and second year team heavily injured before finally taking out one of the Grimm Dawning Sand Worms. The four initiates had been traveling together when it just popped out from the sand and ate them in one bite. Another two were ripped to shreds by Deathstalkers and Beowolves. And the second year team had to be taken to emergency care after finally defeating the Sand Worm. Another one came out, but luckily, team NDGO and BRNZ, along with eight initiates, defeated it."

"If they managed to defeat it, then those initiates must be quite impressive," commented Ozpin, "But this shows that Salem is no longer hiding in the shadows as she used to, and is making even bolder steps, possibly more of them than before. I advise upping security and recalculating the difficulty of the missions. Some second year missions may be only suited for those who show they are above the usual curve or assigning a third year team to do it."

"Understood," replied all of them before signing off.

"Ozpin? What are we going to do?" asked Glynda, "Beacon repairs are going well, but I don't think we have the budget to get upgrades."

Ozpin sipped his coffee, trying to think before coming with an idea, "I'll need to talk with Mr. Xiong, and maybe have Roman and Neo released into our custody."

"Those two?" Glynda shouted in surprise, baffled, "Why?"

"They are trained fighters," replied Ozpin, "Mr. Xiong might be willing to lend some men to help protect Beacon if it's for Jaune. Plus, we cannot discount the fact that the newly formed Blood Fang will strike against us once more. With Adam Taurus free and under Salem's thumb, she will employ him as her rabid attack dog, unleashing him wherever she wants. A shame Roman and Neo are currently unavailable. According to the reports, they defected from Salem's faction and are now in hiding. They could prove useful if we can find them."

Glynda sighed and put her hands on her nose bridge to break off the headache she was having.

"Have no fear," said Ozpin softly as he put his hand on her shoulder, "I am sure you are capable of making the correct decisions. It's why I trusted you with this school."

With that, he slowly walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Glynda.

"It has been some time since I practiced my forms and fought some Grimm," replied Ozpin, "I need to get back in good shape again. I'm too rusty, and I've rested long enough."

 _Back at Shade next day_

Dory was announcing the formations of new teams. She had been impressed by the eight initiates that had been recommended by her niece, as they were the first ones to arrive back.

"... Due to recommendations as well as being the first teams to return even though you had a slight disadvantage, you shall be known as Team MNKI."

The straw hat kid cheered while having a piece of meat in his mouth still, courtesy of his girlfriend who gave it to him, knowing it would one of the only ways for him to behave properly. As it turned out, he was given the leadership role for his team. The reason why they managed to return so fast and taking first was that the orange hair girl memorized how to get back without even looking at the map for directions. The boyfriends picked up their girlfriends on their back and ran back, each being promised something. For the straw hat, it was lots of meat, while for the white-haired Faunus, it was instant noodles. They made it a race to see who would get back first. Needless to say, they outran many of the other initiates.

The second team came up to be introduced after the first team got off the stage. Off on the side, the new team MNKI met with team KASS, a fourth-year team. Apparently, by coincident, both boys had brothers on that team. Team KASS had opted to do missions instead of attending the Vytal Festival tournament last year.

"Due to recommendations as well being the second team, also taking a disadvantage, you shall be known as Team MAYA..."

The four of them grinned, and when the male teenager with the slick back hair was named leader, he put his hands up to cheer.

"Glad to see those guys made it," grinned Nebula.

"Those girls know how to whip their boyfriends into doing what they want," laughed Octavia.

"Just like we know how to?" grinned Dew.

"Yep," replied Gwen, causing all of NDGO to chuckle.

"I really need to find a boyfriend," sighed Nebula.

"Why not ask Gwen to join in for Sun's harem?" joked Octavia.

"I... wouldn't mind," blushed Gwen.

"Na, I admit that Sun's hot, but he's not my type," waved off Nebula.

* * *

 _Haven_

Later that night, Jaune had his Scroll attached to a holo screen and called both team RWBY and NDGO to see how they were. His own team and Sun were waiting in the room, a bit anxious and praying they were all safe. A few seconds later, the screen popped up, revealing both teams.

"What up!" greeted Yang first. Everybody exchanged quick hellos before each of them went into detail what had happened during Initiation.

"This can't be a coincidence," murmured Jaune.

"Yeah, I thought so, too," piped Ruby.

"Someone's trying hard to get rid of potential Huntsmen and Huntresses," pondered Nebula.

"Think its... her?" asked Sun.

They all nodded in agreement. Team JNPR, RWBY, NDGO, and SSSN had all been told the dark secret that there was actually a Queen of Grimm who led the Grimm.

"Was anyone we know personally hurt?" asked Jaune.

RWBY and NDGO shook their head in response. After catching up on whatever happened, they all decided to call it a night and went to sleep.

" _ **Remember. Go find Wong tomorrow morning,"**_ reminded Lung Wang, _**"He seems to be an excellent teacher for close quarters combat**_."

Jaune mentally nodded as he showered off the sweat he had accumulated in training today.

" _ **Potentially, the last Dragon Mark has been found,"**_ murmured Ryo-Wo, _**"Neptune may be a good choice due to his Semblance in controlling water."**_

'Yeah, but we'll have to see if he wants it," thought Jaune back, 'If not, there are other candidates.'

The door opened and close quickly while Jaune was still bathing. The Haven dorm showers were a bit different from Beacon, where at Beacon, the shower was inside glass shower doors and a tub next to it. At Haven, the shower head was next to the bathtub with no doors, but in the middle of the room was the drainage pipe. He looked back to see Pyrrha with only a towel, blushing a bit.

"I figured since we're technically married, we could just shower together," explained Pyrrha before putting her towel to the side, hanging out on the towel rack. She stood naked before Jaune, allowing him to admire her body.

Jaune grinned and stood up, allowing her to get a good look at his body. "I don't mind," he said as he grabbed the bar of soap and tossed it to her, "You get my back, and I get yours?"

Pyrrha nodded and started to scrub his strong broad back. As she kept looking at his hardened, muscular body she could feel herself losing to lust before attempting something bold.

Jaune noticed Pyrrha stopped scrubbing his back and was about to turn around when her arms wrapped around him and her breasts pressed on his back. Then, she slowly moved up and down, using her breasts as wash pads, planting gentle kisses along the way. Jaune could feel two tips hardening behind him, while Pyrrha noticed something else hardening on Jaune.

"Is that for me?" cooed Pyrrha, "I'll take responsibility for it."

Without even waiting, Jaune turned around and kissed her hard. As they sunk into their emotions, Jaune though it was lucky that Ren and Nora already took their shower and went to sleep.

Jaune pinned Pyrrha against the side of the tub as they made out, he rubbed her back lovingly as he rubbed his chest against hers.

"I love you." He told her.

"And I love you. Always." She promised him as she hugged him tighter. A grin spread across her face as she suddenly realized something. "And I get to have you all to myself for now."

She brought her head forward and assaulted Jaune's face with a series of quick kisses.

"Hey! Hey! No fair, let me get some in!" Jaune laughed as he tried to kiss her back, which she was very happy to allow, sharing a deep, passionate kiss with the man she loved.

* * *

 **As usual, special thanks to UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppy, and Jauneforever for being my beta readers.**

 **Hope you've enjoyed this chapter. New season of RWBY comes out soon, so that's going to be interesting on how they are going to swing this. I do have my plots charted out a bit, so if you see something that might coincide with the story, I will tell the truth on whether I had that idea first or I took it from them.**

 **I'm slowly getting to the 2k mark C'mon! As a reminder, all those extra characters will not be part of the main story.**

 **Oh, and extra cookies for those who can guess team KASS members are. Give you a hint, K and S go with Inuyasha, while A and S go with One piece. Should be good enough hints. I may put up names for those who get it in my story.**

 **Come check out my other stories if you want something new!**

 **Lastly, a small announcement. A fellow writer whom I bounce ideas with, LordHellPhoenix, has finished his story, Jaune Arc: The Elemental Swordsman. Funny how both of us published our stories on the same day with similar ideas of elements, though we both took different paths. So congratualtions to him for finishing his first story! One-shot not included.**


	49. Chapter 49 Training and New Missions

**New Chapter! Courtesy of my muse and the fact RWBY Vol 5 was released! Of course, now that's out, I can dig deeper into the lore of RWBY. Enjoy and review!**

* * *

Jaune woke up with Pyrrha sleeping by his side. They were clothed, thankfully, otherwise it would've been hard to resist the temptation of getting out of bed. Jaune managed to slowly extract himself from her arms before suiting up and stretching. It was six in the morning and time for usual training. He walked out of the dorm towards the front of the school to take in the the sights. As Jaune began to warm up, he noticed old man Wong walking to the same bench from the day before and sit there with his eyes closed, tea in his hand

" _ **Now's a perfect time!"**_ urged Lung Wang. Jaune nodded and walked towards Wong.

"Do you need something?" asked Wong as Jaune approached him.

"I was-" began Jaune when Wong raised his hand.

"No."

"But-"

"I'm not teaching. You have the teachers of this academy for that. I'm just an old man who enjoys sitting here," replied Wong before glancing at Jaune, "Feh, you don't need an old man like me. Certainly not the 'Hero of Vale'."

"I know that you're a master in hand to hand combat," Jaune shot back, "Something I could improve on."

"And why should I teach you?" asked Wong as he sipped his tea, "What motivates you?"

"To protect peo-"

Jaune didn't get to finish as Wong suddenly smacked his head with two fingers.

"I said YOU! Not your job as a Huntsman."

Jaune rubbed his head before replying again, "To make sure I don't lose my friends... and my mates." He added that last one quietly. Wheter he heard it or not, Wong didn't react to it.

"And if you do lose them?" asked Wong, "Will you seek revenge on those who killed them?"

"I won't because I'll never let that happen," growled Jaune.

"It'll happen whether you want it or not," snapped back Wong, "It's reality. You're just looking at a dream if you think your friends won't die in this line of work."

"Then I'll force my dream into reality! I've nearly lost Pyrrha and Ren and Ruby already. I don't... won't let it happen again!"

Wong merely sipped his tea and closed his eyes again before stating, "Then come to me for training AFTER you've lost someone. I'll see if you're worthy of it."

"Then this is the last time we meet. I have no intention of losing anyone," said Jaune coldly before turning around to leave.

He quickly found the gym and went inside, where he started to go through some katas. He was ten minutes in before someone called out, "Your left knee needs to be bent a little lower, right arm higher, and turn your body more smoothly for maximum damage with minimal effort."

Before Jaune could even make those changes, a stick whacked the said parts into the right places. He noticed that the voice was right. His next movement was much smoother. He turned around to see Wong standing up, teacup in his right hand.

"If you want me to train you," stated Wong while drinking his tea, "Come to me after your classes for training every day, even on weekends unless I say otherwise. I'll excuse you only if you have a mission and give you two days off before and after the mission. We start two days from today."

Jaune thanked him and was about to hit the weights when he felt two fingers whack him on the head again.

"One more thing," continued Wong as he gave Jaune a piece of paper with stuff written on it, "Bring these tea leaves when you come."

Confused, Jaune nodded and waited ten seconds before turning around, just to get whacked again on the head.

"One more thing! Bring friends if you like. I will test them to see if I want to train them or not."

"Thank you, Master Wong," thanked Jaune, "Is there another thing?"

"Yes, in fact. I recognize that you use the ancient fighting style known as dragon style, but it isn't as impressive as it once was."

Jaune and the dragons slightly bristled at this, but Wong continued on, "Martial Arts are always evolving. Some techniques become useless when analyzed correctly. Some are well off, but there are those that need to evolve. I can guide you, but it's up to you to see how far you can push it."

Wong finished off and left, but Jaune called to him "What style do you use?"

"Me?" smirked Wong, "I use my own style. And I have heavy based it on the dragon style, too, until I found other skills to incorporate into my own."

With that, he finally left.

" _ **An interesting man,"**_ mused Alaerth, _**"He will be a strange but definitely good teacher for you. He caught minute mistakes that we can't always help you correct."**_

" _ **I'm a little insulted by his commentary on our style, but I can't help but agree**_ _ **,"**_ sighed Lung Wang, _**"The style we taught you is a bit old. And he's not wrong about fighting styles evolving."**_

" _ **I wonder what he has planned for your training?"**_ though Aryz out loud.

'Whatever it is, I hope it's worth it,' thought Jaune back before hitting the weights.

* * *

"You managed to get old man Wong to teach you?" shouted Sun as he slammed his hand on the table in surprise. One banana went flying into the air before he caught it and peeled it to eat it. They were all at breakfast, getting ready for their classes.

"Yeah. He suddenly changed his mind for some reason when I told him to screw off," mused Jaune, "I guess he was impressed by my answer? He said I could bring some friends for training, but he's only going to be doing hand to hand combat and some sort of other training."

Ren and Sun perked up at this and decided to ask to join. Pyrrha also felt like it was beneficial. Nora didn't want Ren to join as it would mean less pancake time but understood it was important. Instead, she was planning to just go with them at the same time and hit the gym to improve her hammer skills and strength. The other members of Team SSSN were debating on whether to join in on this opportunity.

"Let's talk about this later," stated Ren, "We have classes to get to soon."

"Or in Sun's case, to ditch," snickered Neptune, causing them all to laugh.

"I'll be honest, I'm surprised you managed to get enough credits," said Scarlet.

"What can I say? I'm a genius," bragged Sun.

"Sun, you came to me and begged to help you study and pass your courses last year," deadpanned Neptune, causing all of them to laugh harder while Sun blushed.

"Hey, least there was one class I passed without your help," whined Sun, "I scored high in combat class."

"That was the only class," sighed Neptune, "Sometimes, I wonder why you're the leader when you almost all brawn and barely any brain."

"That's why I have you for," grinned Sun unabashed, "You're my brains of our partnership."

Neptune blushed and rubbed his neck before they finished up and got ready for class. They would be going into deeper details about Dust manipulations as well as experimentations this semester.

* * *

"Hey Jaune!"

Jaune was at a private booth making a call to team RWBY to see how they were doing. Ren was at another booth making a call to the Malachite twins. They planned to call team NDGO later together with Sun, considering their remaining girlfriends were all on the same team.

"Hey Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang," greeted Jaune, "It's great to hear your voices again, but why do you guys have the video off right now?"

"We're changing clothes right now," replied Weiss.

"I don't see why we don't let him see us changing," commented Yang, "He's seen us all naked already, and three of us have already banged him."

"Yang!" shouted Ruby in embarrassment.

"How was your first day at Atlas?" asked Jaune, hoping to change the subject quickly, a slight blush on his face.

"It's interesting," replied Blake as there was a shuffling of clothes, "We've met up with team DSCO as they took us around to explore the campus and explain some of the building's significance and history. Atlas is trying to go through a change again and trying not to convince Huntsmen and Huntresses to enlist in the military. With General Ironwood no longer as Headmaster, it's easier for the separation to happen."

"What about you?" asked Weiss, "How's Haven?"

"Interesting," mused Jaune, "The sight is pretty amazing. There's this one old man that seems very strong."

"How strong?" asked Yang.

"Very. I didn't get to say it earlier, but he took down a group of new initiates easily with his bare hands. Also, he corrected some of my katas when I was practicing them. Can't say his personality is nice though. He seemed distant on some subjects, and stated he would only teach me if I lost someone close to my heart."

"What'd you say to that?" asked Ruby.

"Basically to screw off. I guess it was the correct answer as he came to me and told me training starts two days from now."

"That's... intriguing to say the least," commented Weiss, "Wait, Yang. What are you doing?"

"C'mon, we're all dressed up now for Jaune. Now's the perfect time!"

"Wait no! I changed my mind!"

"Umm, girls, what's going on?" asked Jaune before the screen changed from no video to revealing team RWBY, all wearing the playboy bunny outfits. Ruby was wearing a red one, Weiss a white one, Blake a black one, and Yang a yellow one. They all wore wore stocking, and they all had matching cat ears in addition to their outfits besides Blake, and cat tails hanging out.

"Like what you see?" teased Yang as she bent down to give him a good view of her breasts, shaking a bit to make them jiggle in the tight confines of the outfit "Here's something to motivate you to come back to us."

She winked and pulled her outfit down slightly, just enough to see something hardening.

"Alright, stop trying to give Jaune a nosebleed," said Weiss as she pushed Yang away, "Give us a turn."

"So... cute and sexy," mumbled Jaune, getting a good view of Weiss's butt.

"Nyaa, we miss you. Hope you come to us soon," blushed Ruby and Blake as they both held hands. Blake got an idea and turned her head to Jaune and made Ruby do the same as she whispered something to her, causing the silver-eyed girl to blush furiously. With that, Ruby and Blake began to push their breasts together, showing their Mate Marks to Jaune while perpendicular to the Scroll.

"That's cheating!" accused Yang as she went to tackle them, only to miss as one made a shadow and the other sped away.

Unable to take it anymore, Jaune quickly said his goodbyes and hung up. He walked out of the room, slamming the door open while having a scarlet blush and possibly a bloody nose. Across from him, the door slammed open to reveal Ren, blushing heavily.

"Cosplay?" asked Jaune.

"Cosplay," replied Ren, "They decided to dress as Succubus twins from those really M rated videos. You?"

"Playboy bunny costume with cat ears and tails," answered Jaune, "Let's just not mention this to anybody else and get Sun over to call team NDGO."

 _At Atlas_

"Think that worked?" giggled Yang as they changed into their sleeping clothes. They figured they could use the sexy outfits for future purposes. They even bought a bronze one for Pyrrha and a green one for Dew.

"He liked it for sure," smiled Blake.

"You do realize that Pyrrha gets's to reap the rewards for this tease?" asked Weiss.

"I guess so, but it'll give him something to look forward to," cheered Ruby.

"Why, are you organizing a team RWBY orgy with Jaune?" teased Yang.

"Maybe," scoffed Ruby, looking away, "But with that attitude, you're looking to get uninvited."

"Aww c'mon Rubes, don't be like that!" pouted Yang before tackling Ruby and tickling her under the armpits where she the most sensitive.

"Let's just head to sleep," sighed Weiss.

"Think the Malachite twins also did something like we did? We did tell them about this after all," said Blake over the shouts of Ruby begging Yang to stop.

"Probably!" shouted Yang as she suddenly came from behind and grabbed Blake's breast.

She cried out in shock and pleasure as Yang began to massage it.

"What are you doing!?" shouted Weiss blushing and covering her eyes, although she kept her hands open to keep looking.

"Practicing," grinned Yang, "If we're going to have a party with Jaune, might as well get used to getting frisky and… loving with each other too."

Blake moaned loudly before concentrating hard. A second later, Yang felt a pair of hands, belonging to a clone of Blake, reaching groping the blonde's magnificent breasts.

"I guess you have a point, but it's only fair I get a chance too," stuttered Blake as Yang continued with her ministrations, not giving up even though she was going to blow a fuse soon.

"I don't believe it," sighed Weiss before she felt someone touch her thigh. She looked to see Ruby grinning. "Ruby!"

"What? It's not like haven't done this before," smiled Ruby, "When I did it with Jaune, you were there, too."

"That's... Urgg... Different," breathed Weiss as Ruby began to rub her thigh, slowly going higher and higher.

"I say it's time for practice," declared Ruby lustfully before she began to kiss Weiss' neck. With that, all four members of Team RWBY came together and descended to their pleasures.

 _At Vale, in a private room_

"I think he liked it," giggled Miltia. She was wearing a red succubus costume with wings red wings. Her clothes barely covered any of her skin, just the parts that made it barely acceptable to wear in a slutty Halloween party. Her nipples were covered by a red thin latex while wearing red panties.

"He sure did," giggled Melanie, who was wearing the exact same thing, except in white. They had debated on an angel and demon theme but decided they preferred looking similar.

"Maybe that'll get him to finally do it with us when he comes back!" they both cheered.

"Girls! I need you two down here pronto! And in suitable clothing!" shouted Junior from below, "It's very important!"

"Wonder what uncle wants?" mused Miltia as she changed out of her costume.

"He knows the consequences of calling us down for no reason," replied Melanie as she helped Miltia take off the wings.

They were soon appropriately dressed once more before heading down the stairs.

"What do you need?" asked both at once.

"I need you two to... be ready for a fight for a meeting I'm going to be having," explained Junior, "And before you say anything, it's related to our master. The possibility of aiding the Dragon Clan."

The twins looked Junior in surprise before looking at each other and nodding in agreement.

"We'll be ready," they both stated.

A few minutes later, Junior was sitting on a couch with Melanie and Miltia already in combat uniforms. They each also had one of Ren's old _Stormflowers_ hidden under their dress in case they needed it to shoot people.

"Junior! My old friend! How's it been?"

Roman Torchwick came waltzing in with his signature hat. Behind him was Neo, as usual. The three of them noticed that Roman and Neo didn't have their usual weapons with them, but that didn't keep them from being cautious. With a jerk of his head, Junior had his men pat down Roman while some of the woman that worked for him patted down Neo, who frowned but remained silent.

"They're clean," grunted one of the guards as they stepped back.

Roman went forward and was about to sit down when Junior raised his hand to stop him, causing Roman raised an eyebrow, but Junior tapped his own head.

"Oh c'mon. You know that hat always goes with me!" complained Roman.

"Not in this meeting. It's too important that I'm not taking any chances."

Grumbling about unfairness, he took his hat off and gave it to one of the guards, who put it in a steel cage before putting it aside.

"So, you want to join the winning side?" started Junior, "Tell me, Roman. Besides both of your obvious skills, what can you bring to this group? Tell me why I shouldn't turn you over to the authorities. And before you say I can't, all my businesses are now perfectly legal. I'm an 'honest' businessman now."

Roman put his hand on his nose bridge for a bit, trying to gather his thoughts before replying, "I know all the passages that lead in and out of this city, like the ones you don't know about. Neo's good for spying and disguising things. And last but not least, I have intel about the Blood Fang."

"Go on," said Junior, interested at this news. He had heard about the Blood Fang, but it wasn't easy to get intelligence about their inner workings, as he mostly had humans in his gang, and he wasn't willing to risk the few Faunus ones he had.

"When Watt's broke us out of the jail, he thought he could track us by putting a tracking chip on our weapons. I tell you, such an amateur. As if I haven't seen that trick before. What he doesn't know is when I gave it to one of the new recruits, I have a chip in my cane. I can easily track it down, along with Neo's umbrella. We track down our weapons, we find members of the Red Fang. Not to mention, I've heard that there are spies inside the White Fang themselves, trying to recruit more into their cause. I believe their names were the Albain brothers?" He looked to Neo, who nodded. "Yes, that should prove useful."

Junior closed his eyes for a bit, contemplating about this. It would be useful to make sure all secret passages were watched when Jaune came back to Beacon. He couldn't deny Roman might know passages he didn't, thanks to working with the White Fang. And both their skills were useful.

Neo tapped the table, attracting the twin's attention before pulling out a sign.

 _Where's the cute boy with black hair and the pink stripe? I want him._

"Stay away from him!" roared both twins with fangs coming out and their eyes turning white with rage, "He's already got us and two more! He doesn't need more!"

Neo pouted while Roman spat out the drink he had gotten.

"Seriously? Four? Is he crazy?"

Neo slapped him on the head while Junior laughed, "That's nothing compared to the boss. He has six."

Roman had to cough to get his throat clear from what he had just heard.

"Well, if he's strong enough to summon something that big, then I can't say anything. Looks like you're out of luck, Neo."

Neo just pondered before going through her Scroll, looking up potential boy to... potential suitors.

"Alright, Roman. I'll take you two in, but I'm going to patch this through Jaune when he comes back," said Junior as he finished making his decision, "But if he decides otherwise, I can't help you."

"No worries," grinned Roman, "I'm sure I can prove that I'm a valuable man."

* * *

"Hey girls!"

After calming down, Jaune, Ren, and Sun were calling team NDGO. Luckily, this time, their girls seemed to be dressed in their normal clothes.

"Hey! Miss you guys!" waved Octavia, "You two got lucky to see your girls during the winter break. I don't get to see Ren until next semester at Beacon!"

"Wait, Beacon?" asked Ren.

"Yea! We're transferring to Beacon next semester," smiled Nebula, "Headmistress Gale approved of it!"

"Cool! Maybe I'll try to see if my team can transfer, too!" yelled Sun excitedly.

"It would be nice to see you again," smiled Gwen.

"Why did your headmistress approve it?" asked Jaune.

"Well... My family found out that we're dating," blushed Dew, "One of the patrol groups noticed that we went into that hotel. Since I'm the niece of the Headmistress and you're, well, famous, they thought it was important to tell my aunt. Should've been more incognito."

"Well, guess it's better they know early," sighed Jaune, "Do your parents approve?"

"My mother's iffy, and we haven't told my father," frowned Dew, "Aunty is ecstatic, though."

They talked a bit more when the trio excused themselves to the bathroom for a bit. As the boys were talking to Nebula, she heard a knock from the bathroom and smirked.

"Hope you boys enjoy the surprise your girls are going to give you."

Before Sun or the other could ask, the three girls came out of the bathroom, wearing cloaks to cover their body.

"Wait...," Ren and Jaune said in shock. Sun looked confused until the three girls took off their cloaks. They revealed themselves to all be wearing the slave bikini costume from the famous space movie series. They all wore tight fitting tops that squeezed their breasts upwards, and their nether regions were covered by tantalizing loincloths. As one, all three of them fell back in shock, trying to stem a nosebleed from coming out.

"Hope you miss us as much we miss you," said Gwen, seductively.

Dew added with an equally sultry voice, "This is just something you guys get to look forward to."

With a gaggle of giggles, they hung up. The boys groaned and got out of the private group booth for calls.

"I need to hit the showers and give myself a really cold one," groaned Sun, "No way I'm forgetting that anytime soon."

Jaune and Ren merely grunted and walked away to their dorms, but not before stopping at the student store and buying... a certain kind of protection. They quickly went back to their dorms, took a shower, and in unison, flipped two of the four beds in their room in the middle up, creating a barrier between the outer beds. Nora and Pyrrha came back from the gym, already showered and wearing their night clothes, and was surprised to see the sudden barrier.

"We're a bit... wound up from the calls to the other girls," groaned Jaune.

"Say no more," smiled Pyrrha before tackling Jaune onto the bed and stripping off her shirt. Nora did the same with Ren. With a flick of her wrist, Pyrrha used her Semblance to turn off the lights and made sure the curtains were closed. Soon, moans of pleasure rang out before grunts came forth, with the sound of skin slapping each other.

* * *

The next day, after classes were over, both JNPR and SSSN made their way towards Wong's bench, After much discussion, they would all go into this training to see how it would work out. They wore exercise clothing, just in case.

"Wonder how he teaches?" asked Sun.

"We'll just have to wait and see." Stated Pyrrha.

Sure enough, Wong was already at his usual bench, sipping his hot tea.

"You bring tea leaves?" asked Wong. Jaune passed it to him, where he opened it and smelled it. "Good. You get fresh ones."

"So, what are we going to learn?" asked Sun excitedly, "Some new moves, a special trick? Something totally awesome?"

"It will be good," grinned Wong.

.

.

.

"OH OUM IT BURNS!"

All of them were doing horse stance, being forced to keep it for 20 minutes. However, that wasn't all Wong did. He had them all lift their arms to the side, hands carry jugs of hot water on their hands, also training their grip and arm muscles. Each jug was 15 pounds each. On their thighs were rocks to make sure they weren't cheating. On top of their wrist was also cups of hot water to maintain balance on their hands. And to top it off, a pointy hot stick was right under their butt so they wouldn't go too low and not maintain the perfect stance. Too high, stones fall. Too low, get their asses poked. Not only that, on their arms was a spike made from Rapier Wasp stingers so that if the arms went down too much, they would stab themselves by accident.

Neptune and Scarlet were shaking after 10 minutes, but the others were faring a bit better.

The next exercise was just as cruel. After tying their legs to a long pole, he had them hang upside down and lit a fire right beneath them and fanned it, forcing them to keep moving their backs and stomachs.

"Are you seriously cooking a potato while doing this!?" shouted Sun as he saw Wong spear a potato and put it in the fire.

"Feh. Hungry. Keep doing you exercise."

After Wong decided to let them down, the sun was setting.

"Alright, before I let you go for the day, there is one last exercise to perform," said Wong. Neptune and Scarlet groaned at this while the others were trying to get their breath back. They had been using muscles they didn't think they would be using. Only Jaune seemed relatively fine, as the dragons had forced him to do something similar before, just without the rather abusive tools, but he was still sweating up a storm.

"Go run around school 5 times, buy a teacup for yourself, and come back here."

"Well, that doesn't seem bad," commented Sun, ready to run when Wong whacked him on the head.

"I wasn't finished. You must complete this task before the sun sets. No Semblance allowed. Just muscle and basic Aura."

They gulped a bit. Haven Academy was rather big, and to run around it 5 times within 20 minutes was a bit hard, but doable.

"Well, let's get going," smiled Pyrrha, ready to dash when she got smacked on the head by Wong.

"One more thing. Wear these."

Wong then somehow produced 8 giant turtles shells. Getting the gist that they would be running with weights, they put them on to find out they were carrying about 60 pounds.

"One more thing," stated Wong before they were about to run.

"Oh for the love of Oum!" cried Nora.

"For every minute you are late, the shell will shock you. More minutes, more shock. For orange thunder girl, I've made it burn instead. Now go. Time's wasting."

They stood there for a second to comprehend what he said before Jaune summarized their whole feeling.

"RUN LIKE HELL!"

They all dashed to finish their laps as fast as possible as if their life depended on it. It really might come down to that.

* * *

"Urg... I'm shocked I'm alive," cried Neptune.

They had managed to run their laps and grab cups, but none of them made it in time. Jaune was shocked three times, Pyrrha four times, Ren, Sun, and Sage were all shocked six times, Scarlet and Neptune nine times. Nora was hit by a hot pipe five times. As they took off their shells and put their cups in front of Wong, he poured some tea into them all.

"Drink, and go relax."

Thankful for the drink, they quickly sipped it and enjoyed the taste.

"Glad that's over with," sighed Scarlet, "If it's going to be like this every day, it's going to be hard."

"Ha, you thought that was hard?" laughed Wong, causing them all to freeze, "I did only basic! To get an understanding where all your body is. Now, I can push even further! Come back two days from now!"

With a laugh, Wong left the shocked students to continue their day.

* * *

"This... is... hard..." groaned Jaune.

It had been roughly three weeks into training. Wong had already structured his plan out, making everyone work out in different areas and weights. Yet all his training regimes retained his sadistic style of pushing them past what they thought was their own limits. Not to mention, they had to continue with their studies at the Academy.

" _ **I'm quite impressed at what this man can think of,"**_ grinned Lung Wang, approving of the training style.

Somehow, he had managed to make a running wheel that would force the runner to go at a certain speed, and if the runner slowed down, they would be slammed with thousands of volts. For Nora, it would be burns. And all of this was powered by the wheel the runner was running on. This was just merely one of thousands of inventions he made.

"Least... we… do fight..." grunted Ren as he was fighting 3 wooden dummies with tasers on its hands. If he didn't hit the dummy enough times, it would shock him. And the dummies would keep coming back up at different times.

When Sun had complained all they had been doing was muscle training during the first week, Wong decided to spar with him. Needless to say, Sun got his ass kicked badly. Then Wong decided that it would be good to spar with him twice a week, causing them all to shiver in fear.

Even if they did complain, they could see the benefits coming through. Their forms were more polished and smoother, their strength increasing, and Aura reserves going up. Wong forced them to meditate every now and then, too. For with a strong body, a strong mind should come with it.

Of course, team RWBY and NDGO weren't slacking off either. When they heard about their intensive training, they upped theirs, too. Team RWBY managed to convince Taiyang and Winter to come and spar with them, no holding back. They usually got their asses slammed hard, with Winter lecturing harshly at their mistakes while Taiyang tried to gently advise them. Qrow and Raven would pop by, but they were busy with their own missions. Team NDGO, using Dew's influence, begged her Aunty Dory to spar with them and train them personally. Dory agreed, saying that she needed to make sure her skills didn't rust and even decided to help design some training regimes for them to follow.

"Alright, you will all take the days off tomorrow and the next, as you have missions," announced Wong.

Team JNPR and SSSN could only sigh in relief at this. Both of them had missions taking them out of Haven for at least a week. Team SSSN would be heading North, securing cargo being delivered up to a village while protecting some VIPs. Team JNPR was heading East, onto an island in the middle of the Lake next to Mistral, called Lake Wano, where a shrine was on the island. They were to investigate some strange activity, according to the islanders that lived there.

"Guess we'll see you when we get back," waved Jaune. Coincidentally Neptune had managed to decipher through the tome to discover that the next artifact for Sun was somewhere near the North.

"Come back safe. I'll have more training inventions made by then," grinned Wong, causing them to slightly pale.

"Guess that's one motivation not to come back," mumbled Neptune, causing Wong to whack him on the head for the comment.

They walked towards the Mistralian airships to encounter Team CFVY, ready for launch.

"We're headed south to a village," said Coco, looking at a mirror to make sure her hair was looking good, "Something about an alpha Geist."

"You guys be safe," waved Velvet, "It wouldn't be fun without you guys as underclassmen!"

"May our paths cross again," bowed Yatsuhashi, with Fox doing the same.

"Same to you," replied Jaune, "We haven't sparred against each other for a bit."

Soon, they were all on Mistralian ships, taking off to the new destinations.

Back at Atlas, Team RWBY was heading North to investigate the possibility of another Dust mine. At Shade, Team NDGO was heading to the nearby continent at the North. The Dark Continent. Shade was planning to have some foothold on there and perhaps try to expand into it.

It was a start of new journeys.

* * *

 **Short, but I promise the next chapters will be much longer. Though when it'll be released will be iffy, but I'll try to release it roughly at the end of October or beginning of November. Maybe even earlier if I get time or something good happens. Sadly, this doesn't give funds to pay for bills. Review if you can!**

 **Again, special thanks to my Beta's, UGX7, Jauneforever, and TheMischeviousPuppy.**

 **Also, got some asking where's the Arkos bath scene for special scenarios. I don't really plan on writing another one when I've already done it once. I tend to avoid writing same pairing again unless it's something special. As for the potential team RWBY one... I'll debate on it. But there will be a potential one in the future chapters using a different pairing.**


	50. Chapter 50 JNPR: Mysterious village?

**Woo! Chapter 50! halfway point to 100! I'll be honest, I'm surprised I'm still writing after this far. And not only that, I've finally hit the 2000 follow mark! Yaaa! Well, hope you guys enjoy this much longer chapter than usual and continue to keep supporting me! Review if you can!**

 **Let's see, the initial portion of this chapter, traveling to the island, is inspired by the latest episode of RWBY. The rest is my own idea, though.**

* * *

Team JNPR was on a Mistral ship heading to the island and enjoying the view. Lake Matsu, the lake located near Haven, had many pieces of land floating above the lake itself. Each one exerted its own gravitational field due to the gravity dust that grew here, making flying ships undergo a bit of turbulence. But it was still a sight to see.

"Heads up, we're nearing our destination," announced a pilot, "Be careful. Quite a bit of Grimm likes to hide around here."

As if fate wished to tell them that it was true, there was suddenly radio chatter.

"What's wrong?" asked Jaune, quickly hurrying to the pilot.

"Not sure. we're getting a burst transmission," replied the pilot as he adjusted the radio knob when they heard a female voice coming through.

"Mayday, mayday! We are a small passenger flight, and our Huntress is down! We aren't equipped to deal with this! The Grimm hit us 400 klicks north of the southern shoreline!"

Team JNPR's eyes all widened in shock at this as the sound of an explosion was heard

"Get them off us! If anyone can hear this- Ah!"

"Get us over there," said Jaune, "The mission can wait a little. They need our help."

"You sure?" asked the pilot. He turned to see their faces set, "You look sure. Changing destination. We should have enough fuel to still make it to the island and get me back home."

They immediately jumped up to the top of the ship, ready to fight. Jaune was already linking up with his dragons, deciding what who to use for a full link.

" _ **Link up with me. This will most likely be an aerial fight,"**_ advised Aryz.

" _ **Same with me. This is a good opportunity to teach you how to combine our elemental power,"**_ declared Lung Wang.

" _ **Bah, you just want to get a good fight in,"**_ laughed Othim, _**"He hasn't used your power for a while."**_

" _ **We've already taught you how to use each of our element. Now it's time to show you how deadly you can become when you combine elements together,"**_ said Lung Wang, sucker punching Othim in the face.

" _ **Some of our elements mix well, some don't,"**_ shrugged Andusk, _**"Wind and fire an excellent example."**_

"Because wind can cause fire to grow exponentially!" answered Jaune, "Does that mean I have a chance to control metal like Pyrrha if I combine lightning and earth?"

" _ **No. Combining those two elements isn't efficient. We used our powers to amplify a basis that already resided in Pyrrha. Lightning and earth, in general, don't really match up well,"**_ said Alearth.

" _ **We'll leave you to figure out which elements work well together,"**_ said Fafnir, _**"Need to make you think about it anyways."**_

"I see them!" announced the pilot, "One of them is going down! They'll smash into one of the floating islands at this rate!"

They looked to see a ship going down, flaming spewing from its hull.

"Pyrrha!" shouted Jaune

"On it!"

Pyrrha used began to concentrate and used her Semblance.

* * *

In the falling ship of the S.S. Percy, the captain was trying to guide his ship, but the controls were shot. His passengers were screaming in fear as he tried to pull up.

"Come on, Gary, use the force!" shouted the captain to himself as he tried to will the airship to a safer location. He saw that they were going to crash into an island and closed his eyes for impact. He felt the ship suddenly jar and waited for the imminent explosion and death. After a few seconds of hearing his heart still beating, he slowly opened his eyes to find out they were hovering in place right in front of the island.

"Holy shit! I really do have special powers!" exclaimed captain Gary until he noticed another ship with the very noticeable Pyrrha Nikos hold her glowing black hands up. He grew sad to find out it wasn't him doing it. However, Pyrrha was straining herself as the ship was primarily made of wood, and the few metallic objects were barely enough for her to lift it to safety.

"We're saved!"

"Oh thank Oum!"

As Pyrrha slowly levitated the airship to the top of the floating island, Jaune, Nora, and Ren looked to where the ship had come from to see another ship being chased by several large Grimms that looked like giant wasps, creating buzzing noises from their wings.

"Grimm Lancers," said Ren as he narrowed his eyes.

Two of the Lancers fired their stingers into the fleeing ship, hooking onto to it before one quickly flew ahead to pull while the other pulled the other direction. The poor ship was now locked in position, unable to fly anywhere.

"We're hooked! I repeat, we're hooked!" cried the female pilot as she fruitlessly tried to steer the airship. The two Lancers started to pull in opposite directions, causing the ship to break apart from the tension. "Everyone, abandon ship!"

The passengers and the crew looked helplessly outside. Where could they run to? They were thousands of feet in the air surrounded by Grimm. There was nowhere to run. They all closed their eyes as one of the Grimm started to dive bomb into them, awaiting death. Suddenly, they heard a symphony of gunshots and explosions.

Jaune had used his sniper rifle function in the shield, loading an explosive bullet in it and killed the suicide bomber. Nora fired grenades at the Lancers that had been hooking the ship while Ren gave supporting fire. The two grabbing the ship died, allowing the airship to quickly fly over to them for safety.

"I'm going," announced Jaune as he flared red feathery wings, "Nora, use a lightning dust crystal and fry them if they get too close. Pyrrha, grab the ship and help it to land. Ren, cover Pyrrha."

And with that, Jaune shot off into air, passing right by the airship and into the flock of Grimm Lancers. The passengers gawked as they saw a flying hunter pass by and slice one of the offending Grimm.

The Grimm buzzed angrily at their prey being stolen and fired their hooks at Jaune, each hook roughly the size of his head. Jaune quickly dodged them and began to fly away, leading the eager Grimm away from the others, who viewed Jaune as the bigger threat.

"Alright, got your attention now. Let's see just how maneuverable you guys are in the air," muttered Jaune as he flapped his wings harder. He dodged a few more hooks before seeing a clump of islands staggered near each other.

He quickly formed a plan and spread his wings, quickly braking as several of the Grimm flew right past him, slicing one of them in the process. He quickly put his sword back into the sheath before taking a deep breath. The Grimm Lancers quickly turned around to give chase. Jaune flew into the series of islands, luring the others in. Others who were watching gasped in worried shock.

Weave left. Roll right. Yaw. Pitch up. Brake to avoid hitting a rock. Accelerate. Fire a blast into one of the gravity Dust as he passed by. Fold wings in while diving straight down for a second before flaring his wings out to glide straight. Dodge several hooks from Lancers. Roll left while going upwards. Exit the series of islands before suddenly turning around. The audience out a breath of relief they didn't realize they had been holding before choking to see a flock of Lancers fly out. Jaune saw that several of the Lancers had crashed and dissolved in his run through the islands and grinned. They were all clumped up together in a tight flock, giving him the perfect chance.

"Let's test this out," grinned Jaune as he channeled fire into his right hand and wind in his left hand. The Grimm seemed to notice it was a trap and tried to disperse, but it was too late. Jaune roared and fired what seemed to be two spinning blades of green wind and red fire. The blades clashed right in the center of the Grimm Lancers and exploded with such might that a few islands shook from the explosion as all the Grimm Lancers were destroyed.

"Got them all," grinned Jaune as his audience cheered, quickly landing on one of the islands to take a quick breather.

"Thank heavens we're saved," sobbed captain Gary as he got out of his airship to inspect the damage. The female pilot also got out to inspect the breach in the hull, frowning as she saw how bad it was. Gary's ship had a hole in his, but that was easily fixable. Her's however, was already almost split into two. The only way they would be able to get to safety was to dismantle hers to use as parts to fix Gary's. The other ship, though unharmed, would be unable to carry all the passengers and the injured Huntress they had on board.

"Wait, do you hear that?" said Ren, turning his head towards Jaune. Everyone became silent as they heard a rather large buzzing noise. Suddenly, in front of them was Queen Lancer, poised to strike, causing mass panic amongst the civilian.

 _ **KRAK POW**_

The sound of thunder rang through all the panicking civilians' ears as Nora blasted the Queen Lancer with a huge lightning infused hammer swing in a panic, followed by Pyrrha and Ren shooting the Queen Lancer.

The Alpha Grimm shook its head in irritation and looked up, opening its pores to fire spikes while readying its hook. The hook of the Queen Lancer was ten times stronger than the regular Lancers, and the side of an adult human torso. But before it could fire, it heard a chilling roar. It looked up to see the maws of a green dragon bearing down on it and squeaked, trying to fly away. The people stared at the fleeing Queen Lancer, trying to dodge and fly away from the dragon. They had never seen a Grimm act so scared.

Back on another island, Jaune chuckled as he saw the dragon trying to bite the Grimm, dodging the spikes with ease. Jaune had seen the Queen Lancer and decided it was time to practice summoning a dragon once more. Quickly cutting himself and putting blood on his sword, he spun the blade four times in front of him before stepping the blade parallel to the ground, dragging two fingers across his blade to drag his blood across the blade. He swung his blade around him before raising it above his head to spin once more and stabbed the ground below him. Symbols formed beneath him and four small hurricanes arose into the sky, combining into one huge one before shining brilliantly. When it died down, a green scaled dragon with tints of yellow on its horn came forth, gazing down at the scene, its wings were wrapped in a glowing green Aura.

" _ **Ah, Elysium, the Green Skydragon,"**_ smiled Aryz, _**"Quite a good choice for this one."**_

As the chase continued, the Queen Lancer found out its spikes couldn't even penetrate Elysium's scales. Thinking there was no other way, it flew up before turning around to fire its hook. When it tried to fire its hook, it made a huge error as the dragon dodged it and bit down on the cord from the Grimm. Elysium suddenly accelerated into the heavens, dragging the Queen Lancer with him. For one second, the eyes of the Grimm became white in fear before it was dragged off. Elysium was going to take it for a ride.

The Queen Lancer was smashed into several islands before Elysium finally tossed it up into the air and started to charge up energy within his mouth. As the battered Queen Lancer tried to reorient itself, it noticed Elysium was already gathering power and tried to flee. But Elysium had locked on already and fired a fierce wind that cut through the Queen Lancer, instantly killing it as it faded away. The audience could only blink as the dragon roared in victory and flew away.

"That…. was…. AWESOME!" cheered Nora.

Soon, one of the ships was fixed to take the passengers to safety. A few of them agreed to hitch a ride with team JNPR, taking the slight detour before heading back to Haven. Each one of them profusely thanked Jaune and the others for their help, while quite a few tried to hit on Jaune. They soon stopped when they saw metal bending before their eyes by a cold smile from Pyrrha.

* * *

"We're here."

Team JNPR had arrived to the island in the middle of the huge lake Matsu. The pilot dropped them off and flew back to Mistral, leaving them on the floating islands, though the first port was at sea level. It was protocol, as airships never stayed in one area too long unless if it was a major safe zone or city. The airships were too valuable to have them staying. Instead, the Huntsmen and Huntresses would need to call for a transport back, sometimes having to time it just right. Since they had just finished a battle, they decided it would be better to delay the trip up to the village to rest up.

"This island seems peaceful, I wonder why they need assistance?" mused Pyrrha as they walked from the beach port the next day.

"Who knows," said Ren solemnly, "The village should be up ahead."

It took them an hour of hiking to reach it, jumping from island to island with the vines and ropes that connected the floating islands. They walked into the village before noticing the villagers were seemingly glaring at them.

"Umm, why do they look like they hate us?" asked Nora, confused. "Don't they know it could attract Grimm?"

"Let's just get to the mayor's house first," said Jaune, urging his team forward. The villagers still glared at them, and one, a workman toiling away at an elevated platform, even 'dropped' a toolkit full of heavy items on them, only for Pyrrha to use her Semblance and fired it back at him. They found the mayor's house quite easily and knocked before entering.

A man opened the door and introduced himself, "I am Mayor Bai, and I assume that you are, ah, the team that responded to the request?" They nodded, "Excellent. I've needed a team to check out the shrine nearby here. It's fallen into disuse, but it is still sacred grounds to my people. Lately, there's been something suspicious going on, as if there's some criminal activity going in the shrine temple. Nobody in my village wants to check it out, claiming they shouldn't interfere. But I need to know if it affects my village."

"Are all of your villagers so accepting of newcomers?" asked Jaune sarcastically.

"No, we are not," sighed Bai, "Most of the village prefers isolation from the rest of the world. The fact that I called in help is already making me unpopular."

As they stepped out the house, they found themselves surrounded by the villagers, all looking coldly at Team JNPR.

"Go away, foreigners!" shouted a kid, throwing a tomato at Jaune, who caught it easily.

"Stay away from our shrine!" yelled an adult.

"Everyone, calm down! They're just going to check the suspicious activities that we've all been hearing about!" shouted Bai.

"We have no need for strangers!" yelled an elderly voice. The crowd split to let an old woman with a walking staff and a bent back shuffling forward. She was quite short, barely hitting three and a half feet.

"Elder Shiro," groaned Bai, "It is my duty to make sure that the people of this island are safe from any threat. The fact that the disused shrine temple has started to act up again is cause for concern."

"Bah, the shrine temple is our sacred ground! Not for strangers to go in. What the elder council says should be obeyed."

"I'm curious," interrupted Jaune, "When did it start acting up?"

"Around the end of the Vytal Festival Tournament, when we all heard the huge roar," replied Bai, much to all the citizens' protest, "We heard something about a huge black dragon. We don't get much news here. Just whispers in the wind."

"Isn't that when Jaune went nuts and summoned the dragon to kick ass?" whispered Nora to Ren, who nodded before replying, "That was Bahamut."

"So I was the cause of it," murmured Jaune, "Wonder what that means."

"Wait! That Mark!" said Shiro, moving unusually fast for a woman of her age.

She had somehow jumped onto her staff and jumped once more, landing right on Pyrrha's breast and groping it while examining the Mate Mark above her heart. Pyrrha blushed immensely that an old woman was groping her breast. Only Jaune could do that!

"Umm, could you please get off?" asked Pyrrha. Seeing that she wasn't moving, Jaune pulled Shiro off, who tried to hang on by grabbing the hard leather.

"Mayor Bai? Appreciate a little help here," grumbled Jaune as he didn't want to accidentally hurt the elderly woman.

"Elder Shiro! Control yourself," scolded Bai as he helped Jaune pry her off Pyrrha.

"Nice tits, young one," complemented Shiro, making a groping motion. It took a lot of willpower for Jaune not to kick the old lady as far as he could, which would be lethal considering how powerful his kicks were.

"Promise you won't do that to her again?" asked Bai, glaring at Shiro.

"Fine, fine," grumbled Shiro, and the two boys let her down gently, only for her to jump once more, this time on Nora's chest.

"Hmm, not bad either," said Shiro with a perverted grin as she squeezed, causing Nora to groan in annoyance while Shiro was examining the Dragon Mark on her chest.

"That's it!" shouted Jaune and Ren as they grabbed her off of Nora.

Jaune produced a rope from his bag and the two of them tied Shiro and put her back on the ground.

"Please tell your elder not to grope our girls," snarled Jaune.

"You're a bad man! You can't treat Elder Shiro like that!" shouted a boy as he began to kick Jaune in the shin. The boy ended up hopping on one foot, howling in pain while Jaune shrugged it off.

"Elder Shiro, what has gotten into you?" shouted Bai, "You can't just grope maidens like that! Especially in front of their boyfriends!"

"Bah, I was getting a closer look at those marks on their chest," pouted Shiro, "Those markings look very similar to the ones at the shrine."

"Are they?" said Jaune sharply. The dragons picked up on this, too.

"Yes, no one's quite sure what they mean," said Shiro, "But you're still not allowed!"

"That's not up to you," snapped Bai, "I hired them, and I will not have your stubbornness put us in danger!"

"It might go deeper than that," said Jaune, "If those markings are there like you said, then it's something related to the old Dragon Clan."

"Dragon Clan?" asked Bai, "I'm not familiar with this."

"Bah, that old clan of fools?" hawed Shiro, "Just a myth about some drunk clan who thought they had the power to protect others. Didn't help much considering that they all died off."

"Really?" said Jaune, his hands clenching tightly. Ren was in the same state as Jaune, wanting to rip off the ladies tongue. The dragons themselves were roaring in anger.

"Elder!" scolded Bai, "We, the villagers, were supposed to keep the temple clean until you and the other elders decreed that it was to be 'sacred' grounds and let it fall into disrepair! At least I know that much!"

"Bah, there's no point in keeping that place clean for some pathetic clan," replied Shiro, "Resources that went to keeping that place clean was better used for the village!"

"You mean your comfort!" shouted Bai.

"Feh, some of it did go to us elders, but we needed it," said Shiro, "Plus, the majority of it went into the town. The villagers can't complain, can they?"

Team JNPR looked around to see most of them nodding to the elder's words.

" _ **UNGRATEFUL BRATS!"**_ roared Lung Wang, _**"If this shrine is really connected to the Dragon Clan, then these people are either retainers or descendants of the clan. From what I sense, it's the former, and thankfully not the latter."**_

"Nonetheless, Team... JNPR was it?" asked Bai, which they all nodded, "You have my permission to go ahead to the shrine. I want to make sure that nothing threatens the village."

"The faster we get out of here, the better," whispered Pyrrha, to which they all agreed. The scarlet-haired amazon glared at Shiro as she followed the mayor.

"Just point us in the direction," smiled Jaune. It was easy to see it was a fake smile. After all, Shiro's lucky she was an old lady, if she was a man, and much younger, she would find herself embedded into the ground for touching Pyrrha and Nora like that.

"Yes, right this way," directed Bai, who started to lead them towards the path.

"You will take not one step further!"

Four other village elders carrying the same staff as Shiro blocked their path as Shiro caught up to them. All five of them threw their staffs in front of the only entrance. The staffs glowed with power before a light barrier sealed the entrance, the staffs hiding behind the barrier

"Elders!" shouted Bai, getting frustrated that the elders were blocking the path.

"There is nothing there that needs investigating!" shouted one of the elders.

"Try to pass, if you dare," sneered Shiro, "The barrier blocks everyone... well maybe except for that clan, but I don't see that happening anytime soon! The only good thing they gave us were these staffs. And only we can reclaim them."

"That barrier isn't a problem for me," growled Jaune, stepping forward.

Everyone laughed, only to be silenced with shock as Jaune passed right through the barrier without any trouble. Pyrrha and the others followed and phased right through as well.

"What!?" shouted Shiro in confusion. Jaune and the others picked up the staffs, causing the barrier to shatter.

" _ **These will be useful,"**_ said Ryo-Wo, _**"These staffs not only store Aura if you feed it, it takes in ambient Aura in the air to help sustain it. The protection they create will aid you if you have injured. The smaller the radius, the stronger the barrier is, though. So be careful when you have them placed."**_

"By the power vested in me as the last descendant of the Dragon Clan, I confiscate these staffs back from which we once gave you all," announced Jaune as they bundled it together and shoved it into his bag.

"You... you can't do that!" shouted an elder.

"Well, he just did," taunted Nora as they turned to leave, going up the path that led to the shrine temple.

As the villagers stood there in shock, Bai turned to them angrily, especially towards the elders.

"This is your fault! If you old fools weren't so stubborn, then we wouldn't have lost the staffs that were given to us. Did you forget that they were given to us, and in return, we were supposed to keep the temple at least clean?"

"But... how were we supposed to know they would come back?" whined an elder.

"You all forgot why this village exists in the first place!" exploded Bai, "I at least read through the old manuscripts. This village existed because that boy's clan took all of us in for safe haven! Something we might have just lost because of all of your greed!"

Bai huffed and ran to catch up with team JNPR, leaving a shocked village.

* * *

" _ **Arrogant little miserable..."**_ Fafnir continued to grumble curses as team JNPR traveled along the path to the temple shrine. The rest of the dragons also had similar feelings

"Think they were primary retainers of the Dragon Clan?" asked Ren.

"If they were, they're not keeping that position," replied Jaune, "That belongs to you and Junior."

Ren froze for a second, a small tear almost fell from his eye if it weren't for him wiping it away, "Thank you."

"I've always had you as one," replied Jaune, "Never think any less."

They arrived at a rather huge but ruined shrine entrance after 10 minutes of walking.

"Hey, look. It's the marks that's on Pyrrha's chest and mine!" exclaimed Nora pointing at one of the poles. "That's what that kooky old bag was blathering about!"

"You're right!" gasped Pyrrha after she examined, "Does that mean this shrine was dedicated to the Dragon Clan?"

"I have a feeling it's more than that," said Jaune, "Let's check it out further."

Grabbing their weapons, they went into the shrine temple. They saw overgrown grass and falling rotten wood everywhere. The temple itself, while they could imagine in the past looked grand, was now in such a sorry state.

"Well, this is pathetic."

They turned around to see Bai had caught up, wheezing heavily.

"Mayor Bai? Why are you here?" asked Jaune.

"Had... to make sure there was nothing," wheezed Bai, "That, and I also wanted to see how the temple was like right now. Even when we were supposed to take care of it, many slacked off on their jobs. It just got harder and harder to maintain with barely anyone caring about it."

Jaune frowned and turned back to the temple and stood at the entrance. He opened it to reveal a large hallway with a wooden floor. There was cracked wood everywhere. It hurt the dragons to see such a place in ruins.

"Well, let's get this over with," sighed Jaune as team JNPR stepped into the hall. Suddenly, the doors slammed shut, cutting off Bai who was about to enter. The whole room's atmosphere seemed to change.

"Everyone, be careful," warned Jaune as they got into fighting poses.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Two people suddenly appeared in front of them, wielding weapons. The first one was a rugged male with short black hair and tanned skin, wearing a green expensive looking cheongsam with a green shoulder pauldron on his right shoulder. He had white kung fu pants and held a dagger. The dagger itself had buttons on the handle and a different color handguard on each side. The second one was a pale, beautiful woman with long, braided blonde hair. She had wore armor, unlike the male, but there were gaps in between that showed plenty of skin for any lustful men. The most attention-grabbing part, however, wasn't her cleavage, although eye catching, but rather her choice of weapon and heterochromia eyes. She had gauntlets that was much bigger than her own hands, and her right hand looked like it was part of the dragon's upper head while the left hand was the dragon's lower head. And lastly, her eyes were different. The scelera was pure black, the cornea eerie blue on the right and the left was eerie gold, and her pupils were slitted like a dragon.

"Where did they come from?" asked Nora, a bit nervous. None of them had sensed remotely anyone in the room before they entered.

"Who are you?" asked the man darkly.

" _ **Jaune,"**_ advised Alaerth, _**"Be careful. This may be an ancient guardian dating back to the Dragon Clan, but I sense rage within those two."**_

Jaune nodded but stepped forward anyway.

"I am Jaune Ryu-Long. Descendant of the Dragon Clan, contractor of seven dragon kings. Next to me is my mate Pyrrha Nikos and my two retainers, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. To whom am I speaking to?"

"We are... the defenders of this shrine, belonging to the Dragon Clan," replied the woman, "We were placed here to defend this place. But... we have been asleep for so long. Sooo loonngg. Until we heard a dragon's roar recently and it awakened us from our slumber."

"The... temple," groaned the man as the two clutched their heads, "It's in ruins. The villagers... they broke their promise. They must...DIE!"

As one, the two guardians growled in anger and roared, shaking the temple. Jaune and the others had to lower their knees to make sure they didn't fall over.

"Enough!" shouted Jaune, "I already confiscated the presents that were given to them! As I speak, I have new retainers! Ones that I trust! And I have mates!"

The two guardians ignored him and charged forward, attacking team JNPR before forcing them into two groups. Jaune and Ren were facing the male while Pyrrha and Nora faced the female. A barrier suddenly came out, splitting the two groups apart.

"Show me your strength, then," said the male as he twirled his dagger, "Prove to me, Qyrentes the Quiet, that you are truly part of the Dragon Clan."

"And prove to me, " announced the female to Pyrrha and Nora, "That you are worthy to be called a mate of the Dragon Clan, that you are worthy of bearing the children of this clan's future. I am Penerros the Champion, and I shall judge your worth."

And with a roar, the two guardians charged.

* * *

Jaune and Ren immediately open fire at Qyrentes. He responded by showing why his dagger was special. Quickly putting the silver part of the handguard to his mouth, he blew into and started to play a song,

"It's an ocarina too?" asked a bewildered Jaune while he was still firing bullets.

Suddenly, something shimmered in front of Qyrentes and reflected the bullets back at Jaune and Ren.

"Ren!" shouted Jaune as he tossed his shield to Ren and grabbed his sheath and expanded it to a shield to protect themselves from the bullets they had fired.

Qyrentes showed no signs of even stopping as he continued to play the ocarina while calmly walking towards them. When he stopped playing it, he was already close enough that he dashed forward and kicked the shields away. Jaune immediately tried to link up with the dragons, but Qyrentes tapped on the floor. Jaune felt his links not working again, and Ren was surprised to find out he couldn't use his Semblance either.

"No Semblance. I want to see if you're worthy without help," announced Qyrentes before attacking once more. To Ren and Jaune's horror, the man also used Dragon Style fist in his attacks, combining it with his dagger. Jaune slashed down, just for Qyrentes to catch it with one hand. Ren fired a hail of bullets, but Qyrentes played a few notes again and blocked it all and fired it back at Ren.

"That's getting annoying," growled Ren as he changed his weapons into chakrams and dashed forward to attack. Qyrentes then tossed Jaune aside and parried the chakrams easily before grabbing Ren's wrist and throwing him into the floor. Jaune came back and launched nine simultaneous strikes, but they were all parried before he struck Jaune in the chest with the dagger, sending him flying back into a wall.

Jaune groaned as his back slide down the wall, shocked to see the attack had failed. "Nothing's working," he muttered as he got back up before realizing his sword was no longer in his hands, that he had dropped it when he had been flung back.

Qyrentes wasn't going to let him pick it back up as he charged forward with his dagger. Jaune quickly assumed his Dragon style stance and clashed fists. It soon became apparent that Qyrentes was much better at it than him as he overpowered Jaune's defense easily.

"You have much to learn," lectured Qyrentes as he managed to parry Jaune's thrust before spinning his dagger and landing an x cross on his chest. He followed up with a swift kick to the chin.

Ren quickly got up and charged forward to buy Jaune some time and tried to land a low kick on Qyrentes. He jumped over it with a butterfly kick and made it seem like he was going to hit Ren's face with a kick. Ren quickly moved his arms to block it, but it was a feint. Instead, Qyrentes landed first and did a back thrust kick into Ren's stomach. Gasping for air, Ren bent forward just for Qyrentes to grab his head and knee him in the face repeatedly.

"Stop it!" shouted Jaune as he ran forward, going for a low kick.

Qyrentes moved his leg to block intercept it, letting go of Ren after tossing him into a wall. He saw that the low kick suddenly go upwards and predicted a high kick. Instead, Jaune landed a mid kick into his stomach and sent him away. Qyrentes flipped in the air, landing on his feet but looking quite well.

"You alright?" asked Jaune as Ren got up, quickly grabbing his sword.

"Feels like I've been punched repeatedly by a Beringel," groaned Ren, "He kneed my face five times before you got him off. How are we going to win? Clearly, he's better than us in terms of martial arts. He's mastered the original stances. None of our techniques are working."

As Jaune and Ren tried to regain their breath, they both remembered Wong's words when he sparred with them. They had used their Dragon stances but still met defeat.

" _The world of martial arts is vast. History shows rise and falls of different styles. The original Dragon style fist is no different, even if it does seem stronger. The length of a style that existed in time does not equate quality of it. In the end, they all must keep going forward and develop into something new. That is what I have done, and that is what I expect you all to do someday."_

"In that case, let's mix it up. I've got a technique Wong showed me," said Jaune.

"Same with me. Can you draw his attention?" Ren asked.

"Will do. Get ready to strike!" shouted Jaune as he charged forward, grabbing his blade to attack.

Qyrentes parried with his dagger and attacked back, but Jaune took a more defensive strategy. As Qyrentes began his fierce attack, he noticed Jaune staying in one place and parrying all his attacks, whether by using his blade or hand.

"Nice defense. It's not part of the usual style of our people, but it works well," praised Qyrentes as he tried to break through. This was one of the techniques Wong had taught him, to completely neutralize an enemy's attack by keeping a calm mind and creating a zone to defend. Jaune had yet to master the next step, though. Not only that, he was slowly being pushed back, feeling Qyrentes's fist graze his face.

Ren threw his chakrams forward while Qyrentes was still attacking Jaune, so he jumped back to start to play his ocarina. Before the first note even came out, Jaune took this chance of dashing forward right between the chakrams and kneed him at the waist, aiming for his right side. He had noticed Qyrentes needed to use his right hand to play the notes in the first place.

Qyrentes blocked it with his right arm as he tossed the dagger to his left hand and threw them right into the chakrams to block them before it returned to his hand

"Nice-"

Qyrentes didn't get to finish as he felt his defense being broken through. Jaune yelled out loudly and turned his knee into a thrust kick, crushing into Qyrentes's ribs. As Qyrentes was about to land, Ren was already upon him. Ren slammed three palm strikes infused with Aura at Qyrentes's stomach. Qyrentes, not knowing what was with the rather weak strikes compared to earlier, kicked Ren away and landed on his feet and charged towards Ren.

Ren shifted into a stance where both his hands was behind him, Aura charging into them. The bracelets he had taken from Cinder was helping him gather even more, making it completely visible. Green Aura filled between his hands.

"I won't let you!" shouted Qyrentes as he tried to blow into his ocarina once more before he noticed something wrong. He suddenly spat out more blood as it felt like he received a huge punch into the gut.

"Looks like my attack worked," smirked Ren as he finished charging, "If you're wondering, those three palm strikes intersected at one point. Your stomach. With the three attacks combined, the damage received is multiplied by the power of three. It's based on Lar's concept of Gamma knife, using dust infused beams to remove tumors."

"With this, you're finished!" shouted Jaune as he grabbed his sword and charged Aura into it.

Ren's hands glowed as the Dragon's Mark shined with brilliance as Ren fired his Aura Ball. Jaune followed with a blade beam into the ball and transformed it into a dragon made from Aura as it charged forward, roaring before opening its mouth to consume Qyrentes.

"Magnificent," whispered Qyrentes before the attack hit him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Penerros blocked a hammer swing from Nora with her left hand before meeting Pyrrha's strike with her right.

"Not bad. But not good enough," taunted Penerros as she kicked with her right. Pyrrha used her shield to block it but was knocked back. While doing so, Penerros grabbed Nora by the hammer and flung her to Pyrrha. Pyrrha caught her but had to throw her to the side as Penerros charged at them, fists up. She threw a right hook into Pyrrha's shield, making her feel the attack all the way down to her bones. Before Pyrrha could do anything, Penerros was already coming in with a left hook. Pyrrha blocked this with _Akouo_ , but just barely. Penerros wouldn't stop and became an unstoppable whirlwind of hooks. One of them finally got through and hit Pyrrha in the face. But Penerros wouldn't stop there. She kept going with her hooks, forcing Pyrrha's Aura levels to go into critical level.

"Eat this!" shouted Nora as she swung her hammer, charged with electricity.

Penerros stopped her assault and blocked it, putting both her gauntlets up to defend. She felt the electric shock her as she stopped the attack, forced to back off a bit.

"You all right, Pyrrha? You're cheeks and eyes look a little swollen."

"She managed to get some of her attacks through the Aura. I took at least six of those hooks before you came through."

Pyrrha concentrated and tried to stop Penerros moving by controlling her metallic armor, but Penerros smirked and stomped the ground. Both Pyrrha and Nora found unable to use their Semblances.

"None of that now," Barked Penerros, "I want to see what you can do without relying on it too much. Show me if you're worthy of being a mate of the Dragon Contractor and a retainer."

With a flick of her wrists, the gauntlets were bathed in fire.

"Hey. You can't take away our Semblance and use yours!" complained Nora.

"This isn't my Semblance. I am merely using Dust, and I'm supplying Aura for it," replied Penerros lightly, "You can still do your hammer thing that I just saw."

Pyrrha and Nora responded by shooting her, to which she blocked by putting her gauntlets forward once more and charged in.

"Nora. Charge up your weapon. I'll distract her," commanded Pyrrha as she switched to using dual xyphos and charged in to meet Penerros.

"Facing me head on? You certainly are brave," commented Penerros as the two of them began the deadly dance between fists and blades.

Pyrrha kept parrying Penerros punches, knowing full well that blocking them head on was not an option. She ducked under chopping right and stabbed at Penerros, who dodged it.

'It's like fighting Yang, but Penerros is a much stronger fighter with even better techniques,' thought Pyrrha as she parried a high kick from Penerros.

She spun and tried to land a sword slash from the left on Penerros's shoulder, only to have it blocked. Pyrrha didn't hesitate and let go of left blade and punched Penerros in the face, making her opponent stumble back. Nora jumped towards Penerros, raising her hammer to the sky and slammed down towards Penerros.

Penerros responded by clasping her gauntlets together to form a dragon's head and intercepting Nora's attack. Nora's hammerhead was caught in the dragon's teeth, but the shock still hit her. Growling in anger and pain, Penerros opened her dragon mouth and chomped down again and again before ripping the hammerhead.

"You broke my _Magnhild_!" cried out Nora before getting a punch in the stomach after Penerros threw away the broken weapon.

"That was... shocking, but least I won't have to deal with that anymore," grinned Penerros before Pyrrha did a sweeping kick on her, knocking her off her feet. Pyrrha took this chance to combo her, hitting her up into the air with several sword strikes. She transformed her left xyphos back into a shield, using it as a foothold and shot herself upwards. She managed to grapple Penerros before transforming _Milo_ into a javelin. She did multiple stabs into Penerros's abdomen, but Penerros blocked them. Pyrrha was expecting that, though, and managed to place her foot on her gauntlets, maneuvering herself before managing to get Penerros in a choke hold with her javelin. She then spun towards the grounds with Penerros as her hostage and slammed Penerros into the floor. Penerros gritted her teeth upon impact and quickly pushed herself away before Pyrrha could finish her combo with a somersault kick. She looked up to see the shield being bashed into her face. She stumbled and glared at Nora, who had picked up _Akouo_ when it dropped and waited for the opportune moment for to do that.

Nora glared back as she transformed the shield into a xyphos, ready to fight. She charged in with Pyrrha, both striking at different points. But Nora's swordplay wasn't good, letting Penerros get the chance and knocking her blade out of her hand. Nora didn't give up and ducked under a fist and charged forward, tackling waist. Penerros tried to slam a fist down on Nora's head, but Pyrrha grabbed her pauldron, and from inside the paldron, three thin knives came out. They had been installed inside as a hidden weapon, courtesy of Hephastus. Pyrrha threw them at Penerros, who had to use her gauntlets to block the knives.

This allowed Nora to circle back and hold Penerros hostage, wrapping her arms around Penerros's arms and chest.

"No you don't," muttered Penerros as she lifted her right elbow and slammed it into Nora's kidney. Nora grimaced as Penerros did it two more times, but she wasn't going to let go that easily. Desperate, she grabbed hold of Penerros where ever she could when her grip slackened. Unfortunately, being hit so many times, she ended up grabbing Penerros by her breasts.

Penerros eyes opened wide in shock before blushing and yelling, "Why you little pervert!"

Nora wasn't paying attention, though, and she lifted Penerros up into the air before performing a suplex on Penerros, smashing her head into the wooden floor.

"Nice one," commented Pyrrha as she drew closer.

"What did I grab?" asked Nora, "They felt... soft. I couldn't tell because of those kidney shots."

"You... grabbed her breasts and performed what I believe was called... a boobplex," blushed Pyrrha as she looked away, trying not to laugh.

Nora looked down on her own hands, a bit shocked at what she had done.

"Don't you dare tell anyone I did that," whispered Nora.

"No worries. You won't tell anyone after I'm done with you," growled Penerros as she stood back up, her head pounding in pain and her cheeks red. With a roar, she ran forward and jumped, corkscrewing forward with her hands in front. She became a pillar of fire that shot forward, slamming Pyrrha and Nora into the walls. As they slowly stood back up, Nora grabbed the remains of her hammer head as a weapon while Pyrrha lifted her two swords in front of her.

Suddenly, there was an explosion that forced them all to turn to the source just in time to see Qyrentes being chomped down by an Aura dragon made by Jaune and Ren.

"What!?" shouted Penerros in surprise. This gave Nora the perfect time to grab her wrecked hammerhead, ejecting all her grenades, and throwing them right towards Penerros. Pyrrha gathered the last of her strength and Aura and fired an x cross blade beam at her, hitting the grenades and Penerros. Penerros went flying back into the light barrier before slumping down.

* * *

"I think… we've won," gasped Pyrrha, tired from the fight, and with that, the light barrier went down, allowing team JNPR to reunite.

"Are you alright?" asked Jaune as he hugged Pyrrha tightly.

"Yes, just a bit bruised on the face," replied Pyrrha, wincing as she felt the adrenaline leave her. This was going to swell up if she didn't get some ice and some rest to restore her Aura.

"Are you alright, Nora?" asked Ren.

"I'm fine, Renny. Pyrrha took more hits, but... my precious hammer is broken," sighed Nora as she stared at the remains of _Magnihild._ The only thing that didn't look broken was the pole.

"Excellent work."

They looked to see Qyrentes and Penerros standing up, looking uninjured.

"What?! How?!" shouted Nora while the other gazed with caution.

"Oh don't worry, you've passed the test with flying colors," waved Qyrentes, "You all truly are something."

Penerros walked towards the shrine that they hadn't noticed and grabbed a scroll before tossing it to Jaune.

"Here is the family tree scroll. It may not seem much, but it is always good to keep your family history. Merely dab a bit of your blood into the scroll, and it will update your name onto it, as well as your mates if I am correct."

Jaune took the scroll, looking at it before thanking them and putting them in his bag.

"And now, I believe our time is up," smiled Qyrentes, "We no longer have to protect this shrine temple, as the descendant has claimed the scroll, and the villagers... well they didn't do what they were supposed to."

"If only we could show them our might," growled Penerros, "But sadly, our powers are limited in this area only."

The two of them bowed in respect to Jaune and the others, while they returned the gesture.

"Still, it would be poor manners to have you leave without something else," mused Qyrentes, "I know. Lie Ren, retainer of the Dragon Clan, step forth."

Ren nervously stood back up and stepped up.

"I see you have a dagger with you, correct?"

"It was my father's. His last gift to me."

"Mmm, something you should cherish. And something that shall give you power. I shall bestow my dagger's powers into yours, as well as the song of barrier that I used against you."

Qyrentes presented his dagger in front of him while Ren did the same. Qyrentes's dagger glowed and turned into dust before floating over to Ren's dagger. Ren's dagger gleamed brightly before it transformed. It still had the slightly curved blade, but the handgrip was completely different now. On the grip were three buttons, just like Qyrentes's, and a silver handguard for Ren to put his mouth into to play. Not only that, but the whole dagger was a bit bigger, and the blade shone with brilliance.

"There. Now you can play the same songs as I did to defend yourself. It uses Aura, but it magnifies it to protect you as long as you play the song. You can play other songs, but it doesn't have any boosts. At least none that I know of. Though useful for charming girls while making sure you're armed."

Penerros was thinking about what to do before asking Nora for the remains of her weapon. Confused, she passed them to her.

"I guess I shouldn't have dealt so much damage since we were just testing you. My gift... will be to repair and improve your hammer."

Penerros took a deep breath and concentrated on the weapon. Her arm gauntlets disappeared in a flash before morphing onto _Magnihild_. Nora's weapon shone brightly that they all had to close their eyes a bit before registering what had happened. In front of them was a new hammer, quite similar to Nora's. However, the design had changed. The hammerhead looked like a dragon's head, with the mouth being the hole to fire grenades. When Penerros transformed it to the grenade launcher mode, it was designed so it also looked like a dragon head firing grenades.

"That should do it," grinned Penerros, "It won't break easily. Still has all the same functions as your old weapons, and the head of the hammer can charge electricity easier now. And a few more surprises for you to figure out."

She passed the weapon back to Nora, who looked at it in amazement.

"Now, we can leave in peace," announced Qyrentes, "Look after yourselves. Make sure you survive and bring back the glory of the Dragon Clan. May you have many children and live good, long lives. The blessings on the village that they had enjoyed so much will disappear once we are gone."

"The only thing left we ask is that you take the two crystals that we will leave behind and plant it into a new place where you'll create a new village for the Dragon Clan," said Penerros as the two guardians began to fade away, "It will bless the new village. That is to say, it will help the village expand quite easily. An example would be that any crops planted will grow well, and you won't have to worry about animals eating them too much. There is a limit, but it's a good start."

Just as they were about to fade, Penerros called out for Ren, asking for confirmation that Nora was his girlfriend before putting a troll face.

"Just to let you know, your mate grabbed my breasts and seemed rather fond of them. I'd be careful if I was you, as she might become... attracted to others."

With the final laugh, they disappeared, leaving two small crystals for Jaune to put into his bag.

Nora blushed crimson before spouting out random curse words while Ren sighed, his cheeks pink.

* * *

"What happened?"

Bai finally managed to get the door open to see the inside of the temple rather wrecked, with signs of fighting everywhere.

"Everything's been solved," announced Jaune, "There won't be any more suspicious activity here anymore."

Bai blinked for a bit before slowly nodding. Jaune called for a ship to come pick them up before receiving the news that the next available ship would be two days from now, at 1100 hours.

"So... what happens now?" asked Bai.

"Team JNPR knows we're not welcomed in your village," stated Jaune, "So we'll be either be staying here for the next two days or heading over to the beach port to stay."

"I say the beach port," suggested Nora, "No need to stay here much longer than needed. Plus, we can get food from the ocean, and get a much needed tan. I have tan lines I want to get rid of."

"All agreed on the beach?" asked Jaune. Everyone nodded in reply. "Ok then. Beach it is."

"I'd say it's safer," muttered Bai, "It takes longer to get from the village to the beach than from the village to the temple shrine, even if they declared it sacred grounds. The villagers, especially the elders, will be looking for revenge for taking the staffs."

"It is their own fault that they tried to stop us," said Pyrrha, "If only they weren't so stubborn, but what will happen to you?"

"I probably won't be mayor for much longer, I might even be exiled," sighed Bai, "However, it does allow me to see the world like I've always wanted to."

"In that case, if you need help, head to Vale and ask for Junior," said Jaune, sending a text to Junior before snapping a photo of Bai, "He's one of my retainers. He'll help you out and hook you up with a job if you need one."

"That's very thoughtful," said Bai, "I appreciate the offer. Just let me see what I can do with my own village first."

" _ **Excellent job, Jaune,"**_ praised Lung Wang, _**"Though you still have quite a ways to go. Those two you fought... they didn't use their Semblance at all. If they did, then you all might've lost."**_

" _ **Still, it shows progress as you are not completely dependant on our powers,"**_ added Ryo-Wo.

" _ **Give the boy a break,"**_ chuckled Othim, _**"Hey, you're headed to the beach! That means... BEACH SE-!"**_

Othim didn't get to finish as Andusk and Aryz punched his head to shut him up.

And with that, they descended back down the village.

As expected, all the villagers glared at them before demanding the staffs back. Jaune replied that since they had failed to uphold their promise, he had the right to confiscate them as heir of the Dragon Clan, which had given the staffs to them in the first place. All the elders made a fuss about it, especially Shiro, who said she would be launching a complaint to Haven's headmaster and see that they were expelled.

Team JNPR paid her no mind and made their way down to the beach.

They arrived when the sun had just set. Once at the beach, they made themselves comfortable there. Ren practiced playing with his new knife ocarina while Nora practiced with her new weapon. Jaune created a sand wall to protect themselves from angry villagers trying to hurt them while Pyrrha caught some fish and placed them in the fire to cook after descaling them.

Once they finished eating, Jaune made another wall to block the winds while the others set up futons from Jaune's bag. Each person would be sharing one to keep warm. Naturally, Pyrrha was with Jaune while Nora was with Ren.

* * *

The next day, while they spent the time training on the beach for a bit, they heard someone gasp before yelling for an entrance. Curious, Jaune flew up to the top of the wall and looked down to see a few villagers trying to break through the wall.

"You guys need something?" shouted Jaune, causing them all to look up.

"You will return those staffs to us!" sneered an elder.

"I thought I told you already that I wouldn't! You guys failed to uphold your promise!" Jaune snapped.

"It is ours by right! No dead clan has the right to just come back to life whenever they feel like it, show up and take them from us!"

"Wow, you guys are really narcissistic. You already forgot that it was loaned to you by the Dragon Clan as a way to help protect yourselves, and in return, you would maintain the temple."

"Who told you that?" shouted another villager.

"The temple shrine guardians. They woke up from their slumber and were pissed to see the place in ruins. They were going to head to your village to cause destruction if we didn't stop them."

"Ha, let them try," sneered a kid, "We'd kick their butts."

Jaune shrugged and flew back down, ignoring their complaints and accusations. After an intensive training regime, they all decided to take the time to enjoy the beach. Jaune and Ren went for a swim while Pyrrha and Nora striped down naked and laid out on the beach to get rid of any tan lines. It was especially important for Pyrrha as she had to do photo shoots again when they returned to Haven. That, and they didn't have to worry about anyone spying on them besides their boyfriends.

After a while Pyrrha went out to join Jaune while Ren came back to the shore to lie next to Nora. Pyrrha swam out next to her mate, who was floating on his back, looking into the sky.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, just wondering; what other relics from the Dragon Clan are out there? Are their more villages like this?" He asked, the water making his muscular body shine in the sunlight.

"Well, hopefully not arrogant like this one. That we could live without." Pyrrha voiced.

"For sure." Agreed Jaune.

"There might be more out there Jaune, but when we find them, we'll reclaim them for our clan together," Pyrrha told him confidently.

"Our clan?" Jaune asked, looking at her.

Pyrrha smiled at him, "Yes, our clan! I am your mate, but most importantly, your wife, aren't I?"

Jaune looked at her beautiful, kind, loving face and the look of pure love in her stunning eyes.

"Yes you are." He confirmed before he 'sat up' and wrapped his arms around her, pressing himself against her. She leaned into him, sighing in content as she took in his scent.

"You know, that old bat was right about one thing; you do have nice breasts," Jaune told her, as he squeezed one, while pressing her against his chest.

Pyrrha chuckled and said "I know, but I'm not the only one with a good body." She then squeezed his butt to get her point across, making his laugh and he began kissing her.

They just floated together for a while, enjoying each other's company, and bodies as they rubbed, massaged, and kissed each other.

* * *

The next day arrived, and Team JNPR was waiting for the ship to come in the next hour. The villagers had tried several times to break through the wall but to no avail, as Jaune would just reinforce it every now and then, using Fafnir. They soon gave up when the clock hit midnight.

"Hello! Team JNPR? Are you there? Damn, I didn't think there would be a wall here, but I guess the elders were right."

"Mayor Bai, is that you?" called back Jaune.

"Just Bai," shouted the voice, "I was impeached, then I told them I was leaving. They agreed to it, as they had already been planning to exile me."

Team JNPR looked at each other before Jaune quickly made a hole for Bai to come through. He had several large cases with him.

"We're very sorry to hear about that," said Pyrrha, but Bai waved it off.

"I was getting sick of leading them anyways. They were such pests! Now I can finally see the world instead of being stuck on that island."

As the airship arrived to take them back, Jaune finally lowered the walls, letting it return to its normal landscape.

"We picking up one more?" questioned the pilot.

"Yeah, he wants to head back with us," replied Jaune before turning to Bai, "Do you want to head to Vale? Like I said, there are people there that I know that can help you."

Bai thought about it before nodding and thanking him.

As the ship lifted off, there was a shout, and the villagers came out wielding pitchforks and guns, screaming for vengeance.

"What the?" said the pilot, startled and staring at the mob.

"Just lift off. The mission was a success, but villagers didn't like that we had to go into what they called 'sacred grounds'," sighed Ren.

"Pyrrha, if you please," Jaune nodded to Pyrrha, who put her hand out.

The villagers were about to begin firing when they felt all their weapons ripped out of their hands, courtesy by Pyrrha. She gathered them into a ball, and with a toss, fired it back roughly into their village destroying a large section of road, but she shrugged before calling out, "I'm sorry!"

The villagers were left steaming as they could only watch them leave.

"That was a rather fast mission, in my opinion," said Jaune.

"Indeed, but only we could've actually completed it," replied Ren.

"I'm not complaining, but that means we have to train with Master Wong again."

They all shivered slightly at that though.

* * *

 **Usual thanks to my Beta readers UGX7, Jauneforever, and TheMischieviousPuppy.**

 **Hope you've enjoyed this chapter, reviewed it, and look forward to the next one. The next chapter will be featuring Team RWBY and SSSN mission! And there will be a 'special scenario' chapter in there.**

 **Since it's chapter 50, I guess I should do a background information about this story! For those who don't want to read it, just skip this portion below, though I will be slightly sad.**

Q: **What inspired me to write this story?**

A: **The Remnant Knight by MassEffect-TxS. Read that story, and wanted to create my one-shots first before expanding on it. Making it start at a young age was my own idea, though.**

Q: **Why 7 dragons of elements? And Why those elements?**

A: **Honestly, Chinese cosmology and what the old ages thought were the elements, though I didn't like using metal and wood. No, I did not use this idea because of Naruto, I thought of this long before that came out.**

Q: **How many chapters left?**

A: **I have no idea. I don't think I'll hit 100, but who knows. But I will endeavor to finish this whole story.**

Q: **Any plans to write another RWBY story?**

A: **So far... nope. Any multiple stories I write, I prefer to keep them in separate universes. Let's me relax my mind from that said universe. That being said, Jaune of Fake, Lantern, and Ranger are on backburners, though Fake has someone who adopted it. I might make another one shot if I have the time.**

 **And finally, anyone who wants to do a RWBY reacts story or any reaction on whatever universe on this story is welcome to. My only wish is that you send me a pm so I can read it.**


	51. Chapter 51 Mission SSSN & RWBY

**Yaa new chapter! Hope you guys enjoy this one!**

* * *

Team SSSN were getting bored. They had been hired to protect some VIPs making some deals about some kind of business that none of them really cared about. The most action they had on this trip was some minor Grimm attacks that didn't really do much to curb the boredom.

"Any leads on the next item?" Sun asked Neptune.

"Yeah, I'm close to figuring this next riddle out," replied Neptune, writing on some scratch pieces of paper as notes. "At least I have something to do while we're sitting around on this dull mission."

"We just need to wait three more days and then this job is over," grunted Sage, also bored of this bodyguard mission. They had taken it only because it was the only one that put them close to where they needed to be. Once done, they would head over to try to find the item.

"Still, it's nice to chill after what we've had to go through," commented Scarlet. They all thought back to their training and shivered. Wong really was a teacher from hell.

"Hey, you! Get me a drink!" Demanded the VIP's child, who had been getting on their nerves a lot, always demanding things or ordering them about like they were his servants. Unfortunately, they had to listen to his demands as long as they weren't completely unreasonable.

"Yes sir," gritted Sun as he went to grab a water bottle for the child.

"Eww, I don't want a dirty Faunus to get it for me!" shouted the child.

Sun twitched in fury, his anger reaching its peak. He slowly crushed the boiling water, heated by his anger until Neptune put his hand on Sun, patting him on the back to calm his anger while Sage went to grab it. Unfortunately, the boy was also picky about skin color, causing Sage to almost grab his sword. In the end, Scarlet was the one that had to take care of the child.

"Just three more days, just three more!" muttered Sun as he leaned back on some rocks to relax.

After three agonizing days, the VIPs were finally sent home, allowing team SSSN to head to their next destination.

"Freaking spoiled brat! Oum, I wanted to punch his annoying little ass to the moon!" shouted Sun after going through some forests with his team.

"There's no point in yelling, it's over, let's be thankful for that," replied Neptune looking at the map and marking down some landmarks. He was sure they were getting close now, according to his notes.

As they were about to pull out of a clearing, Sun heard something and pulled them all back.

"What's wrong?" whispered Scarlet.

"I think there's a bunch of people here," whispered Sun.

They all slowly peeked out into the clearing to see two Faunus members walking around with weapons and dark red Grimm masks.

"Blood Fang members," growled Sun, "What are they doing here?"

"Only one way to find out," grinned Scarlet, flipping his gun out.

The two Blood Fang members were just talking about their latest kills when they heard someone shout "Extend!" A second later, one of them was sent smashing into a wall from an extended pole while the other one had a grappling hook suddenly grip his leg. Scarlet pulled him in with Sage's help. The Blood Fang member couldn't even shout when Neptune pointed his trident at his chest, his finger twitching to activate the Lightning Dust.

"So, gonna tell us why you're here?" asked Sun, twirling his staff.

"None of your business, traitor," spat the member.

"Should we try the good cop bad cop thing we learned during our Junior detective time?" asked Neptune.

"No time, let's just knock him out," replied Sun.

"Wait, what?" asked the Blood Fang member before feeling 20,000 volts hitting his body, shocking him unconscious. Strangely the guy smelled like roasted chicken.

"What do you think they're here for?" asked Sage.

"No idea, but it can't be good, knowing these crazy idiots," grumbled Sun.

They carried on after making sure the two other members were well hidden and knocked out for good measure. Soon, they came across the cave that they were supposed to go in, only to find that the entrance of the cave was blocked with several Blood Fang members camping in the area.

"What are they doing here?" growled Sun.

"C'mon!" shouted a woman with brown hair tied into a ponytail, "We got to see what's in this cave for my love!"

"Yes, mistress Ilia," shouted several Blood Fang members before they shouted inside the cave to tell them to hurry up. They could all hear whips cracking and people crying out in pain or sobbing.

"Are they using people as slaves?" gasped Scarlet.

"Only one way to find out," rumbled Sage as he started to pull out his sword.

"Wait," hissed Neptune, "Not everything has to be resolved with brute force. I say we sneak into the cave."

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Sun.

Neptune looked around for a bit before spotting something that he was sure could work.

* * *

"How is this going to work?"

"Trust me. I play enough Kojima games to know this is foolproof."

"That's where you got this idea?"

Team SSSN was hiding in barrels and boxes. Scarlet and Sun were inside barrels with the bottom cut out so they could walk along the wall, while Sage and Neptune were inside a huge cardboard box. They were slowly moving towards the entrance of the cave, stopping whenever they saw a Blood Fang member passing by. Several times, they had to stop when the Blood Fang whirled around to look at them. They were sweating like crazy every time a member seemed to inspect them and was about to expose them when they were suddenly called over by somebody else to help out with something. Finally, they managed to make it inside the cave, where they took off their disguises.

"Told you that would work!" exclaimed Neptune.

"Either we have the best luck in the world or these guys are dumber than we thought," commented Sun as they went further into the cave. There were lanterns everywhere, hanging from the walls. As they delved deeper into the cave, they saw tents pitched up and Blood Fang members with whips, overseeing the work of slaves, mostly humans but there were some Faunus as well.

"Faster scum!"

One of them was using it on a young human boy, barely the age of fourteen. The whip ripped into the boy's back as he cried out in pain and stumbled to the ground, sobbing in agony.

"Feel the justice of our wrath!" laughed another as another whip was sent flying towards the boy, leaving another mark, making him cry out once more. His shirt was torn in strips by the lashes, his Aura was drained, evident by the blood flowing from his wounds, sweat covered his body as he tried to get up.

"Stop it!"

A young Faunus girl about sixteen years old with yellow rabbit ears and blonde hair stepped in front of them, as if protecting him. She also had several tears in her clothes and was covered in sweat as well.

"Aww, the poor wittle bunny traitor wants to protect him," sneered another guard, who was the leader of the group.

"She looks tasty," said another, his tongue slipping out whose nose looked exactly like a pig.

"I say we take a break and break in this girl to show her why she's on the wrong side!" shouted another, receiving a round of laughter and cheers.

"No!"

The boy now stood in front of her protectively, not caring that his back was bleeding. "You're not going to touch her!"

"Aww, a love that transcends past races. How lovely. How it makes me SICK!" shouted the guard, slamming the whip into the boy once more. The girl cried out and tried to go to him, but found herself being held back and manhandled by several Blood Fang members before they slammed her onto the ground.

"It's time for us to... re-educate you," sneered the guard leader, "We'll show you just how much better superior we are to humans in all aspects. 100 lashes to the back should do it."

The girl couldn't scream as they gagged her mouth while they forced the boy to watch. Before the guard could even reach for his belt buckler, he felt something cold touch his neck.

"Don't ….. even think about it, asshole."

The guard looked down to see a giant sword touching his neck and shivered. Sage had managed to sneak up behind him and threaten him to stop. Before anybody could do anything, the rest of team SSSN attacked. Sun summoned several clones and knocked out the men holding the girl. Neptune took out a few other guards swiftly with his guan dao before turning it into a rifle to shoot another one.

"Call for URGH!"

Another sentry tried to shout only for Scarlet's hook from his gun to wrap around his neck before he yanked his target into the ground. Another guard tried to call for help, but Scarlet sent his sword flying. He had decided to upgrade his sword and include a hook attachment on the handle. With a flick of his wrist, the sword changed directions and slashed at several Blood Fang members at once, knocking them out. Soon enough, team SSSN had all the guards and sentry rounded up and tied.

"Gather the civilians," commanded Sun, "We're busting them out of here. Neptune, get the SOS signal going, we're gonna need Mistral forces here for backup, as much as I hate to admit it we're gonna need help. Sage, Scarlet, tend to the injured. Anyone who's willing and can fight, pick up a weapon and follow me!"

The slaves looked at each other before feeling hope and nodded. The braver, more willful people who still had strength took the Blood Fang's weapons while the others helped the injured.

The Rabbit Faunus and the human boy ran to each other and embraced, kissing one another, crying as they reunited.

"What were they doing here?" spat Neptune in disgust as he kicked the head guard.

"Apparently, there was a rare item here," explained the Rabbit Faunus, "The Blood Fang wanted it, so they kidnapped anyone they could find to help them explore the cave. Many of us died when we were forced to go through several traps. It was only recently someone finally managed to get it."

"What did the item look like?" asked Neptune, feeling dread up his spine.

"I think it was... a pair of weird looking golden brown shoes. With clouds imprinted on the side," answered the human boy, grabbing a sword.

"FFFFFFUUUUUUCCCCCKK!" swore Neptune loudly, causing the rest of team SSSN to jump in shock. "That was the other item! How did the Blood Fang know about it?"

"Well, this cave has been here forever," answered the Faunus, "Our village had rumors about something valuable inside it for decades. One of them heard it and decided it was worth exploring. When they had their first group of Blood Fang members died, they took many of us from nearby villages to force us to activate and learn all the traps. Once they got it, they wanted to expand more in the cave to see what else there was."

"We need to go now," recommended Sage, coming back from medic duty, "A lot of these people need proper medical treatment and food."

"All right, let's move out!" shouted Sun.

"What about these guys?" asked Scarlet, pointing to the captured Blood Fang members.

Sun thought about it hard and long for a bit before coming to a decision.

"Force them up and have them walk in front of us. We can't just leave 'em here. It's not proper as a Huntsman to abandon people, even if they are cruel. But if they show signs of trouble, prioritize the citizens first. Kill them if needed," said Sun coldly.

"Traitor! Death to you!" shouted a Blood Fang member with a rat tail.

It had been tempting for Sun to just say execute them all so they could move faster, but it wasn't morally right. Not to mention, he really didn't want to do so if there was a chance to turn over a new leaf. But he wouldn't risk the innocent for that. After prodding them several times, the Blood Fang members were pushed to the front. After a few minutes of walking, they had finally arrived at the entrance of the cave when Sun heard several guns cocking.

"DOWN!" shouted Sun as he grabbed the nearest Blood Fang member with deer antlers and pulled her down. The citizens quickly obeyed, as they were farther back. The front lines, however, weren't lucky. Guns fired, spitting out hundreds of bullets into the cave. Many of their Aura's crackled into nothingness after the first few hits before the bullets pierced through flesh. Almost all of them crumpled on the floor, spilling their blood out from their many holes.

"Did you really think you could sneak past us? A group of Faunus?" laughed Ilia from afar, "We already had people that could smell and hear you! I told them to let them through just to see your hopes dashed in front of you!"

Team SSSN stared at Neptune, who could only look down and mutter about how Kojima had failed him.

"You shot your own men!" shouted Sun.

"Yes, well they outlived their usefulness when they couldn't take care of you guys," scoffed Ilia.

"A lot more Faunus will turn against you once they hear about your cruelty," shouted Neptune.

"Well, you won't be able to tell them if you're dead now, will you?" grinned Ilia maliciously as she held out a red button.

Sun looked at the walls, noticing several explosives rigged around the entrance and paled.

"Fall back now!" urged Sun as Ilia pressed the button.

There was a huge explosion, causing the entrance to cave in as team SSSN tried to get as many people away. While the rocks were falling, several Blood Fang members kept firing through cracks, hitting quite a few civilians in the back and killing them. Soon, the cave was completely caved in.

"Let's go," commanded Ilia heartlessly, "We have what we needed."

"Umm, commander?" asked one of the Blood Fang members tentatively, "Did we have to shoot them? We just killed a few of our own people."

"They were fodder," scoffed Ilia, "They gave up their lives for the future, their sacrifice will not be forgotten. Right now it's more important we get this little treasure back to Adam."

"But!" started the Faunus before he felt his right shoulder pierced through by Ilia's rapier. He stared down, unable to believe what was happening before collapsing in pain.

"Anybody else wish to say something mutinous?" Ilia asked.

"No ma'am," shouted all the Blood Fang members.

"Good, let's get out of here! We need to get back to Adam."

The Blood Fang members could only sweat as she changed her personality from dangerous to somewhat a fangirl, her skin changing with her moods.

* * *

Sun coughed as he changed out of his armor form. He had protected quite a few thanks to the armor blocking some of the bullets, but the impact had still hit him.

"Team SSSN, roll call!" shouted Sun.

"Neptune alive!"

"Sage alive!"

"Scarlet... shocked but alive."

Sun sighed in relief as he stood up to assess the damage. He frowned as he noticed several civilians were gone, most likely dead from the collapsing rocks. Several more were sporting bullet injuries.

"She... shot at us without even hesitating. She tried to kill us!"

Sun looked down to see the Blood Fang member in shock as her mask fell down to reveal the face of a rather pretty young maiden.

"Now you see why hanging with the Blood Fang is bad?" remarked Sun somewhat sarcastically, "Bunch of crazed idiots who the whole holier than thou attitude."

Seeing that she was still in shock, Sun went around to see what he could to help. Around half an hour later, team SSSN had finished patching the injured.

"How do we get out now?" wailed a citizen.

"We're doomed!"

"Goodbye, cruel world!"

Sun tried to get their attention, but none were paying attention as they shouted to the ceilings how they were dead. It took Scarlet loading an explosive blank round in his gun and firing it to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, people!" announced Sun, "Stand back. We're busting out this place. Get ready to run as fast as possible when I give the signal. And trust me, it'll be pretty obvious."

"How?" asked a civilian.

Sun didn't reply, but rather spun his weapon before pointing it forward and concentrated, focusing his Aura into his _Ruyi Jingu Bang_.

"Extend and expand."

The pole suddenly pierced through all the rubble, going and going until it reached the entrance, sending rocks flying out. Luckily, there was nobody outside to get hit by all the rocks or to see them. Once Sun shrunk his staff, he shouted for everyone to move, panting from the effort. They all quickly moved, dashing towards the exit as rocks began to collapse. Team SSSN were hurling civilians out the exit as fast as possible before just barely escaping the rocks from caving in the entrance once more.

"Well... that was a thing," panted Sun, lying on the ground.

"Thank you," said one of the elderly civilians, "Take your time to rest. When you are ready, I'm afraid we will have to ask you to escort us to the nearest village."

"No need," grinned Neptune as he pointed to the sky just for several Mistralian ships to arrive, "Back up and transportation has just arrived."

After several heartfelt thanks and a few arrests, the ships were ready to transport the civilians to the nearest villages while team SSSN was taking one back to Haven.

"Shame we didn't get those shoes," sighed Neptune.

"Oh yeah, what exactly do they do?" asked Sun.

"According to your tome, which you _still_ haven't bothered to read, it allows the user to... 'walk on clouds'. At least that's what the closest translation I could find," replied Neptune.

"Huh. Cloud walking? That could be useful," shrugged Sun, "Maybe next time, we can get it back. Are there any other items in that tome?"

"Not that I've found," shrugged Neptune, "I think the rest of it is more lore now. I'll keep reading."

Sun nodded and smiled as he looked over to the Rabbit Faunus, holding her human lover to her as they sat on the ground, hugging him and gently rubbing him to soothe him, planting gentle kisses on his forehead.

* * *

 _Two Days Later, Unknown Location._

"Adam, dear! I brought you a gift!"

Adam Taurus was at the newly created Blood Fang base, practicing with his new arm. It seemed to be going well, as he was able to use all his old techniques still. His new arm was painted blood red, but covered with his usual style of clothes, it was also magnetized so he could grip his sword easily, not to mention a few neat tricks had been installed within to surprise his enemies.

He looked to see Ilia entering the practice room that he was in with some funky looking shoes.

"What is it, my darling?" asked Adam as Ilia approached him.

Ilia shivered at him calling her 'my darling'. It was a pet name that he had made for her only. She felt empowered because of this.

"My troops were excavating some rare artifact that was said to exist. We found them and quickly retrieved them for you. We lost a few, but I believe we killed off a team of Huntsmen. One of them was a traitor to our race. Some blonde boy."

"Was it the dragon boy?" Adam asked, his curiosity piqued.

"No. Some monkey Faunus. We buried them inside the cave. Try out these shoes! They have to be something special, considering how well protected they were." Ilia urged him.

Adam nodded and tried the shoes out. They looked a bit weird and larger than his own feet. Suddenly, after wearing them, they shrunk down to fit him. The two looked in amazement at the sudden fit.

"There has to be something else to these shoes. They can't be just an all size fit," murmured Adam as he examined the shoes. They had clouds drawn on the side. They had to mean something. Testing it out, he put some Aura into the shoes just to find the pictures actually emitting clouds.

"A smokescreen?" asked Ilia, but Adam shook his head. These clouds felt solid for some reason. And the amount of cloud coming out wasn't enough for an effective smoke screen. Taking the chance, he jumped into the air and put some more Aura into the shoes. The clouds formed right under him, allowing him to stand in the air.

"Adam! You're flying!" gasped Ilia.

"Close, my darling, but rather, I'm able to run in the air because of these shoes," corrected Adam as he tested out his new shoes. It was like a whole new plane opened to him. Now, he could use his techniques while still in the air and be able to strike down those who dared to defy him from the air, like a god.

After several minutes experimentation, he landed in front of Ilia, swept her off her feet and kissed her passionately. Ilia sank into the throes of passion as she eagerly returned it. They soon made it to his personal bedroom, throwing their clothes off. As Ilia sank into lust, Adam's mind was still focused.

'Soon, my love, I will take you back from Jaune Ryu-Long. And I shall take everything you hold dear, and I will see to it that everything he loves is destroyed before killing him myself.' thought Adam as he began to take Ilia on a ride. He went at it rougher when Ilia changed her hair black and her skin alabaster white, quite like Blake's. In his mind, as he was doing it with Ilia, he replaced her image with Blake's and imagined what it would be like when he conquered her.

* * *

 _Atlas_

Team RWBY was traveling north up the mountains to explore a possible untapped Dust mine. They had run into a few Grimm, but nothing they couldn't take care of, and otherwise encountered no potential problems. Once they reached the mines, they had Weiss run the diagnostics as she was most familiar with the Dust mines, having been to a few with her father. Ruby followed her, interested in what she was doing while Blake and Yang took post outside the mines, looking out for any potential trouble.

"Hmm, this particular vein doesn't look too bad," murmured Weiss, "Quite a bit of Dust here, and if explored further, we can confirm that this is an untapped Dust vein."

"Hey Weiss, I never thought about it, but is it possible for us to ever run out of Dust? Like would it become a limited resource if we continue?" asked Ruby.

"Unlikely," replied Weiss, "Dust forms naturally in nature, and depending on where it is, forms that special vein. Fire Dust is more likely to come from hot places, like Volcanoes while Wind Dust comes from high areas that tend to be windy like this mountain, and so on. They are created at quite a high rate, though it is possible if we somehow use it very fast and wastefully. But human and Faunus population don't grow that much because of the Grimm. Not to mention, Atlas has been making some breakthroughs, especially my company. We've found a way to artificially create Dust."

"Really!?" gasped Ruby.

"Yes, but this is actually top secret, so shush!" whispered Weiss, "Saying we created Dust is actually a bit off. It's more of we tapped into the Dust in its raw state, and then we can cultivate it into whatever type of Dust we want by putting it through artificial nature. That's why Dust mines are valuable. They provide Dust in its raw form, allowing us to form whatever type we need."

"Do we use raw Dust for anything?" asked Ruby.

"No," answered Weiss, "At least, so far, I haven't found any use for raw Dust. I've tried to use it in my glyphs, but nothing really happens. I can't manipulate it like the others."

Ruby nodded before looking around to see everything was normal. She leaned back on a wall when she noticed something off. They didn't feel like the rocks around the other areas, but rather harder.

"Hey Weiss, is that normal? It doesn't feel right."

"What? Hmm, you're right. This rock formation is off. At first glance, it looks normal, but a closer look you can tell something's off. But why?"

"OOH! Think it's some sort of super secret hideout? Like a top secret one that Atlas doesn't even know?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Though we should call Yang and Blake to come, just to be safe."

Blake and Yang were quickly called over to check out the fake wall they were now investigating.

"There has to be some way to get in," murmured Weiss as she inspected the surrounding walls.

"Can't we just bust ourselves in the old fashion way?" asked Yang as she prepped her arm.

"No!" scolded Weiss, "That could cause a cave in and bury us alive!"

"Fine," Yang relented.

"I think I found something!" shouted Blake as she poked one of the outlying rocks. The rock went in, and suddenly needles went flying towards them from a distance. Weiss quickly summoned an ice wall to block it, just to find the needles piercing right through the wall. Yang let out a shout as she punched with her right hand, creating an explosion. The explosion pushed the needles away from them, clattering into the walls around them and pierced through the rocks.

"Ok, wrong rock," blushed Blake.

"Who places traps here!?" gaped Yang.

"Maybe... I think..." muttered Weiss in interest, examining the wall when it suddenly opened.

"You did it!" cheered Ruby.

"I didn't do anything," said a confused Weiss.

Suddenly, feeling like they weren't safe, Ruby tackled Weiss away from the entrance as did Blake with Yang. Just in time, too, as a blast of icy wind smashed through where they had been standing, freezing everything along its path. Even the rocks shattered into ice from such power.

"Honey, you missed."

"They got lucky. I won't miss my next shot."

From the hidden entrance stepped out a rather beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, channeling a large amount of Aura in both her hands and pointing in both directions. She was wearing an elegant blue dress with two guns behind her.

"Are you part of Salem's crew?" scowled the woman, ready to fire her blasts. She almost did when a cane hooked one of her hands down.

"Calm down," said a man as he stepped out into the light. He was wearing a blue jacket with similar white hair like Weiss but ruffled, and blue eyes, "They don't feel like they are the ones hunting us."

"Salem?" asked Weiss, "You mean the crazy lady we've heard Ozpin talk about before?"

"I knew it!" shouted Ruby, "It was a super secret entrance to some super secret that nobody is supposed to know!"

The male chuckled, "I think I like this girl. She has... silver eyes? Ales, honey, I don't think they are part of her group."

The female named Ales lowered her arms slowly but were still cautious regarding them.

"Wait," mused Blake, "Could you possibly be… Are you the Winter Maiden?"

At this, Ales pointed her hands at Blake, Aura blazing in her hands once more.

"Whoa, whoa whoa!" shouted Yang, "We're on your side!"

"Explain," demanded Ales coldly.

"We're all Huntresses. We were sent here to examine this Dust mine to see if it was worth expanding into when we accidentally found your fake wall. We know about the _Story of Seasons_ and how it's all true," said Ruby quickly.

The male gently put Ales' hands down once more before looking at team RWBY before making a decision. "Follow us. But we're going to have to blindfold you."

After walking for what seemed half an hour, team RWBY was finally allowed to take off their blindfolds to see a room that seemed quite cozy After the male got done talking and explaining the situation to someone not currently present he turned to address them.

"Welcome to our temporary shelter," bowed the male, "As you've already met my wife, Ales Frost, the current Winter Maiden. I am her husband, Clodwal Frost. Our other two companions are currently out hunting. Please, tell us how you know of the Maidens."

And so Team RWBY began to tell them what they knew, including Jaune Ryu-Long. Of how Amber was dead, and that Cinder became the new Fall Maiden, eager to kill until she stepped on the wrong toes, so to speak. The new Fall Maiden was up in the air for now, but Ozpin and his group was looking for the next candidate so as to protect her.

"So that's what that giant roar was?" asked Clodwal, "We could hear it all the way up here!"

"Indeed, I don't think even all four maidens combined could've defeated something that powerful," admitted Ales as she sipped her tea, "So what's Ozpin doing now? Still trying to be Headmaster while running the protection group?"

"Ozpin retired," replied Ruby, causing Ales to stop and raise her eyebrow in interest.

Ales looked at her and said "That's surprising. We'll try to find out later, right now I'm more interested in this Jaune Ryu-Long boy. Is he really that powerful? We could use someone like him in our fight against Salem."

"You bet he's that powerful!" cheered Ruby, "I mean if you could see some of the stuff he's done… Blake and I were recently marked, too!"

"Marked?" asked Ales.

"It's not important," interrupted Blake, blushing a bit, "But you said that you're being hunted, right?"

Ales and Clodwal looked at each other before sighing in unison.

Alex began to explain, "Before, we knew we were being hunted when I felt Amber suddenly disappear. We got new that something had happened to her, that's when we suspected something was targeting all of us. Then, from what you've said as the Battle of Beacon, all of us felt Amber's last remaining power transfer to a new host. We could feel the transfer, but we can't tell whether the transfer was a good thing or bad one. Then, from when Jaune killed this Cinder Fall, the transfer happened once more. We know that it's somewhere in Anima, but we can't tell who or exactly where it is until we find her or Ozpin's group locates her."

"Recently, though, there have been people more actively hunting us. People wearing some sort of badge with a green dragon on their shoulders, traveling with someone I suspect to be Salem's next candidate for the Maiden's powers," added Clodwal.

"Jaune's mentioned something about them," said Weiss carefully, "He didn't go into detail, but he did warn us to watch out for them. If they're working with Salem, this is more dangerous than we thought."

Clodwal frowned at this before shrugging, "Ah, well it's not like they'll be able to find us easily."

Suddenly, the door sprang open to reveal two people, Clodwal and Ales's companions, both wounded and bleeding heavily.

"Lady Ales, you must leave at once!" shouted one of them, "They managed to track us down!"

"We will buy you time," coughed the other one, "Clodwal, protect her for us."

"No!" commanded Clodwal, "We leave together."

"It's too late for us," coughed the first one, revealing one of his wounds. His skin was turning purple from the stab. "They used poison. We won't live much longer, but we can at least make sure we buy you enough time."

"No," Said Ales firmly, summoning up her Aura to try to heal them.

"Don't," coughed the other one, "You must leave. It is too late for us. I can feel the poison circulating in my body. It's probably already close to our hearts. So far, we are using Aura to push it down, but it will not be enough. The four young huntresses-in-training, I beg of you. Take Lady Ales and Clodwal with you. Bring them to Atlas. It is no longer viable for us to use nature as our protectors."

And with that, the two withdrew from the door, charging through the maze to fight the enemy.

"Weiss!" shouted Ruby.

"I've already sent the SOS signal for immediate evac," replied Weiss, "My father will send us an aircraft as soon as possible."

"Lady Ales, we have to leave," urged Blake.

Ales looked shocked that her two guardians, her friends, were throwing their lives to buy them some time.

"Come, love" whispered Clodwal, "We have to leave now. We can't let their sacrifice be in vain. To the back exit."

Nodding numbly, Ales stood up while Clodwal led the way to the secret exit.

* * *

"Well, that was amusing," giggled Tyrian as he held a cadaver with his new tail, swinging it back and forth.

"Sir, we can't seem to find the Winter Maiden inside their shelter," said one of the grunts who worshiped Drac. "They're running."

"Useless," growled Tyrian before stepping on the companion, a soon to be a cadaver, "Tell me. Where is the Winter Maiden going, spill it and I'll make your death quicker."

"...ck you," grunted the guardian before biting his tongue off, so as never to reveal Ales's location.

"Well then, I guess you're no longer useful," laughed Tyrian as he slashed the guardian's throat, blood spraying onto Tyrians body. "Surround the mountain. There has to be another exit."

"Lady Daki Nerys has already found it and is waiting to ambush her," informed another grunt.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" shouted Tyrian, "We can't fail my mistress!"

* * *

"It looks clear," whispered Clodwal as he opened the door.

Before he took a step out, Blake stopped him. She created a clone of herself and had it walk out first. It took only five steps before it dodged three slashes from the sky. A trio of people came down, trying to slash the clone. It dodged and struck the attackers when suddenly a spear stabbed it. The spear was an interesting construct, as the base first hooked downwards before curling up to a sharp tip. The other end of the long steel shaft was a rather big Dust transparent crystal. Weiss was confused when she recognized it as a Raw Dust crystal.

"Tch. It was a fake."

The owner of the weapon withdrew the weapon, revealing herself. She had long white hair, dark brown skin, blue eyes, and blue markings on her face and body. And like Cinder, she had on a rather blue provocative low cut dress, revealing a rather sizable cleavage.

"So, the Winter Maiden as more guardians than expected," mused the woman.

"Who are you?" asked Ruby as she drew out her weapon, as did the rest of Team RWBY.

"Who I am doesn't matter, as you will all die before the day is out, but I suppose I can give you a name. I am Daki Nerys. Next candidate of the Winter Maiden once I take what rightfully belongs to me and my mistress."

"I don't think so," growled Clodwal as he prepped his staff.

"More than usual, I see," mused Daki, "Usually maidens are supposed to travel alone. So nobody can tell anyone where they are. How is it that you have several companions? Did you get bored? Maybe you have them as your personal plaything? To vent out your sexual frustrations?"

"At least I can get a man," snorted Ales, "You look like you need to have someone piss drunk and with very low expectations."

Daki twitched in annoyance at this insult before pointing her spear at Ales, "I'll enjoy ripping your heart out. Maybe I'll play with that male while I force you to watch as your beating heart bleeds all over while I take him."

"Sorry, not my type," responded Clodwal instantly by reflex, making Daki furious.

The group stood there for two seconds before Ales fired her two guns at Daki, who blocked it. Ales charged forward, changing her guns into escrima sticks as she began to fight Daki. She had quite a grudge against the person who threatened to take her husband. Clodwal followed up with her wife, helping her take Daki down. Team RWBY was left dealing with the other three grunts. Except they weren't like the White Fang grunts they fought at Beacon, but rather much stronger. Still, the grunts were at a disadvantage as it was 3v4, and two members had Mate Marks already.

It took fifteen minutes for team RWBY to finish off the grunts. The first grunt fell when Weiss managed to freeze his foot, allowing Yang to land a right hook enhanced with a shotgun blast into his face. The second one fell by Blake's clones confusing him, allowing Blake to tie him up for Ruby to slice right through his Aura and leave a rather big wound on his chest. The last guard was unable to handle four people at once and fell down quickly. They quickly turned to watch Ales and Clodwal fighting Daki.

Daki was holding well, but she knew she was at a disadvantage. Ales and Clodwal were fighting extremely well together, leaving almost no room for her. Clodwal would engage her staff against spear, and not lose. Ales would keep firing bullets and sometimes close in to attack if needed. What was worse was that Ales had yet to use her powers.

"My, my, it certainly looks like you need help."

Clodwal immediately reacted and blocked a metallic stinger from hitting him, barely touching his chest. Tyrian had arrived. Blake saw an evil glint in Tyrian's eyes, and quickly threw her ribbon, wrapping around Clodwal and pulling him back just in time as the stinger suddenly sprayed poison.

"Damn. Missed," pouted Tyrian as he looked around and saw Ruby, "Oh hello there! Long time no see! How've ya been? Tell me, do you know where your father is? I'm ITCHING TO KILL HIM!"

Ruby gripped her weapon hard as she glared at Tyrian. Here was her mother's killer, but she knew she was no match for him as of now. But it still didn't make it easier. Without warning, they found themselves surrounded by ten other people.

"Enough!" shouted Ales, accessing her powers. Bluish white flames outlined her eyes as she floated up into the skies. She fired off lighting bolts at the grunts, who managed to dodge them before firing it at Daki.

"Finally!" shouted Daki as she spun her spear so the crystal was facing Ales and let the lightning hit her clear Dust crystal. The crystal changed colors, shining bright yellow before she blasted it back at Ales. Ales looked shocked at this and would've taken a direct hit if Weiss didn't react in time, summoning a glyph and forcing Ales to move left to dodge it. The Dust crystal faded back to its transparent color.

"Weiss, I thought you said raw Dust was useless?" questioned Ruby as she saw what had happened.

"I don't know!" shouted Weiss, "She's doing something I've never seen before! Cinder did something similar, using Dust to form her weapons! Some ancient technique or something!"

"Ladies, fight now, discuss later," scolded Clodwal as he blocked an attack from Tyrian.

"Why don't you move away?" giggled Tyrian, "I don't want to fight you. I just want to enjoy slashing the red girl's throat so her daddy knows what it means to take my tail off."

Clodwal frowned before pushing Tyrian away, spinning his staff to block the bullets Tyrian was firing.

"Ales! Setup!"

Ales nodded, and with a sweep of her hands, sent the snow hurling all over the place. Two of them got caught by the sudden movement and was sent over the edge, falling to their death. Clodwal spun his staff and slammed it into the snow. The snow stopped for a moment before gathering before Clodwal. Slowly, legs were formed, followed by a misshapen body and hands before a head was created. It looked like a giant snow monster with ice for fingers and toes.

"Take them down, Marshmallow!" shouted Clodwal.

"Marshmallow? That's not a threatening name," laughed Daki as she dodged the snow monsters grab.

It managed to grab one of the other grunts, and he struggled to get out of its grip. The others were about to blast the hand with fire Dust and explosive when the monster twitched, and suddenly the man froze into an ice sculpture.

"Oh wow. Talk about a _cold_ touch," blinked Yang, slightly cringing as Marshmallow tossed the ice statue into some rocks, shattering the body into pieces.

"I wonder how many slashes it will take to reach the center of this snow cone!" cackled Tyrian as he jumped on the monster's back and started to slash into the body. The monster roared, and Clodwal grunted in pain before sending a mental command to it. Spikes suddenly grew out of Marshmallow's back, forcing Tyrian to dodge before he noticed that Jack was standing still, channeling what seemed to be his Semblance.

"Attack the man! He can't summon this snow monster if he can't concentrate!" commanded Tyrian.

The seven leftover grunts tried to attack Clodwal, only to be intercepted by Team RWBY. Not only that, but Ales began to pelt rocks at all of them, breaking them into rather sizable pebbles and sending them flying everywhere. Two more grunts were grabbed, frozen, and shattered into pieces while another two were taken down by Team RWBY. Tyrian and Dalek kept dodging Marshmallow while avoiding the projectiles from them all when they heard a whistle.

"Finally!" shouted Daki before producing specially made earplugs and shoving them in her ears.

Tyrian quickly did the same, confusing all of them when they were hit by a supersonic high pitch attack.

"ARGGGGHHHH!"

They all screamed in pain as Marshmallow fell to pieces. Ales was the first to recover, but before she could do anything, she was hit by a hail of bullets, shattering her Aura, before the spear struck her on the shoulder. Ales screamed in pain as she collapsed.

"Ales! No!" shouted Clodwal, struggling to get up, only for Tyrian to stab him in the shoulder, poisoning him.

"Now, now, you just sit still," grinned Tyrian as he grabbed the man from behind, "You're about to get a good show!"

Two grunts quickly grabbed Ales by her arms and pushed their foot on her back, forcing her up. She grunted as pain spiked through her shoulder. Daki slowly pulled her spear back from Ales's shoulders before putting her weapon on her back and pulling out a white glove.

"Soon, you will be stripped of what shouldn't be yours, and I shall have what I should've been blessed with in the first place."

A Grimm parasite sprouted forth from glove, looking at Ales, who looked at it fearfully, instinctively knowing what this parasite did.

"NOOOOOO!" Ruby shouted as she saw the parasite, instantly flashing back to when Whitley had placed a parasite on her. She instinctively triggered her silver eye powers, ready to blast the parasite with it.

"Oh no you don't, you little bitch!" shouted Tyrian as he fired bullets at Ruby.

Suddenly, images of Blake's shadow appeared, running towards Tyrian and Daki while Weiss managed to use her glyphs to summon parts of her knight to protect Ruby from being hit by bullets. As the parasite was about to spit out its draining spit, Ruby sent a white wave of energy right at Daki's arm.

 **SHINK**

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Daki howled in pain as her right arm was severed from her body. When the light had hit her arm, it froze the parasite, which was in the glove, which froze her whole body for a second. Then, Blake's clone took that advantage and sliced her right arm off, letting it drop to the snowy ground and dying the white snow red.. The light from Ruby's eye managed to temporarily disable Daki's Aura so that she wasn't protected. Taking this chance the clone swiped at the grunts holding Ales, who were forced to dodge and quickly grabbed Ales away.

"Shit! I'll kill you, you meddling little...!" Tyrian ranted as he ran towards Ruby, instantly killing Blake's clone, dodging Weiss's glyphs and ice shots, ducking under Blake's slash, and shot his tail forward. It detached from his tail, sending it flying at high speed right towards the tired Ruby, piercing right through Weiss's summon. Ruby didn't have the energy to even dodge.

"RUBY!" shouted Weiss and Blake in horror.

"Stay away FROM MY SISTER!"

Yang stood up, and with an almighty leap, threw a right hook at the stinger.

"Fool! That stinger will pierce right through your Aura and flesh unless it's... aw shit."

Tyrian just remembered that Yang had her right arm cut off before. And yet she was throwing a right hook. That meant that she had a new arm, one that was not made of flesh and thus, not poisoning her, and possibly stopped it.

The attacks clashed briefly, and with a shotgun shell, Yang smashed the tail down, her hair flaming and eyes glowing red. With a shout, she dashed forward, aided by Weiss's glyphs, shooting her forward, her arms trailing back as she used up shots to accelerate herself faster. Tyrian tried to move but found snowy hands suddenly grabbing his lower body, forcing him to stay.

"Didn't forget about me, did you?" grunted Clodwal as he channeled the last of his strength to create arms to hold Tyrian down. He did not have enough to freeze him, but just delaying him would be enough.

Yang was on him in a flash and sent a right hook into his face. She quickly followed with a left hook, going back and forth at least four times. Right after her left hook, Tyrian slashed at her eyes, but Yang predicted it and bent her waist down as far as she could. The slashed cut some of her bountiful hair, but Yang was past caring that for now. She wanted to pulverize the one who tried to kill her little sister, the one Qrow wanted to kill, and lastly, the one who killed Summer Rose. The woman who she saw as a mother. With a shout, she stepped in and began a right uppercut towards Tyrian's stomach. Her right arm glowed with power, and holes opened up from the back of her elbow. All the heat she had generated from her attacks transferred into her right arm, causing it to glow red from the heat. The snow melted from under her feet as her fist accelerated towards Tyrian's stomach.

Tyrian's eyes opened wide in fear and remotely summoned his tail back to him, sending it flying right at Yang's unprotected back.

"Watch out!" shouted Blake as she fired bullets at the stinger, hoping to knock it off its path. Weiss had gone to help out Ales.

"We'll see who get's the last laugh!" giggled Tyrian as the stinger approached her back.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

With a shout, the punch landed deep into Tyrians stomach, causing him to gasp in pain. The impact created a shockwave that made Tyrian lose focus and forced the Stinger to fly sideways from the shock wave itself. The snow hands that held him melted and blew away from the impact. Tyrian himself went flying into the cliffside. Tyrian's eyes almost rolled back into his eyes as he tried to stay conscious. The attack not only damaged his insides from brute force, it burned where Yang had punched him.

Unfortunately, Yang could not follow up as the two grunts that had purposely stayed behind activated their machine once more, causing them all to fall down in pain.

"You bitch!" rasped Tyrian as he covered his stomach, trying to soothe the pain. He threw up whatever food he still had in his stomach onto the ground.

"Huh, burritos and beans. Don't remember having that recently," grumbled Tyrian.

He slowly limped forward towards Yang, who couldn't get up from the second sonic attack.

Tyrian cruelly looked at the disabled Yang, "It's your fault for trying to fight me. However, I will at least remember your name. Yang Xiao Long. Now I think of it, you're that bastard's niece! You'll make a nice message to him, along with his daughter!"

Tyrian cackled in laughter as he raised his stinger, which had attached back to his tail again, and shot it down towards Yang's stomach.

"Yang, watch out!" shouted Ruby, trying to get back up, but unable to do anything.

Suddenly, a glyph appeared right before Yang and blocked the attack.

"Way to go Weiss!" shouted Ruby.

"That wasn't me," replied Weiss, unsure what had happened. She had tried to summon her glyphs but did not have enough Aura to do so, "Wait. Winter!"

Turning around, sure enough, there stood a very angry Winter Schnee.

* * *

A few minutes earlier, Winter was sitting on her personal airship belonging to the SDC as it was quickly flying to the distress signal. They had picked up the distress signal from Weiss, and Winter was first in line to volunteer to help out. Grabbing the nearest available personnel, she took her airship and flew off to where the SOS signal was coming from. When they had arrived near the mountain, Winter unstrapped herself from the seat and went towards the docking area and pushed a button to unseal the bottom part of the ship, allowing a clear view of the mountain for Winter.

"Umm, ma'am? Don't you want us to land first?" asked a recruit.

"No need. I'll get there faster," replied Winter as she summoned multiple glyphs that would accelerate her down.

"Ma'am, you're going to destabilize us and delay us a bit if you do that!?" shouted the pilot.

"Then do your job and make sure you don't crash," shouted Winter, "I expect you to be on time!"

With a rush, she ran out and rocketed off right towards the mountain where Weiss's signal was.

"Holy shit, she's crazy!"

She was diving down at insane speeds towards the mountain when she summoned a Nevermore to help her fly and maneuver. She found Team RWBY and two others all down for the count. She saw her enemies, ready to strike. She saw two grunts near a machine that was pointed at Team RWBY. She had the gist of it.

Winter summoned the biggest Ursa Major she had killed and sent it flying right towards the machine. Then, she pushed herself off her Nevermore straight down towards the ground. Then, she made another black glyph and halted her descent right before she touched the ground. A perfect landing without making a crater. The Ursa Major, however, made a huge crater, sitting right above the now wrecked machine. Winter then summoned a glyph to protect Yang from being stabbed.

"Tyrian Callows! You're under arrest, along with all your accomplices here! Surrender now!"

Daki and Tyrian glanced at each other, debating on whether or not they could fight Winter with their remaining grunts when the Bullhead pulled up from behind her.

"You win this time," hissed Daki and she held her missing limb with her left hand and a tourniquet on her right arm.

One of the grunts grabbed a shiny rock with symbols on it from his pocket and threw it on the ground, shattering it. A second later, a gust of wind surrounded them all, forcing Winter to cover her eyes. As the winds died down, they had all disappeared, leaving no trace.

"Damn it," cursed Winter before turning her attention towards the survivors. Team RWBY seemed fine with a few cuts and bruises, along with bleeding ears, but the worst was Ales and Clodwal.

"Get them all on the ship ASAP! These two need immediate medical attention!"

Winter was commanding the troops as they ran out to help while the airship hovered at the cliff, waiting to load everyone up.

"Thank Oum," whispered Weiss before she fell down into the snow. The rest of team RWBY followed suit, fainting on the spot, tired and injured. They blacked out as Winter summoned her Beowolves to carry them onto the ship.

* * *

 **Welp, Ales and Clodwal have officially been introduced in, along with Daki! Anyone want to guess what their characters are based off of? Really should be obvious lol, though Daki might be a little harder. Anyways, next update should be coming... roughly around Thanksgiving? Depends on my muse, really.**

 **Also, got another story idea that I decided to write it out. Super Sentai Gokaigers goes to Remnant! Go check it out and review it if you can!**

 **Now to answer some reviews that I didn't get the chance to. Cept for that one review. Ouch, it hurts :(**

 **Also, the guy named Leader for guest, I prefer the review to be relevant to the story. If you're asking for an OC to be added in, please just pm me. Whether or not I think about it is another story, though. Thanks for the compliment on the last review, though!**

 **Guest asking about the bed scenes and why I merely imply it: I did that on purpose. You can read the more descriptive parts of it on my other story in my profile titled Jaune Ryu-Long Special Scenarios. I avoided putting any lemon into this story as to avoid having this story to be even considered stricken from the site, following all the guidelines. Yes, I know there are a lot of stories with those very descriptive bed scenes and that the administrators don't really care, but I still prefer to avoid a hassle, especially from the group called Critics United.**

 **Too Lazy 2 Login: Yes, he's inspired from there.**

 **Guest asking about Ddraig and Albion: Wouldn't make sense to have Ddraig with Jaune as I already have him with 7 dragons linked. That, any adding boosted gear etc is asking for a cross over. Maybe if I made another story, I could do it, but for now, I've got no plans to use them.**

 **And to finish it off, please have reviews relevant to the story, whether it's a compliment or a flame (in which case, I would be sad). Should I focus less on being descriptive in fight scenes? Etc. etc, anything to improve.**

 **And finally, there will be a special scenario, but I'm going to put a lot of warning signs on that.**

 **One last note. I'm happy to say that** **Dirtrevor has decided to do a reaction story to this story! Title is Different Views, Story ID 12428320! It'll be chapter 5 of the story, as that story also has other reaction stories to other stories. Dirtrevor has told me he'll try to create another story that'll solely focus on my story when he has the time, but give him an applause for doing one!**

 **Update. Dirtrevor has made a story solely reacting to my story. Story ID: 12736548**

 **Story Title:** **Reading Jaune Ryu-Long:Dragon contractor**


	52. Chapter 52 Mission NDGO & Fate of Vlad

**New chapter! Probably this chapter and one more chapter will be the last two chapters of the year 2017! Really depending on my muse.**

 **This story has been beta'd by UGX7, Jauneforever, and TheMischieviousPuppy. Go check out their stories, they got some decent RWBY fics. I believe TheMischieviousPuppy is also being the cowriter for another story called Jaune the Overlord: Rewrite. I've also enjoyed UGX7 RWBY:Destiny of Remnant.**

 **Important Notice: For those who wanted a react story to this story, you got your wish! dirtrevor has kindly volunteered to do such a story, and has published it onto the website. I'll be sending him some chapters to do the react fic to make his life slightly easier. Give him a round of applause for doing so, and go check it out!**

 **Story Title:** **Reading Jaune Ryu-Long:Dragon contractor**

 **Author: dirtrevor**

 **Story ID:** **12736548**

* * *

 _At camp on Dark lands, north of Shade. North of Sanus_

Team NDGO were at a campsite in a large area that hadn't been mapped or fully explored, they weren't alone, as there were several other teams and a decent amount of civilian personnel. The huge land mass just northeast of Shade. It was technically counted as part of Sanus, but no humans were known to live there and if there were then they were maintaining an isolationist policy. Shade was planning to take the first steps into the region and explore more of it. There had been several expeditions on the said land by other kingdoms, but none of them had even attempted to make a settlement. Most of the transport was by air, but there were several sea ships also there to help.

"This is pretty exciting," said Nebula as her team patrolled the area for any suspicious signs.

"It's risky," argued Dew, "Nobody has any real idea what's over here, only that there's more Grimm in size and variety than any other place."

"That's why the settlement is being built right on the beachfront," replied Octavia, "That way, they only need to focus on the front half. The people can use the boats as a quick escape route. Not to mention there are large-scale defense constructions going on."

"Need I remind you that aquatic Grimm exist?" shot back Dew, "What if they attack? Then we'll be surrounded with no way out! If anything, we should've gotten all four kingdoms on this, and after Vale finished their reconstruction."

"It does seem a bit hasty to expand," nodded Gwen, "But apparently the heads decided Vacuo was strong enough to start off first. I heard your Aunt was against it, but there weren't enough votes on her side."

As Headmistress of Shade, Gale had influential power over the votes in their government, but even she could be overruled if the other heads banded together against her. Said heads was the head of Patrol, Defense, Agriculture, and Commerce & Trade. The four heads had to vote together to overrule Dory. If even one of them agreed with Dory, then it was her choice they had to follow.

"Figures," sighed Dew as they all returned from patrol.

So far, there hadn't been any trouble. A few of the older and experienced teams, along with actual Huntsmen and Huntresses, went out a bit farther out to exterminate any Grimm they could find, as well as gather intelligence. Second-year teams were stuck on patrol duty only. There were no first-year teams, due to the danger of the mission and the fact they were still in their first semester.

Days passed as there had been no sign of trouble. Everything seemed to be going well as teams explored a bit further and eliminated threats to the settlement. Thick walls made of strong bricks had been constructed, while turrets were placed at key positions with a person manning the station.

"Thank Oum this is almost over," sighed Dew, wanting to get back to Shade. She didn't like this place, and she was missing out potential chat time with Jaune. The others were of the same mind, wanting to head back. With all the defenses set up, all that was left was to set up the port so ships could easily come and go. All second and third-year teams on this mission would be sent back to Shade, free to do other missions. Some of the fourth year teams opted to stay to ensure the safety of the village, while others were heading back to swap places with some other teams.

As they gazed out into the waters, Nebula felt something was wrong, she remembered what Dew had said about aquatic Grimm as she looked out to sea. She caught something flashing red in the water far off in the distance.

'Maybe it's just some random red fish or the glare in the water,' thought Nebula, hopefully, but she knew it was wishful thinking. She quickly ran to one of the ship captains and asked for a radar scan of the sea.

"Nothing here," shrugged the captain as he looked at the radar.

"Can't you increase the intensity and range?" asked Nebula.

"Ma'am, we're already scanning at 5 nautical miles. I doubt there's anything else there," replied the captain respectfully.

When all of team NDGO showed their best puppy faces, the captain sighed and caved in.

"Oh very well. Do any of you girls have a lightning Dust crystal?" asked the captain, "I'll need more power to expand the range."

Octavia and Dew quickly ran off to grab one from the school's temporary Dust storage, which only Huntsmen and Huntresses were allowed in there. After grabbing one and giving it to the captain, the captain had his men hook up the crystal into the system. The captain looked at Nebula, who nodded her head, before cranking up the machine. The radar increased to 12 nautical miles for just 4 seconds, draining the crystal's power. But it was enough. For on the radar, just on the very edge of the scan, showed a large number of aquatic creatures gathering up. The captain visibly paled at this.

"Sir?" asked a crew member, "There's a lot of things out there, but it could just be the aquatic sea life and a school of fishes passing by."

"Sound the alarm!" shouted the captain, trusting his gut instinct screaming at him that this mass on radar was dangerous, "Ready defenses! I want full evac out now!"

The crew members were confused, but one of them obeyed the order and slammed the button.

Everyone froze as they heard the wailing noise of the alarm for full evacuation. It wasn't the ringing noise of come back or the beeping noise for warning. Instead, they all recognized it as drop everything and get to the ships. Luckily, there hadn't been any excavations to explore the land further in that had been executed, so all combatants were inside and accounted for.

"Why is the alarm ringing?" asked one of the workers.

"Don't know, but let's head to the ships. There's got to be a good reason for it. No way it's a prank," said another.

As the civilian workers headed towards the airships, there was a huge roar from the forest beyond. Soon, a flood of Grimm came shooting out towards the settlements.

"Man the turrets! Fire at will!" shouted a Huntsmen.

As the Grimm came closer, it was obvious there was a wide variety of them, including ones they never saw before. And within the horde, there were also Grimm with green markings, signifying the mutant versions.

The turrets rumbled to life and fired, blasting hundreds of Grimm into dust, but the Grimm adapted to this and sent the stronger and durable versions up front, blocking the bullets. Explosives went out to delay the Grimm as long as possible.

Back on the boats, the radars themselves started to beep. Underwater creatures were heading towards them at astonishing speed.

"Prepare for battle!" shouted the captain, alerting all the other boats. Just as the first airship was fully loaded and lifted off, a giant tentacle shot out to wrap around that airship.

"Shoot that tentacle!" screamed Nebula as her team went at firing at it, along with several others.

Luckily, the tentacle was forced to release its prey. The airship quickly took to the air and flew to safety. Unfortunately, a Grimm sea dragon rose from the sea, roaring in anger.

"FIRE!"

The boats fired at the Grimm, hoping to kill it. But another tentacle came out from the depths of the sea and wrapped itself around the boat before crushing it. The sailors were forced to jump into the sea, only to encounter a huge family of Characi, small looking Grimm fishes with scales on the head and very sharp teeth. The unfortunate sailors were torn to pieces by them within minutes.

Soon, a dark shape rose up from the depths of the sea to reveal a huge Grimm Kraken. Its head was utterly gigantic, bigger than all the ships in both height and width and covered in bone plating, looking like an armored octopus.

"Focus on the Kraken!" shouted a captain of a ship, "Fire the main cannons!"

Each boat complied and fired, hoping to take down the Grimm Kraken, but it's thick plating protected it from being killed, although it took heavy damage.

"Full retreat!" shouted the leader of the Huntsmen group, "Get your asses out of here! That's an order! Get to the airships and tell 'em to fly off when cargo is full. All ships get out of there!"

Suddenly, out from the shores came out thousands of little Grimms. They were bipedal, fishy looking creatures with Grimm masks, sharp dorsal fins on their back, webbed feet and sharp fingers. They were Grimm Marluks.

With a yell of "BLEERRUAAA!", they charged towards the people still on the ground.

The Grimm Marluks were easy to kill, but their strength lied in overwhelming numbers. Even as five were shot down, it seemed like ten more took their place. The Huntsemen and Huntresses made a defensive line trying to drive them back when they heard someone from the turrets yell. Several looked over to see the Grimm climbing over. They were shocked, as the wall they made was at least 15 feet tall, the outside layer smoothed so climbing it wouldn't be a possibility.

On the other side of the wall, the Grimm were not climbing it, but rather making a huge pile of themselves to crawl atop each other until they made it to the top. The turrets fired, trying to dissuade the pileup, but there were just too many. Once on the wall, they charged for the turrets and within minutes the turret to exploded and the surviving fighters jumped off the wall, but one of them was unlucky to be caught by a King Taijuta that snapped forward, grabbing the man before tossing him over the wall into the score of Grimm. Screams of pain could be heard for a moment before it was silenced.

"Get to the ships now!" shouted an older Huntsman, buying time for them all by charging forward, along with several other soldiers. Everybody else booked it for the airships. Some of the airships already started to lift off, leaving the bottom door open for people to hop on.

"C'mon!" shouted Nebula as she fired another arrow into a Marluk. Team NDGO ran, firing back at the oncoming Grimm as they retreated. Gwen was firing as many daggers into the fray as possible while Octavia was sliding around, picking people up who had tripped.

"Get ready to fly!" shouted Dew as she summoned a tornado right before a hovering bullhead.

Nebula jumped into the tornado, which shot her up into the sky before landing on the Bullhead. The rest of them followed, with Dew being the last one. Dew looked back and gasped as she saw one of the bullheads being pulled back down by overwhelming numbers of Marluks. The people inside quickly escaped, but now there were a lot of civilians in danger.

"Dew, can you make more tornadoes?" shouted Nebula.

"I'll try my best," replied Dew as she concentrated and used all the Aura she had in reserve. Soon, tornadoes were forming before the hovering Bullheads. Many Huntsmen and Huntresses immediately understood what it was for, and started tossing the civilians at the tornadoes. Other people on board were reaching out to help others into the Bullhead when they were shot up into the air. However, she could sustain six of them at once, and she wasn't going to last long.

"Just focus on those tornadoes! I'll make more!"

Dew looked to see a Huntress waving her weapon, which was a fan, and creating even more tornadoes. She recognized her as part of team KASS, the fourth year team. She had pinkish red eyes and slightly pointed ears. She even made some that would shoot some of the others right at the ships in the sea that was leaving.

Gwen was firing as many daggers as she could make while Nebula was helping others get in with Octavia. Soon, team KASS could no longer avoid it and ran towards the tornadoes. Each one of them was sent flying into the air, landing safely in the Bullhead. Dew became exhausted and let go of her Semblance.

With no choice, the Bullheads began to fly up into the sky, heading back to Shade as soon as possible. Some were still in the danger zone, but they had all decided to give up their own lives to allow others to escape.

As the Bullhead flew, it suddenly shook as several Nevermore began to attack, now flooding the sky and slamming feathers into the Bullhead. The ship held, but the impact made the passengers lose their balance.

"Oh shit!"

The A of team KASS fell off board, his orange hat dropping down to the ground. As if in slow motion, team NDGO watched helplessly as he plummeted towards the ground.

 **WOOSH**

A long furry rope suddenly flew at him, to which he grabbed.

"PULL!" shouted the team leader of KASS, the dog Faunus. Helping him, they managed to get the unlucky passenger get back in.

"Oh Oum, I thought I saw my life flash before my eyes!"

"That would've been awkward to tell our little brother what happened."

As they sighed in relief at the near death, they all looked at the last remaining defenders who sacrificed their lives to let them live, slowly being overrun by sheer numbers. Another airship blew up from the Grimm sea dragon as it blasted it with its lightning breath.

* * *

Salem sat upon her throne, sipping her drink. It was made from the finest fruits, fresh water, and the most important ingredient: fresh human blood. It had been a fine day. When she learned of Vacuo trying to make a settlement on HER lands, she sent her beloved pets to slaughter them all. She had gotten word that it had been quite successful, but there could've been more fatalities if they didn't get lucky and suddenly increase their radar intensity. The underwater Grimm had been staying twice the distance of Vacuo's radar zone and didn't expect it to suddenly catch them. But still, many lights went out that day. And with all the fear and horror, her Grimm would grow stronger.

Another piece of good news was that the artifact the Blood Fang had found was something useful for Adam. She was intrigued to see him walking in the air, and made plans to add him to the team that would fight Jaune Ryu-Long. How she hated that boy! He had single-handily ruined everything at Vale! Her plan to take one of the Maidens, kill Ozpin, bring about a new age of fear, and most importantly, lose the chance to find one of the legendary relics left by the brothers. With the four relics in her grasp, she would be able to control everything! At least until she found out that the Dragon Clan had not gone extinct. Blessed by the dragons themselves, they were on a higher level than normal humans. Meaning the relics would not affect them, which was why she had been adamant about stamping them all out.

She leaned back on her throne to muse more about her... new allies. She was not blind. She could see that these people had their own agendas, and was merely allying with her to get rid of a common foe. After Jaune was dead, she suspected they would turn on her, maybe even try to kill her. After all, they worshiped some other dragon, but they never said anything, merely stating that they were dragon slayers. And if she stood above them all, they would not accept it and kill her, and perhaps bring their beloved dragon to rule. She didn't quite understand what or why there were two sides, but she pieced together that this dragon they worshiped was most likely a traitor to its own race.

Still, they proved most useful for now. She would exploit them for everything they were worth before killing them. She was sure they had the same idea, but she had far more resources at her disposal, and she hadn't lasted this long for nothing.

Moments later, a whirlwind came rushing into the entrance hall. She lifted her eyebrow in interest to see her candidate for the Winter Maiden bleeding, with her right arm cut off. Tyrian himself was suffering burns from his stomach, and several of the dragon slayers were missing.

"Mistress!" cried out Tyrian, quickly running towards Salem and bowing to her, "Please, forgive me!"

Salem frowned as she saw Daki stumbling forward to bow to her. Lifting her hand, she called her Grimm to guide Daki to Merlot. With enough time, perhaps they could get her arm reattached.

"Tyrian, the mission was obviously a failure. What happened?" Salem asked coldly.

"I'm sorry," cried Tyrian, "But hope is not lost! The Winter Maiden had several guardians with her, and we killed them all. The last one was poisoned by my stinger! The Winter Maiden herself sustained serious injuries! We would've won!"

"Then how did you lose?"

"They weren't alone. Team RWBY, the ones that fought at Beacon. They were with them, most likely by accident! They managed to get an SOS signal out, getting help from Atlas. But even then, we would've won, if it hadn't been for the power of that little brat's silver eyes!"

Salem stopped for a second and thought. Silver eyes? So the young girl did have the power, after all, something she had thought had been lost forever.

"I believe that would be Ruby Rose, then." Watts said, announcing his presence as he waltzed in. "When Tyrian told us about Qrow and how he claimed Tyrian killed his wife, I looked into the records. They were very well hidden, most likely due to Ozpin helping to keep it a secret. Ruby Rose is indeed the biological daughter of Summer Rose, the last known silver eye user, and Qrow Branwen. I only found out quite recently. Not to mention, my latest networks tell me how there was a bright flash of light in Atlas. Our young associate who was in contact with Cinder was using a Grimm when it activated. I only got the news just now, as it had been sealed."

"I see," murmured Salem, "So when Daki had the glove on, it froze her."

With that, Salem started to walk away. Before she reached the door, she looked over to Tyrian for a second.

"You disappoint me."

She walked away while Tyrian screamed and shouted in sadness and sorrow.

"So, the silver eyes still exist," mused Salem to herself, "How many more legends have we missed?"

* * *

"So, the thing you were looking for got stolen?"

Jaune was sitting in the History of Remnant class with Sun, whispering to each other. They had gotten back from their missions and was giving each other the summary of what had happened.

"Yea, it sucks. Apparently, Neptune described it as being able to walk on air. Not sure how that works, but it would've been cool."

"Mr. Wukong!" snapped Doctor Horton, the Haven's history teacher, causing Sun to sit up straight,"I'm glad to see you're actually here in class, but this is no time for idle chatter. Tell me, what year was it when Fort Tower collapsed in the Great War."

"Ummm..." said Sun, trying to delay while looking around for an answer, "425 A.D. (After Dust)."

"Quite close, but it's actually 426 A.D.. Mr. Wukong, it would help to pay attention to detail. Perhaps some extra reading is in order."

Sun grumbled and sat back down, remaining silent for the rest of the lecture until the bell rang to dismiss them.

"Mr. Ryu-Long? Can you stay behind for a bit? You're not in trouble, just want to speak with you."

Looking at his team and shrugging in confusion, they left and waited outside the classroom.

"Mr. Ryu-Long. I have something very serious to discuss with you."

"Umm, okay?"

"You see, Doctor Oobleck and I go way back, when we both earned our Doctorates in History. We were contemporaries, friends, classmates, and most importantly, rivals. So imagine my surprise when he calls me and brags how he's transcribing an ancient book from an ancient clan."

"Umm, yea?"

"So my question is... WHY HAVEN'T I GOTTEN ONE! WHY HAVE YOU NOT THOUGHT TO GIVE ME ONE TOO!? I CAN'T LET HIM GET ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE FOR HIMSELF!"

At this, Doctor Horton threw himself at Jaune's feet, begging for something from the Dragon Clan to study from.

"All right," promised Jaune as he tried to pull the good doctor off, "I'll see what I have that you can study! I didn't bring anything with me."

After 10 minutes, Jaune was finally able to pull Doctor Horton off and ran out. Team JNPR and SSSN were laughing at what had just happened, enjoying their lunch before heading to their next class about Dust and the lab built in. Nora used this time to experiment with her new hammer and was delighted to find that she could use more Dust and explosives in her hammer to make a bigger boom due to the stronger materials. That gave Ren chills, as Nora was already destructive with it. Soon, they were back into training with Wong, who had found more inventive ways to train their muscles and techniques.

"You girls okay?"

Teams JNPR and SSSN were sitting in a room for group conferences, taking in calls from RWBY and NDGO.

"Yeah, we're fine. Took a beating, but luckily we're all alive. The Winter Maiden is okay and so's her husband. They're going to stay at Atlas for a while to recover," reported Yang.

"Clodwal's going to help me with my summon," smiled Weiss, "Maybe I can develop something else unlike my family in the past."

"What about you guys?" asked Ruby to team NDGO. She had heard about the failed attempt to create a settlement at the Dark Lands.

"We're fine," sighed Nebula, "We're going through a bit of therapy at what happened. It wasn't easy to see those people die right before our eyes. I know we're supposed to be trained for this stuff... but it wasn't pretty."

"Aunty is pretty pissed," commented Dew, "She repeatedly told the others that attempting such a task was foolhardy and a waste of resources. Now she's rubbing it in."

"Anything else happen?" asked Octavia, trying to change the subject.

"Junior sent me a message, saying that he needed to see me once I've returned to Beacon," mused Jaune, "Not sure what's it about. Said it was important, but not enough for me to hurry to Vale."

The group talked for about another hour before logging off and to head back to sleep. Back at Shade, team NDGO curled up in their beds, wishing their boyfriends were right next to them, or rather in Nebula's case, wishing she had a boyfriend to curl up to.

* * *

"Sssso, you want to hire me," hissed Cobra, his eyebrow raised as he stood in front of the man who contacted him.

He was at a certain patch of land north of Vacuo, quite familiar to Jaune. In fact, it was where he grew up. The Arc lands.

"Yes," nodded Vlad. He had dismissed both Aurelian, Boyd, and their mother, his current wife, to somewhere else for the day. He wanted this meeting to be private, and after Aurelian's little hint of morality, he couldn't risk his heir finding out and letting his newfound conscience get the better of him

"Sssso who issss it?" Cobra asked while reaching into his vest pocket and pulled out a small piece of funny looking cooked meat and chomped down on it while waiting for his answer.

"Drop this hissing bit, just because your name is Cobra doesn't mean you have to use the snake speech gimmick." Vlad snapped, rolling his eyes.

"Tch…" Swallowing the piece of meat, Cobra glared at Vlad for a few seconds before answering him. "Fine..Ruin all my fun why don't you old man...Whose blood do you wish to be shed?" asked Cobra clearly annoyed by the man's demand but he was curious about who his target would be. He had taken some assassination jobs before, so he was quite experienced in the field. However, he made sure his name wasn't relatively known to the world. So what made this man so desperate to find an assassin of his caliber? Hopefully, it was someone worth his time.

"I want this damn boy dead!" Vlad said harshly as he slammed a photo down onto the table hard. Cobra slowly picked up the photo to see a smiling Jaune Ryu-Long. His eyes narrowed slightly, but a lick of his lips clearly showed he was interested.

"Ah, I recognize him from the news. What has this boy done to you?" The Assassin inquired.

"He exists! That's sin enough!" Vlad snapped.

"...You're going to have to give me a little more detail than that."

"... He is my pathetic son that should not have lived. I tried to have him killed. I locked his aura and banished him into the wilds, but still he lives. I tried to kill him myself, but the stubborn cockroach just won't die!" Vlad snarled furiously.

Cobra was looking intrigued, staring at the picture. This was the same person that he had failed to kill earlier! Clearly things got a lot more interesting.

"So tell me; are you the reason he is so powerful?" asked Cobra, wondering if this man was foolish enough to tell him, but he couldn't blame him, after all, he didn't know the wonders and dangers of their leader Drac.

"Hmph. Of course! All that power belongs to the Arc family!" boasted Vlad, "Yet he never showed it when he was still a part of my family. He was just so damn weak and useless… until I tried to seal him. Now he's a loose cannon, and he needs to be dealt with. He needs to die."

Cobra couldn't help but let out a low chuckle, placing the photo in his pocket. "My team and I will accept this job on one condition. The reward." Cobra said as he began to smile softly his eyes closed.

"Of course. What is it you want? Lien? Fame? Women? I can easily get you it. In fact, I'd recommend that bastard's girls.."

"Oh no, you're mistaken. We don't care about that. All I want …... is your life." It was at that moment, Cobra's eyes snapped open, and his smile became resembled a Cheshire cat, only one that would clearly smile at its prey due to the razor-sharp teeth within Cobras mouth. Clearly, the two top fanged teeth looked natural, while the others looked like they had been filed to make them as sharp as the could be.

Vlad sat there, shocked silent for a second before reacting and trying to move. His old wound that he got from Jaune flared up, and soon had a snake bite right onto his shoulder. _Yūdoku_ had pierced right through his Aura and into his flesh.

"Bastard!" growled Vlad, trying to grab his weapon.

"Oh, we accept your contract," grinned Cobra, "But you see… your son is a dragon contractor, and we can't allow the chance that you'll spawn another. Don't worry, we know your other two sons didn't inherit it, so we won't go after them. But you, as the enemy of Drac, must die."

With a flick of his wrist, the glowing blue eyes on _Yūdoku_ changed green as poison seeped into Vlad, paralyzing him. But Cobra wasn't done yet. Walking over to the shaking body of Vlad because of the poison, Cobra bared his fangs and bit into Vlad's neck, enjoying the lush warm, coppery blood spouting into his throat as he heartily drank Vlad's blood while injecting even more poison into Vlad. Cobra's eyes glowed with power as Vlad's eyes faded.

Deciding to add an extra precaution in case Vlad somehow magically survived, Cobra ripped off a chunk of Vlad's neck with his teeth, delightfully eating the bloody chunk of meat he pulled off Vlad. "Weren't you just a treat. You were simply delicioussss," grinned Cobra when he finally finished his messy meal. Picking up the bloody body on the wall and driving stakes into various parts of his body to support it before deciding to add something special, using his teeth.

Looking over his masterpiece, Cobra turned around as he took out the photo of Jaune, staring down at it, his eyes showed nothing but an internal sadness that was sealed away within the Faunus. "To think, he had a passsst like mine." Closing his eyes, the room was silent for a brief moment before a small chuckle came from Cobra, that chuckle simply grew into full on laughter "It's a shame he was never exposed to the glory of Drac. How unfortunate, we could have been blood brotherssssss!" Cobra laughed maniacally as he puts the photo away and reaches into his vest pocket and pulls out the blood red ring places it on vanishing without a trace.

Why in Oums name was this psychotic monster born? The answer, people aren't born evil, they are made, driven to the wrong path from others influence, a human or Faunus can only hold off so much until they break or driven off the edge… sometimes, they experience it far younger than they would have liked.

* * *

Ezekial Liu-Wang looked up to the sky, snarling at the cloud above. So far, he was no closer to finding any hints of Drac and her minions. He had scoured through Anima, but there was no hint of them, they seemed to all have moved somewhere else. Ezekial was tempted to just break into Haven and kill Arc, but it was too risky. Too many Hunters there that could stop him. Ezekial merely wanted to kill the dragons, enemies of humanity, not humans themselves if he could avoid it. Plus, Jaune Ryu-Long so far hadn't done anything that caught his attention. Though that would not prevent Ezekial from slitting Jaune's throat when he had the chance to.

The Grimm was secondary to him, as they left him alone well enough. Although a few attacked him, he easily dealt with them. His guns, all scratched and faded, was still powerful to block an Alpha Beringal's blow. Of course, they weren't made from normal metals. They were created from the scales of the dragons that he had gathered after the fight against Drac's mother was finished.

"You will not hide from me forever," growled Ezekial as he continued his journey. He decided if Anima wasn't working, then it was time to head East to the continent of Sanus.

* * *

The semester continued for Jaune and the others without much excitement, which they enjoyed. They dealt with the usual search and destroy missions along with various investigation missions, but for the moment it seemed like Salem and her faction was laying low.

"You know, it's been awhile since we went on a date," piped Jaune as team JNPR was eating lunch.

"Where would we go?" asked Pyrrha, "We'd be mobbed on the streets if we went out in public."

Although she had to admit, she wanted to go on a date with Jaune. But with training and school, they had been too busy.

"Mmmm how about a movie and dinner?" asked Jaune, "Ren, Nora. Wanna come with us to make it a double date?"

"I wouldn't mind," nodded Ren, "Although dinner has to have a place where they serve pancakes. I can use my Semblance to sneak us through the crowds."

"Oooh, we should still wear disguises, like a secret agent," piped Nora before going off on a tangent again.

"She says yes," interpreted Ren.

"Sweet. Let's go watch... _Ducking Lion, Invisible Lizard_!" said Jaune as he was scrolling through his Scroll, "Heard that one was a good one. Something about humor and comedy mixed together, along with some action scene, though that's something we don't need more of."

The others chuckled in agreement before making plans for the day.

"Hey. Where's team JNPR?" asked Neptune as team SSSN was balancing themselves on some poles that would shift every now and then. Below them was water infested with leeches that would latch on if they didn't escape fast enough. Of course, Wong was there to supervise.

"They went on a date," said Wong as he sipped his tea, "I decided to allow it."

"What?" said Neptune, only to lose concentration, slip, and fall into the water below, taking Scarlet with him. A second later, both of them were rushing out of the water, trying to dislodge two leeches on their arms.

"They made a convincing argument," shrugged Wong, "Now, jumping squats, four sets, fifty each while maintaining balance."

As they began to start, Wong added, "One more thing. Lose balance, redo all set."

Needless to say, team SSSN would not be leaving for the next two hours.

* * *

Jaune was humming as he went to the library to check out some books for a project his professor had assigned to each individual when a staff member came up to him.

"Jaune Ryu-Long? You have an urgent message. Go to room one to take the call."

Jaune raised an eyebrow at this and went to the room to receive the call. He was surprised to see the caller was.

"Hello… brother." Said Aurelian Arc.

"Aurelian? Since when did you consider me a brother? What do you want?" asked Jaune coldly.

"Relax, Jaune, I bear no ill will against you." said Aurelian, raising his hand, "I called to give you a warning."

Jaune rolled his eyes before saying "Not buying it, _brother_. What is this crap? One of Vlad's traps?"

"No. You don't have to worry about father anymore. He's dead," said Aurelian bluntly, causing Jaune to blink in surprise, "And no, this isn't a trick. I have photos taken by the police to prove it. He was murdered while Boyd and I were with our mother. He was alone, and his death was rather... gruesome. We can't figure out the culprit, or the motivation for who could have killed him. There's you, of course, but you have a rock solid alibi, and the fact you have no desire or reason to even return to these lands."

"Why are you warning me?" asked Jaune, "What do you have to gain from this?"

"...Would you believe me if I said I was doing this because I'm worried for you?"

"I'd say go see the doctor."

"Fair enough," chuckled Aurelian, "But be careful. I'm sending you the photos, but fair warning, they are not pretty. And for some reason, the letter D was carved into father's chest, but the execution of it, from what I've been told, was done by someone using their own teeth. I'm upping the precaution for my mother and brother, and I've already sent the same message to your sisters and mother. Hopefully this maniac won't come after any of us."

With that, Aurelian said his goodbyes and logged off. Jaune received the files of the investigation and decided to just get it over with.

Aurelian was right. It was very bloody and very disgusting to see the letter D carved into Vlad's chest, while a good chunk of Vlad's neck was missing, clearly if you look hard enough you could see a piece of the windpipe showing. He looked at the photo, staring at the photo of his now deceased sperm donor. It felt weird, seeing him actually dead. He had wished ill will against Vlad for sure, but he never thought that his wish would come true so soon and so unexpectedly. Why did he die like this?

As he scrolled through the photos, he saw the reason why. On the floor of the crime scene was the familiar badge of Drac's worshipers.

" _ **So, they wanted to make sure to get the root of it,"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"To make sure he didn't pop out more the Dragon Clan."**_

" _ **They do realize they got the wrong one,"**_ offered Othim.

" _ **But why were they there in the first place?"**_ mused Alaerth.

" _ **Who knows. But luckily, your mother is in a safer situation,"**_ commented Aryz, _**"Your sisters live with her, and several of them are trained Huntresses. Not to mention, they live in a populated area while Vlad lived in a secluded one."**_

"I'd feel better if they lived closer to me," grumbled Jaune, "Or at least in Beacon. I could have Junior and the others help watch out for them."

" _ **Something to tell them, then,"**_ advised Ryo-Wo.

" _ **Still, the fact Aurelian cared to tell us that is surprising,"**_ mentioned Fafnir.

"My sisters did tell me he seemed to have a change of heart lately, even testifying against Vlad," said Jaune as he switched back to look at the photo of his father's body. He felt very numb and slightly guilty.

He stayed in the room, just staring at the photo until Pyrrha went to look for him, slightly worried about him. He had failed to show up for dinner, so Pyrrha went to the library to ask if they had seen Jaune.

"Jaune?" asked Pyrrha as she entered the room just to gasp as she saw Vlad's body.

"He's dead," said Jaune dully, "And I don't know what to think or feel."

Pyrrha slowly walked over and hugged him, pushing his head to her chest, comforting him. Even though Jaune hated his father, she knew he never wished him dead. As she patted his head, Jaune found tears come out of his eyes before he started to cry.

"Why am I crying? After everything he did to me I should be happy… but I… I…" Jaune said through sobs.

"He was a cruel man, but had it not been for him, you would have never met the dragons… or me." Pyrrha told him calmly as she kissed his forehead.

The couple continued to sit there in silence, Pyrrha comforting her lover as much as she could.

* * *

 _Atlas_

"Are they alright?"

Team RWBY was at the Atlas hospital checking up on Clodwal and Ales. They had been treated and deemed to be back in full health, ready for missions. But they were worried about those two, as they had the most grievous injuries out of all of them.

"Both have suffered life-threatening attacks, but Specialist Schnee got them here just in time and they are expected to make a full recovery," announced the doctor treating them, looking at the charts.

"That's good to hear," sighed Weiss, "We were pretty lucky my sister made it in time."

"Good thing, too," piped Ruby, "We were close to being wiped out. We need to invest in some earplugs so we don't get hit by that again."

"I'm bringing mufflers next time," said Blake, her sensitive cat ears twitching from the memory.

"Can we go see them?" asked Yang.

"Only for a few minutes," said the doctor, "After that, General Ironwood wants to move them to a secret and secure area."

"Figures," mumbled Ruby, "Well then, Team RWBY, let's go visit them!"

They soon arrived at the room where the Frosts were and entered to see Ales sitting up, feeding a cup of soup to her husband.

"It's good to see you're alright, girls," said Clodwal as he gulped down the soup, "Nice of you to visit us again."

"Sooo..." started Ruby, "How is it that you have someone with you? We didn't ask last time as it was too hectic, but from what daddy Qrow said, the Maidens were supposed to travel alone. How is it that you have guardians?"

"Well..." Ales began, a blush on her face, "Clodwal was very stubborn."

"She saved me one day, and I fell in love with her," Clodwal told them bluntly, "She tried to tell me that she wasn't interested, but it was obvious that she was. Not to mention, I could tell she looked so terribly lonely. So, I chased after her. At the time I didn't even know about the Maidens."

"He kept chasing me, village after village," sighed Ales, "I had to save him quite a few times before he managed to finally worm his way through my heart. By then, I accepted him as someone who was going to be with me. Our other two friends..."

At this, she stopped to keep herself from crying, allowing Clodwal to take over with a somber tone, "They were also other people who found out about the Maidens. They knew about Ales, and declared themselves protectors. They tested me to see if I could be useful."

At this, Ales let out a sad smile, "They were harsh on him, trying to break him. They weren't trying to steal me from him, so to speak, but they said that if he truly loved me, then he'd better be able to help protect me."

"It wasn't easy," chuckled Clodwal, "I got tossed around so many times by them before I proved myself. Fast forward a few years, and we had our secret marriage ceremony. Obviously, we didn't tell Ozpin and the rest, as we feared they would demand us to split."

"And that's pretty much it," finished Ales, "We've been hiding since Ozpin gave us a warning that Salem was actively hunting us now, and apparently, there's also a new group on the field now."

Team RWBY nodded before Ruby added, "We think Jaune knows what this last group is about."

"You've mentioned this Jaune fellow quite a few times now," questioned Clodwal, "Is there any chance we could meet him?"

"He's at Haven right now," replied Blake, "Though he could make a trip up here if he wanted to, but I don't know if he would have the time to do so."

"Not to mention you'll be going back into hiding soon," reminded Weiss, "Though I'm sure if you requested it, Professor Ozpin could find a way to make it happen."

They talked for a bit, with Weiss asking some more tips about summoning when Ales wanted to ask about Jaune.

Before she could ask, the door opened to reveal General James Ironwood with Winter and another soldier.

"Ladies. I'm sorry to say, but visiting time is over," said Ironwood gently, "We need to move you to a secure position until further notice. Our group has discussed it, and we feel it may be safer if we moved all the Maidens together so they can watch each other's backs for now. This may disrupt your regular work to help others, but we have no choice."

Ales twitched at this, she didn't like staying in one place for too long, much less contained. One of the things in common with all the Maidens was that they enjoyed being able to travel Remnant, so the thought of being stuck in one place was a bit unbearable.

"It's temporary, honey," said Clodwal, knowing his wife's thoughts, "Until it's a bit safer. You have to admit, we would've died if it hadn't been for Team RWBY."

Ales sighed before turning to Ironwood to agree, although with a few conditions of her own.

"Understood. Please, follow me," gestured Ironwood.

As Ales stood up and walked out, Clodwal groaned before getting out of his bed, landing on the wheelchair, and wheeled himself to follow when the soldier stopped him.

"Only her. We're not taking anyone else."

"But I'm her husband!" shouted Clodwal.

"No exceptions. Her safety is paramount. You will only serve as a weak and exposing link."

"Listen, either you move, or I'll roll my wheelchair over your ass!"

The soldier stood there, not letting Clodwal through the door while thinking he could take care of some insane invalid. Growling in annoyance, Clodwal grabbed his staff and hooked the soldier's leg from under him, causing him to land on his butt. Clodwal then proceeded to roll his wheelchair right over the soldier's chest, causing the soldier to lose his breath from the pain. Clodwal paused after passing him before deciding to reverse back and run over the soldier a few more times back and forth before wheeling himself to chase after Ales. The soldier groaned before getting up to follow.

"Wow," said Yang as they witnessed Clodwal kicking the soldier's ass, "Guess he didn't want to _roll_ over for him."

"I think we should catch up to make sure the guard doesn't do anything drastic," warned Weiss as she ran out the door, followed by the rest of the team.

"Halt! You're under arrest!"

"Just give it a rest, idiot!"

Ironwood and the others turned to see a soldier wrestling with Clodwal. The soldier had grabbed hold of the wheelchair and tried to steer him away, but Clodwal slammed his staff into the ground and froze the wheels.

"Soldier! What's going on?" barked Ironwood.

"Sir!" saluted the soldier, letting go of Clodwal's wheelchair, "Just trying to get rid of this interloper. He keeps making ludicrous claims, saying he's the VIP's husband."

"He is my husband," said Ales coldly, Aura brimming in her hands, "Were you trying to separate him from me?"

The soldier gulped but continued forward, "My orders were clear. Make sure nobody follows Ironwood and the VIP. This man could be a leak and expose your position."

"I'll give you five seconds to retract that statement before I decide to make an ice sculpture out of you," hissed Ales as she raised her Aura infused hands.

"Stand down," sighed Ironwood before turning to the soldier, "Head back to your original position, soldier."

The soldier nodded and ran back to his duty.

"He's just overzealous," sighed Ironwood, "But speaking of which, I thought you Maidens were supposed to travel alone. I thought he was just a mountain guide who happened to be there with Team RWBY."

"It's _advised_ but not a law," huffed Ales, "Anyways, he comes with me, or I take my chances out in the wild again. No alternatives. I won't be separated from my husband."

Ironwood merely put his hand to his nose to stave off the oncoming headache, "Fine. Just a warning, the place we were going to put you in was originally designed for all females only. Having him there may make the others... uncomfortable. It might offend their convictions."

"They'll just have to get used to it," said Ales, waving her hand off, "Any chance we can know where you're taking us?"

"No," said Ironwood stiffly, "The less you know, the better. All I can say it's a safe and secure location. Even I don't know where it is. Only Ozpin knows."

"Well, that's something," sighed Ales as she boarded the Bullhead with her husband, where they would be taken to who knows where. As they lifted off, Ales gazed out to the beautiful mountain ranges one last time, knowing it would be awhile before she returned. He looked down to see team RWBY waving goodbye, to which she and Clodwal responded. Her gaze lingered at Weiss and Winter for just a bit longer.

* * *

 **Oooh what could that gaze mean? Anyways, hoped you've all been enjoying the story. Review if you can! Anyways, all four missions are done, so going to put the focus back on Jaune again. Also, Vlad is dead! Who saw that type of death coming!?**


	53. Chapter 53 Calm Before Storm II, Cuff On

**A bit shorter than usual, but I promise the next chapter will be very long! Hope you enjoy this chapter! Beta done by the usual guys, UGX7, Jauneforever, and TheMischieviousPuppy. Also, I got another idea that popped up in my mind. Go check it out!**

* * *

Jaune had been sparring against Wong and losing when he received a message from Professor Lionheart, saying he wished to see him. Jaune was currently alone, as Pyrrha was back home for a photoshoot for her sponsors as well as a weapons check and possibly an upgrade. Ren was forcing Nora to catch up with her project that she had been assigned but had been procrastinating on. Team SSSN was also finishing up the final touches of their own project, leaving Jaune the only one to be beate- trained by Wong.

"Wonder what Professor Lionheart wants?" mused Jaune as he tried to nurse the bruises he got from Wong's training.

Wong shrugged before dismissing, "Go ahead."

Just as Jaune was about to leave, he received a smack on the head.

"One more thing," said Wong, "After Professor Lionheart is done with you, come right back, I have something important."

Jaune nodded and stood there for a few more seconds before turning to leave. He ducked right as he turned, causing Wong to miss his slap on the head.

"Good, you're learning," grinned Wong, "One more thing; bring some tea leaves when you return."

Jaune nodded and ran, deciding it would be safer to do so.

* * *

"So, Mr. Ryu-Long, how are you enjoying Haven?" Lionheart inquired as Jaune took a seat on the couch in the Headmaster's office. Jaune looked around the office, admiring the grand collection of books around him.

Lionheart, sitting at his desk, noticed Jaune's looks. "You like? I tend to collect tomes from all over the world and add them to my collection. I have quite a few rare stories here. Would you like to check one out?"

"Maybe later," said Jaune, "May I ask why I've been summoned here?"

Lionheart slowly stood up, gazing out of the window in his office. His office, like Ozpin's, was at the CCT built in with Haven Academy.

"Jaune, do you enjoy staying here? I see you've made close friends with team SSSN and Mr. Wong." questioned Lionheart.

"It's fine," shrugged Jaune.

"Would you consider staying at Haven for the rest of your education?" probed Lionheart, "I can guarantee, with our system, you would go far. Not to mention that Miss Nikos's family lives here. I'm sure they would want her to stay nearby for a while, after what happened. The shock of almost losing their daughter, as well as the shock of almost dying... well it would be cruel to separate them in such a time of need."

Jaune narrowed his eyes at Lionheart's reasoning. He did not like it when people were trying to subtlety control him via friends and family. At least Ozpin had been straightforward.

" _ **I don't like where he's going with this,"**_ growled Lung Wang.

" _ **It's as if he wants to control us,"**_ said Ryo-Wo.

" _ **And we hate being controlled!"**_ shouted Fafnir.

"I know, you have friends at Beacon," continued Lionheart, "Team RWBY, for instance. I would be happy to allow them to transfer over here, too. Frankly, Mistral is quite safer than the other kingdoms at the moment."

Before Jaune could reply, there was a knock on the door. Lionheart, raised an eyebrow at this, knowing full well he had told his vice-headmaster that he was not to be disturbed.

"Sorry, but it's Dr. Watts," said the vice-headmaster.

Lionheart cursed, but before he could ask him to have Dr. Watts find another day, the man of the hour walked in.

"Good afternoon," greeted Watts, "Apologies for interrupting your meeting."

Lionheart twitched before greeting Watts with a fake smile and offered tea to both his guests.

"Why, is this the famous Jaune Ryu-Long, the hero of Vale?" gasped Watts in surprise before putting his hand forward for a handshake, "I am Doctor Arthur Watts."

Jaune nodded and shook his hand, although he was getting a funny feeling about this man, "Yeah, I'm Jaune Ryu-Long. Nice to meet you, Dr. Watts. May I ask what you received your doctorate in?"

"Software Development as well as Human Behavior."

"Wow, that's impressive."

"I had some time and was interested in it. You should consider it as a backup, in the case being a Huntsman doesn't work out. Always nice to have a fallback plan."

"Was there something you needed, Dr. Watts?" asked Lionheart, trying to keep his growl out of his tone.

"Yes, but I'm afraid it's something that needs to be discussed in private," Watts answered before glancing at Jaune.

"I understand," said Jaune, standing up to leave.

"Ah, Mr. Ryu-Long," called out Lionheart, "Please do give some thought about my proposal."

Jaune nodded and left.

"What are you doing here?" growled Lionheart as soon as he was sure Jaune had left, "You told me you wouldn't show up unannounced!"

"Mmm, I never promised, did I?" laughed Watts playfully before becoming serious, "Do you know where the Winter Maiden has gone? That damn Ironwood has taken them to a secure area that even my information network can't reach. Most likely Ozpin is playing this off the grid."

"If Ironwood doesn't know, I wouldn't either," sneered Lionheart, "You showing up here won't help my case, either. It was risky to reveal yourself to Mr. Ryu-Long. What if he reports you in?"

"Oh be quiet," scoffed Watts, "I have a clean record. Nobody knows who I work with. But if you don't know, then fine. My other request is that you have no hunters near in Akai Churippu for the time being. We have private business there. If you don't want to lose any men, make sure nobody goes there."

"Fine," scowled Lionheart, "Now leave, and don't come unless I say so."

Watts merely laughed and left.

* * *

"You're back."

Wong had been sitting near a waterfall, meditating. Jaune brought over tea leaves, a kettle, whisk, and a cup, as requested.

"Brew some tea for me," Wong requested.

Jaune obeyed, going through the whole Mistral ceremony for making tea. He had to admit, he wasn't very good at it. Ren was the best at it, followed by Sage, then Pyrrha. As he quickly made a fire to heat the water, he went through the motions.

"Something has come up?" asked Wong, not even opening his eyes and yet knowing something was wrong.

"Professor Lionheart was asking me to stay for the rest of my school years," sighed Jaune, "I didn't like the way he went at it. He tried to use my girlfriend's family as a reason to stay as well as others. Before he could continue, a man named Dr. Watts interrupted the meeting."

" _ **That man,"**_ added Aryz, _**"Be careful. He wears a mask well."**_

"Whatever he says, don't take it personally," advised Wong, "I have seen the man. He knows how to fight, but inside, he is quite cowardly."

"Master Wong?" gaped Jaune in surprise at him calling the Headmaster of a prestigious Huntsmen Academy a coward.

"He prefers to negotiate," continued Wong, "He calls it diplomacy. It's all good, but when there are times that he needs to fight, he advocates appeasement until fighting is the only way. Even so, when he negotiates, he makes sure that he or his city is the one that reaps the benefits while other settlements take the hit."

Jaune remained silent as he finished up making the tea. As he presented it to Wong, he took a sip before putting it back down.

"I see you have managed to remain calm even within turbulent times," praised Wong, "The tea you made reflects it."

Wong stood up and waved Jaune to follow him into a cave.

"Master Wong, what's this about?" asked Jaune as they walked deep into the cave.

"The next step of your training," said Wong, "You just need to live through this one. Hands out."

"Wait what?" asked Jaune as he stuck his hands out in confusion.

"I'm going prepare your body and Aura while training it at the same time," said Wong nonchalantly while he began chant under his breath.

His fingers began to glow bright yellow as he brought it around Jaune's wrists, drawing a loop around both wrists. They suddenly snapped his wrists tightly, clashing them together and drawing blood. As Jaune tried to separate his wrists, Wong had already made another for his ankles, binding them together.

"What... the... hell?" growled Jaune as he tried to separate his wrists and ankles using brute force. It wasn't working.

"Use your Aura in sync with your physical strength," sighed Wong, slapping Jaune's head.

Jaune obeyed, and with it, he managed to separate his wrists and ankle. But he could feel it draining his Aura.

"These are Aura Cuffs," instructed Wong, "You're to wear this at all times."

"Wouldn't this hinder me?" groaned Jaune, trying to get used to it.

"Indeed. You will be at full power at all times, acclimating your body to be able to use Aura all around your body. You want to piss, or even pick your nose, you must use Aura," said Wong.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Jaune.

"Because your Aura reserve, and pretty much only yours, is large enough to do this training now," said Wong simply, "I will teach you how to do it to your teammates, but you must be able to judge whether or not they are able to. Think of these cuffs as strapping weights to your Aura. Longer you wear them, stronger you'll grow. For example, what is 100% of your current Aura could become a mere 20% in the future. The longer you wear these, the stronger your Aura will get. From your fighting style, I can tell you need a large amount of Aura. Of course, you won't be able to tell how much stronger until you release it."

Wong turned to leave the cave, saying, "Use the day to get used to the cuffs. Oh, and one more thing. I'm going to give you a safe word to remove these cuffs. But keep in mind. Once removed, you will no longer be able to use these cuffs as training tools. The body will only accept it once. I trust you'll know when to remove them. Of course, I suggest you get used to it right now. I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't at 100%. Maybe 30% until you get used to it."

Jaune nodded slowly as he focused his body to be able to move like he wanted to. It would take getting used to. As he slowly moved into his katas, Wong tossed him some wristbands, telling him to wear it, as it would cover the yellow shackles.

" _ **Interesting technique,"**_ observed Andusk.

" _ **Indeed. To be able to strap 'weights' on someone's Aura,"**_ mused Alaerth.

" _ **Perfect for training, indeed,"**_ grinned Lung Wang.

" _ **Now, first thing's first, Jaune,"**_ laughed Othim maniacally as he dragged Jaune into the mindscape. Jaune noticed his cuffs were still on him and restricting him and paled.

" _ **DODGE!"**_

* * *

"Jaune? Are you alright? You seem to be slower these past few days and more easily tired," asked Pyrrha as she managed to block a sword strike from Jaune and slammed him with a shield bash, surprised that it went through.

"Yeah, did you catch a cold? Will you need Ren's nasty drink?" asked Nora

"Algae has a lot of key vitamins," lectured Ren, "But really, Are you alright? Everything seems to have slowed down about you. It's like you suddenly got..."

"Weaker?" said Nora bluntly.

"Nora!" scolded Pyrrha and Ren.

"No, she's right," grunted Jaune, "It's these damn Aura Cuffs."

"Aura Cuffs?" they all asked.

Jaune nodded and took off the wristbands on his wrist to reveal the yellow shackles, "Master Wong put them on me. Said it was time for the next step. Basically, I'm strapping weights to my Aura muscle and regular muscle."

"That sounds intense," said Ren, quite intrigued, "Will he be doing this to us, too?"

"I don't know," replied Jaune, "He taught me the technique and the removal key."

"Then why don't you just remove them now and then put them back on?" asked Nora.

"Because it's a one time deal," answered Jaune, "Even my dragons were impressed by this technique. Master Wong said the longer I wear these, the stronger my Aura becomes when I finally release it. And no Pyrrha, this won't hinder me too much. I can still become stronger, but it won't show as much as it did in the past until I release it."

"Did he mention anything else?" asked Pyrrha, quite interested in putting straps on her Aura reserve.

"Yeah. Right now, I'm basically moving by using my Aura all over my body to just move," sighed Jaune, "It's very tiring. Even if I want to twirl my pen around while thinking or even type something up, I'm using Aura."

"That sounds risky," said Ren.

"Yeah, but apparently the payoff is worth it. Plus, Master Wong thought my reserves were big enough for the risks."

"May I do it too?" asked Pyrrha, "My Aura reserves may not be as big as yours, but ever since the mark, they've increased quite a bit."

"Best not to try for now," grimaced Jaune, "It hurt a lot when he did it to me, and we can't afford another person being handicapped for now. Wait until I'm used to this before I decide to let a teammate try it."

"So what percent were you on?" asked Nora.

"Roughly, I'm about 35% right now. Still trying to get used to this."

"Wow, Pyrrha. That means you were beating up Jaune at below half his strength with all of yours," teased Nora.

"I'm sorry!"

* * *

It was already nearing the end of the semester for Haven. Jaune had managed to find some time to quickly fly over to the nesting grounds and grab some ancient coins and other relics that thankfully did nothing but look good to get Dr. Horton off his back. Jaune was slowly getting used to the Aura cuffs, regaining some of his own movements. He discovered while trying to get back into fighting shape, that his movements had improved drastically as he was forced to find better ways to fight. He was roughly around 50% in terms of Aura reserves, but 55% in fighting shape.

Wong had called Teams JNPR and SSSN for an announcement, one that made they all shout "What?"

"You heard me," grunted Wong, "Your next mission, you two teams will be coming with me."

"But why?" asked Sun.

"Because I want to head down south, and I apparently need to bring someone with me," grunted Wong, "They won't let me otherwise. So I'm taking you guys. Got any problems?"

"... not really," mumbled Jaune, looking at his teammates. They also shook their heads at Wong, as did Team SSSN.

"Good. We leave next week," announced Wong.

As Wong left, team JNPR and SSSN looked at each other.

"Anyone feel like something is off?" asked Jaune.

"It's not just you," said Sun, "I feel the same thing."

"Where are we headed to anyways?" asked Neptune.

Ren pulled up the destination of the mission that Wong had sent them through their scrolls, explaining where they would be going.

"It's at Akai Churippu."

* * *

"So what did the headmaster want? Forgot to ask you," said Sun, chewing on his banana.

Team SSSN and JNPR were at the cafeteria, eating and preparing for their next mission.

"He wanted me to stay at Haven," replied Jaune, frowning at the memory, "The way he went at it... was unusual."

"Like what?" asked Scarlet.

"He tried to use Pyrrha as a means to stay," sighed Jaune, "Tried to convince me that Pyrrha staying here with her family was for the best."

"Whoa, not cool," frowned Sun, "That doesn't sound like him at all."

"I mean, he's right in a way," sighed Jaune, "If Pyrrha wants to stay here, then we could stay."

Pyrrha smiled and kissed him on the cheek for the thoughtfulness before replying, "I was happy to spend time with my parents, but I don't need to stay here. In fact, I'd prefer if we went back to Beacon. Too many people know me, especially after that arrow scene. I've been called in for so many photo shoots, and some of them are even a bit... risque. My sponsors are really milking this for all its worth, and they keep on trying to tell me to bring Jaune with me. Not to mention all those fanboys and other creepers keep trying to ask me out even though I'm clearly spoken for."

Jaune twitched in anger and crushed the cup as he saw fourth-year student waltz over and try to hit on Pyrrha. The man proved stubborn, trying to persuade Pyrrha even though she said no until Jaune finally had enough.

"Please leave my teammate alone," growled Jaune.

"Piss off, sophy," scoffed the senior, not even looking at Jaune, "I'm obviously a good match for Pyrrha, the Goddess. So, want to hang out with me? I got a nice room with a jacuzzi. Perhaps we can get to know each other a bit... better?"

"Umm, dude," whispered one of the senior's teammates, who were coming over. "You do realize that there's the rumor that she's dating Jaune Ryu-Long? You know, the hero of Vale? The guy who kicked the giant Grimm dragon's ass?"

"Pshh, please, don't tell me you believe that?" scoffed the future cadaver, "Special effects, man. They did that to give hope to people."

"Then what about that huge roar that sent you shaking and pissing your pants?"

"One, that never happened, and two, it was probably some freshman who had their movie on max volume."

"Umm, dude," pointed another senior classmate, "You think it's wise to diss the dude who's called the 'Hero of Vale'?"

"Pshh, it's not like he's..."

"He's right in front of you. You know, the dude you just said to piss off?"

The senior slowly turned his head to see a rather angry Dragon Contractor, ready to rip out his throat.

"Eheheh, sorry?"

"You're trying, very pathetically, to steal someone I love from me," growled Jaune, resisting from using the words mate or wife.

The senior gulped before blustering, trying to regain confidence, "Fine, then let's have a bet. You and me. One on one. I win, I get to take Pyrrha out on a date. You win, I apologize."

"That's not even remotely fair in terms," deadpanned Ren from the side.

"And I would never want to go on a date with you!" shouted Pyrrha.

"C'mon, I promise you'll change your mind," leered the senior before a pie hit him in the face.

"Whoops," grinned Nora, not even bothering to hide that she did it.

"You brat!" shouted the senior, "You and me! Arena! Right now!"

"Sure. I need to test out my weapon on some future corpse."

* * *

"So how did it become from challenging me to challenging Nora again?" asked Jaune as they were all sitting in the arena stands.

"Silly Jaune. It's because the author thought that I needed some more screen time and that I haven't had my solo fight yet!" shouted Nora.

"What?" gaped Pyrrha.

"Nora," sighed Ren, "Stop trying to break the fourth wall again. She likes to do this from time to time. It gets worst if she somehow gets a cup of coffee and piles it with sugar."

Soon, one of the combat instructors stood up, signaling Nora and the senior to step forth.

"This is just a practical spar," announced the judge, "You will stop fighting when your Aura level hits 25%. Do not contest this. We are in need of Huntsmen and Huntresses more than ever now."

The two nodded in agreement and took their positions across from each other. Nora readied her hammer while the senior across from her took out his weapon. He was wielding a giant sword about 6 feet tall. It was similar to Yatsuhashi's sword, except his could obviously shift into another weapon.

"Faramond Gorman vs Nora Valkyrie begin!"

Faramond charged forward with his sword and swung down at Nora while she swung her hammer upwards. The result was a huge shockwave when the weapons clashed, and the ground shattering.

"Not too shabby," grinned Faramond, "But you think it's wise for you to do that? Especially with my sharp sword and Semblance?"

Before Nora could say anything, blue lighting sprouted from Faramond, traveling from his body to his sword, up into Nora's weapon and into Nora herself. Faramond grinned before frowning, noticing that Nora wasn't screaming in pain like his usual opponents.

"Faramond, you idiot!" shouted his teammate, "Her semblance is similar to a lightning rod! She can use it to boost her own power or fire it back at you! Learn to watch some matches, it was on the Vytal Festival Tournament last year!"

Faramond's eyes widened as Nora laughed maniacally and swung her hammer up, breaking them out of gridlock. Faramond landed and dodged a lightning bolt fired by Nora, who then rushed in. She started to twirl her hammer around her body, letting the handle spin around her waist to gain momentum. Faramond winced as he saw the twirling tornado coming close to him. With a deep breath, he quickly fired a blade beam right at Nora's feet, stopping her for a bit.

"Gotta make her waste that energy," muttered Faramond before swapping his weapon into a machine gun and firing at her. Nora ran to dodge the bullets, but Faramond predicted where she was going and quickly readjusted his aim, hitting Nora several times before Nora smashed her hammer into the ground, causing the ground to upheave towards him. Faramond dodge rolled away before dashing at Nora once more. He used his lighting to boost himself forward, wrapping his sword with Aura before launching an upward swing at Nora. Nora blocked it with her hammer staff, but she was sent flying upwards to the air.

"Dam, that hammers not normal," grunted Faramond, observing the war hammer and was surprised to see no real damage to it. His sword, on the other hand, would need a whetstone. "Gotta finish this now."

Faramond jumped into the air, confident that the girl wouldn't be able to defend herself easily.

"Time to test out my new function," grinned Nora as she quickly positioned herself so she was facing Faramond, her hammerhead placed under her feet.

It was only then did Faramond notice that on the staff, there were multiple buttons. Nora clicked one, and fire spewed off from the back of her hammer as she suddenly flew towards Faramond. He was shocked, but he managed to block the upward strike, though now he was sent up in the air helpless. Nora fired a bolt of lightning, to which Faramond easily redirected it with a slash of his sword, infusing his sword with an electric current.

"You think that would work against me!?" snarled Faramond.

"Course not," smirked Nora, "Just needed you in a bad position while I adjust myself to the perfect place."

Faramond paled at that statement as Nora repositioned herself once more and clicked the button once more, flame spewing from the back of her hammer, sending her flying towards Farmond. She slammed _Magnhild_ into Faranmond's stomach, causing him to wheeze in pain.

"But wait, there's more!" cheered Nora as she pressed the last button.

Instantly, the dragon designed head opened up and shot forward before clamping down on Faramond's waist. He was trapped. Faramond struggled, trying to free himself before shifting his weapon back to a machine gun and fired at Nora. She winced as she felt the bullets slam into her Aura, but she stood firm and fired a grenade from the hammer, slamming an explosion at Faramond at point blank range.

"Time to go for a sppiinnnn!" shouted Nora as she activated the boosters. The two of them spun towards the ground at high speeds, becoming a pink whirlwind.

"NORA SMASH!" bellowed Nora as she smashed Faramond into the ground.

With the combined momentum of the spin and gravity, Faramond's Aura went down like Nora guzzling down pancakes. The referee quickly called the match to the end and had the medics quickly make sure Faramond was alright.

"Nice one," complemented Jaune as Nora returned to them. The fight hadn't been easy, as Faramond underestimated her. Still, with his experience, he brought her down to 50% before Nora finished it off.

"Now I won't have that creep chasing after me," smiled Pyrrha.

"I'll make some pancakes for dinner," said Ren, patting Nora on the head, "With your favorite syrup."

"Dude! You totally owned a senior!" exclaimed Sun, "Faramond is actually one of the stronger Huntsmen here!"

"Like, I think Faramond didn't know what to do. His semblance is what gets him out of a pinch, but against Nora, it was useless," said Scarlet.

"He'll be investing in time trying to improve his swordsmanship," laughed Sage.

"Anyways, we're heading to Mistral to shop for some supplies and restock on whatever we need. Wanna come with us?" asked Neptune, "We can use this time to celebrate another successful semester... if Sun doesn't fail his classes."

"Dude! I'm actually doing better now!" exclaimed Sun.

"Uh huh. And what's your grade across all your academic studies, besides fighting?"

"B and Cs, with an A in one of them!" boasted Sun.

"Huh. That's an improvement," admitted Neptune, clearly impressed.

"Sun's old grades were C's and D's," whispered Sage, "Really, it was a miracle that he managed to pass last year."

"Hey! Having a girlfriend helps," hissed Sun.

"It bet it does," moaned Neptune, depressed, "I want a girl, too."

"Sounds good to me," said Jaune, looking at his team.

"That sounds grand," smiled Pyrrha.

"I could use this time to purchase some more ingredients," sighed Ren.

"Yea! Team JNPR and SSSN, going out on a trip!" cheered Nora.

It would one of the last time in Haven they would have a good time.

* * *

A young boy was running out into the woods, trying to get to the nearest settlement. He cried tears as he ran through branches that cut his tan skin. The Grimm had attacked his family farm. He constantly asked himself why such a thing happened? They had been living there so peacefully! They had done nothing wrong! There had been no negative emotions skyrocketing in the house that would've attracted them! As he ran through the forest, the tree leaves getting tangled in his already messy brown hair, his golden eyes misted as he remembered.

" _Oscar, run!"_

" _Save yourself! Get to the nearest settlement! GO!"_

 _An evil feminine laughter with sea green hair from someone he couldn't see clearly._

As his already ripped shirt was torn more, he kept running, hoping to find help. But soon, exhaustion overtook him as he found a cave to rest. As Oscar laid there in exhaustion, he could only look to the sky, remembering where he needed to go.

To Akai Churippu

* * *

 **Yep. I included Oscar Pine into the story! All right quick note, though I've been watching season 5, I will still be going my own way, even if the lore is incorrect from this point on. It's a fanfic, and I've already plotted my own timeline and stuff. I may borrow a little from it, but that's about it.**

 **Another note, if you guys noticed, in the span of roughly 1 year, I've uploaded 53 chapters. That's basically 1 chapter a week! But as the new year comes, I'll have to slow myself down or burn out fast. Sorry, but hope you understand.**

 **Thirdly, the new story I've made is called Mending the Knots. It's a RWBY story where Jaune didn't make it into Beacon, but instead, opens up a massage parlor (Literally a place to massage people, aka kinda like a spa). Yes, this idea came from the original Massages story, and it combines Coul's, Service with a Smile, but I've already pmed both authors about the idea as a heads up. Still, I'm going to take it in my own way. Jaune doesn't give up being a Huntsman, and tries to find a way while managing the shop. Hope you guys will take a look at and enjoy it!**

 **Lastly, this will be the last chapter for this year. I promise I will upload the next chapter on January 17th, 2018, and it's going to be epic!**


	54. Chapter 54 Wong's last stand & Disaster

**One of my longer chapters. Today marks as one whole year since I started this story! Thanks for all you readers and fans for the follows, favs, and reviews! Read and Review! Also, yes I know Jaune's Semblance has been discovered and all those other things in season 5, but I'm still going on my own way. Already had them planned out, and I'm not keen on changing them to make it follow canon. I'll borrow bits and pieces, but that's about it. Hope you enjoy, and review if you can!**

 **This story has been brought to you by me, editted/beta by UGX7, TheMischieviousPuppyDog, and Jauneforever**

* * *

"You brats ready? Wong asked as he stood in front of a transport ship, looking over Teams JNPR and SSSN. Each of them was carrying their weapons as well as survival gear, as Wong had mentioned it would be a long trip. To do this, they had to turn in any projects beforehand and take any tests they had incoming before their travel. Sun had been complaining about this but managed to past his history test easily.

"Master Wong?" asked Neptune, "Is that your choice of weapon?"

It was hard not to notice a giant greatsword on Wong's back. Though Wong was roughly 5'11, the sword itself was roughly 3.5 feet long and straight. The blade width was about 5 inches wide, and at the tip it was pointed. What made it more eye-catching was the right side of the blade was painted black while the left side was painted white. There was no decorated guard on the sword, and the handle itself looked frayed.

"Yeah. Got a problem?" asked Wong with a raised eyebrow. They all quickly shook their head. "Good. My sword and I go way back. Always been my choice of weapon. Good ol' _Aetherius."_

They all quickly boarded the ship that would take them to Akai Churippu.

"So, your studies going good?" asked Wong as they were on the ship.

"Yep. Even Sun is passing his classes," pointed out Neptune, much to Sun's chagrin.

"Master Wong, you still haven't told us about the mission," stated Jaune, getting a few nods from the others.

Wong nodded and explained "It's just a recon mission, really. Something's been going on near that village recently and I intend to find out what exactly. Rumors of power spikes have been seen recently. That, and I... want to visit an old grave."

Seeing as Wong was unwilling to give out any more information, the rest of the time was spent napping for the upcoming mission.

* * *

 _Undisclosed Location_

"Glad we have a room where we can relax a little," said Clodwal as he wheeled himself into a room.

"Yes, it's nice to be able to take a hot shower now," sighed Ales as she walked into the bedroom with just a towel. She let down her usually braided hair and began to slowly comb it with her wooden comb.

"Want me to help you with that?" asked Clodwal, lifting himself onto the bed next to Ales.

"Sure. Been awhile since I've been pampered," smirked Ales as she sat in front of him and handed him the comb.

Chuckling, Clodwal began his work, slowly and gently going down her hair, untangling any knots. Suddenly, it broke in as he began his sixth stroke down.

"What the?"

Clodwal and Ales looked at the comb in confusion before looking at each other with worry.

"I hope this isn't a sign," whispered Ales, worried about her fellow maidens.

* * *

Oscar was running, exhausted, but he kept running. He didn't want to stop at all. If running meant he had a better chance of surviving, he would do so. He could hear the growls of Grimm behind him, seeking to rip his flesh from his body. He suddenly tripped on a stray piece of rock, landing face first into the dirt. He whimpered, trying to get back up. As he turned around, he saw Beowolves already jumping towards him. Oscar quickly put his hands up to protect himself and waited for their teeth to sink into his flesh.

He blinked as a few seconds past without him being in agonizing pain. Oscar looked up to see Grimm dissolving into ashes.

"You alright?"

Oscar turned around to see a big black man with black hair walking towards him. At first glance, it seemed as if the man didn't even have a weapon, just the clothes off his back.

"I said, are you alright?"

The man put his hand forward for Oscar to grab, to which he did so gladly. As Oscar grabbed the stranger's hand, he noticed it was very soft. He glanced down to see padding on the man's hand, similar to how bears would have it. He couldn't help but think it was cute that a big strong man like him to have such soft padding.

"Thank you for the help," thanked Oscar, letting go of the man's hand before introducing himself. "I'm Oscar, Oscar Pine."

"Names Bal Bloo, Bloo spelled with two Os. Bear Faunus with plushy paws, though don't underestimate them," grinned the stranger, "So where you headed? You look like you barely have the bare necessities for traveling."

Oscar looked down at the floor, tears starting to well up once more.

"Oh, you weren't traveling for fun, were you?" said Bal solemnly, "It was a Grimm attack, wasn't it? Did anybody else survive?"

Oscar shook his head and sniffed, trying to stop his nose and eyes from leaking. "No," he sniffed, "They all... they were all killed in the attack. I was the only one to escape."

"I'm sorry," said Bal, hugging Oscar to comfort him, he hugged him tighter, "There, there. I can take care of your for now, once we get to one of the major kingdoms I'm sure we can find someone to help you. You have to be strong, you have to live on, for your family. Look, I heading for Akai Churippu, you can come with me. Do you have relatives you can call?"

Oscar shook his head.

"Well then, I have a few friends who will be willing to help," Bal said with a smile.

With that, he lifted Oscar onto his shoulders and started to walk towards Akai Churippu. Oscar suspiciously heard him humming a tune about the bare necessities. What he didn't see when the wind kicked up was the man's back. On the back was a white tattoo of the original White Fang insignia.

* * *

Teams JNPR and SSSN had arrived at Akai Churippu a day later and were currently exploring the settlement. Wong had given them permission to do so while he went to check something, not bothering to explain himself. The group quickly went to stock up on some items and bandages they might need for the trip. Neptune and Sage had to keep a good eye on Sun to prevent his kleptomaniac hands from snatching stuff.

"Good, are we ready?" asked Wong as soon as everybody was done, "Now, I want you all to follow one very specific rule. No matter what, follow my orders. I will not spout orders to abandon teammates, but anything else, you must follow it. Promise me this."

Wong glared at them for a full minute until each one promised to follow his orders. Nodding in satisfaction, Wong turned around to leave. As they followed, they couldn't help but be worried what was to come.

They soon arrived at a graveyard where Wong kneeled down to pray a bit. The rest of them stood watch for any surprises or attacks. Once Wong was done, they all headed south.

"There have been rumors about a young girl who has magically received strange, incredible powers. The villagers swear she was just a regular civilian until she accidentally lit her house on fire. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but she's terrified now. Happened roughly at the end of your first year, but the rumors didn't reach my ears till months later. You know how information from small towns is. Very slow to reach the major kingdom."

"Hey, doesn't that sound like...," trailed Pyrrha, immediately thinking of the maidens.

"One of the Maidens of the Four Season? Yes," answered Wong, surprising them all.

"Are you part of Ozpin's group?" asked Jaune suspiciously, knowing that this information shouldn't be known to the general public.

"Feh, not everyone needs to be in some sort of faction to know this," scoffed Wong, "Remember, the legend of the Four Maidens was once common knowledge. Even if the legends have faded and forgotten, there are still some that remember."

And with that, he prodded them forward. The fact he didn't add anything else showed that this was quite serious.

* * *

The whole group was finally reaching the town borders when they heard screams.

"GO!" commanded Wong, rushing forward despite his age and what he was carrying.

Jaune quickly linked up with Alaerth, sprouting yellow-scaled wings and picked up Pyrrha and Ren, giving a quick zap to Nora so she could keep up. Team SSSN quickly dashed forward, drawing their weapons out. Yet Wong still outpaced almost all of them completely. Wong and JPR were the first ones to arrive into the town just to see a girl being held hostage by several men with Drac badges. In front of the poor girl was a woman with waist length sea-green hair and pale skin. She wore a purple dress similar to Cinder, with seashells attached to her waist. Her hair was fashioned with a hime cut style, barely touching her vivid teal eyes. And most importantly, she had a white glove pointed at the young girl.

"Stop her!" shouted Wong as he drew out his sword and swung, firing a blade beam right at the woman. Jaune quickly dropped his load and aimed his shield at her, switching to sniper mode and fired. Pyrrha used her rifle form of _Milo_ and fired while Ren began firing his SMGs at the woman. The woman grinned as the Grimm parasite appeared from her hand and spat its bile out, draining the girl's power. She didn't even attempt to block the attacks coming towards her. As the attacks approached her, there were multiple movements all converging towards the attacks. A dust cloud exploded from the clash.

Laughter could be heard from the dust cloud, so Jaune quickly lined up with Aryz. Using a flap of his wings, he blew the dust away to reveal Adam, Cobra, and Mercury. Adam was already glowing bright red, having absorbed Wong's attack. Cobra had spun his weapon in spear form to block the bullets, while Mercury had slammed the ground with his foot, kicking up the ground to block some other bullets.

"Well, well, if it isn't dragon boy and his little friends?" smirked Mercury, anxious to get a good kick at Jaune. That last kick Jaune had hit him with had almost crippled him for life. It was only thanks to Merlot with his cyber tech and Drac's group with some weird artifact, along with Salem putting some weird Grimm in his body was he able to recover and grow stronger.

"I have a score to settle with you," growled Adam, his hair glowing along with the red marks on his body. His right arm was also glowing thanks to Merlot's technology, allowing him greater use of his Semblance. He still held onto his hatred for Jaune, stealing HIS Blake. He could just imagine how much pain Blake would feel. It would proper education for her when he took her again, reminding her of how she broke his heart. His Blood Fang group had come along and were also ready to kill the impudent humans.

"Did you get my messssssage?" asked Cobra, looking at Jaune specifically, "I persssonally think I did an excellent job with your father."

Jaune twitched at that statement before glaring at him, "That was you?! You sick... Why did you even kill him in the first place!?"

"Sick? It was a masterpiece," replied Cobra, "And he contacted me. Which is sssurprising, as I make it so very few people know my work as an asssssasssssin. But I digress. He wanted me to kill you as you clearly offended him somehow, ssssooo I agreed, in return for hissss life."

Jaune clenched his fist, as did Ren and Pyrrha. The man didn't seem to learn his listen, even after his defeat. Though now that he was dead, there would be less worry.

"Why his life then?" asked Pyrrha.

"Becaussse we couldn't risk him giving birth to another dragon contractor," hissed Cobra, "He admitted he was the reason for such. Not to mention, even if he wasn't I still would have killed him because what I hate more than not getting my contract finished, is parents like him!"

Jaune had to stop himself from rolling his eyes but was thankful that Vlad was just a blowhard braggart. Telling them that he was the reason for Jaune having his power was probably the best and only present he could've given Jaune. At least his mother and sisters would be safe. Though he was slightly confused at the last part of the statement from Cobra, but it was something he could worry about later.

Wong gritted his teeth as the woman finally let go of the young girl and kicked her towards Wong. Wong caught the girl and looked down sadly at the terrified face. She looked like she was merely 14 years old with black hair and pale skin. Wong slowly closed the girl's terrified eyes and laid her down before shrugging off his coat and covering the body.

"What are you doing old man?" laughed the woman, "She was undeserving of such power. I merely appropriated it from her unworthy life."

"What is your name?" asked Wong, his eyes shadowed.

"Me? I am … well you don't need to know my name," smirked the woman, "But I suppose you'll need one when you are sent to the next world. I am Laire Delma, the true Fall Maiden. It'll be the last name you hear."

Her eyes glowed fiery orange, similar to how Cinder's eyes were. She had fully assimilated the Fall Maiden's power.

"I've already beaten Cinder when she had that power," snorted Jaune, "I'll do it again."

"True. Cinder was quite talented in her skills. One of the best Mistress Salem ever trained. But she was not the only one. And I'm sure my group can take out an old man, a dragon boy, and his two friends."

"MAKE THAT FIVE! NORA SPIN SMASH!"

Everyone looked up to see Nora spinning down with her hammer directly towards Laire, lightning bolts coming off her. Reacting quickly, Laire summoned a fireball and shot it at Nora. Thinking it was over, she turned her attention to Jaune when she felt someone push her away. It was lucky, as a second later, Nora smashed the poor grunt into the ground, lightning spewing from her hammer impact. Several other grunts were hit by the lightning bolts, as was Laire.

Grunting in surprise and pain, Laire lashed out, firing ice shards at Nora, who blocked them before blasting herself up. Before anyone could shoot her in the air, Jaune had already flown and snagged Nora away to safety. However, what was more surprising that Wong had slipped right through Mercury, Adam, and Cobra while they had been distracted and was already swing his blade right towards Laire. Her eyes widened in shock as she was helpless to stop the blade from cleaving her body in half.

"Die," said Wong ruthlessly.

"No."

Wong found his blade halted centimeters from Laire's body. He slowly looked at fist with brass knuckles blocking his slash. He slowly looked up to the man who had managed to stop it. It was Hazel Rainart, who didn't seem to be struggling at stopping his attack.

"I cannot allow that," said Hazel slowly, "Our mistress has plans for her."

Team SSSN burst into the scene, weapons ready and tensions high. They had to go through several prowling Grimm Creepers, several of which were mutated. Hazel and Wong glared at each other before the two of them pushed forward, crushing the ground they were standing on as they tried to overpower each other before jumping back,

"Kill them," said Hazel.

Several more Grimm appeared, they were on all fours, growling with the Grimm mask on their face and nothing else. Neptune quickly identified them as Grimm Panthera, with their teeth so strong it could rip steel apart. They were accompanied by Mutant Grimm Beowolves.

"Enough!" shouted Jaune as he held his blade forward, already putting some of his blood on his hand. He spun the blade four times in front of him before stepping the blade parallel to the ground, dragging two fingers across his blade to drag his blood across the blade. He swung his blade around him before raising it above his head to spin once more and stabbed the ground below him.

Jaune was attempting to summon a dragon to aid him once more and to end this threat.

"No you don't!" shouted Adam as he grabbed his sword, already in Iai position and drew his blade, hoping to cut Jaune in half. He unleashed his semblance, but Wong jumped in front of his path, and with an effortless swing, parried the swing away and spun to kill any momentum on him.

Cobra charged forward but was deterred by both Pyrrha and Ren. Mercury had to dodge several bullets and grenades being fired at him.

The symbols on the ground flashed, and from the earth below came forth a brown dragon with green tints on its scale. A giant horn could be seen on top of the dragon's nose.

" _ **Hmm Gigarock, an earth dragon,"**_ said Fafnir, _**"A low-level dragon, but he has quite the attack power. Should be enough to deal with them with your help. Must be because of your Aura cuffs that you didn**_ _ **'t summon someone stronger.**_ _ **"**_

Gigarock roared and charged forward, crushing several Grimm in his charge before using his horn to sending a mutant Grimm flying.

"I'll take care of the overgrown lizard!" shouted Laire, summoning another fireball and shooting it into Gigarock.

"You're too overconfident," warned Hazel as he had to drag a laughing Laire to dodge Gigarock from impaling her with his horn. The fireball had been utterly ineffective. "Cobra, do your men have the tools to deal with this?"

"Indeed we do!" cackled Cobra, "We have been preparing for this thanks to Drac, our true dragon Queen! Men!"

The groaning men tried to lift themselves up but were able to stand. Each of them quickly grabbed a vial of gooey black liquid and sprayed it on their weapons. Cobra himself put on the blood red ring and drank the liquid itself. With a wild shout of glee, Cobra charged at Gigarock, only to be intercepted by Jaune.

"No idea what that was, but I'm not letting you go," said Jaune as he slashed at Cobra. Cobra blocked it with glee, and as the two clashed in the air, Jaune sensed danger and dodged a slash from Adam.

He looked and was surprised to see Adam standing on clouds in the air.

"Dammit! He has them!?" shouted Neptune, "That was ours when your stupid Blood Fang members abused others and took them!"

"So your team was the one at the ruins," mused Adam, "That means the traitor is..."

He slowly glared at Sun, who glared back while donning his armored form.

"You're such a hypocrite," growled Sun, "Trying to portray yourself as a hero of the Faunus, fighting for the rights of the race while killing just as many Faunus. Not to mention you're actually teaming up with some 'dirty' human, as you would say."

"Those who don't follow my vision and order are traitors!" shouted Adam, "I alone will bring a golden age for the Faunus race, and those that don't agree can either get out of the way or die! As for the others, they have agreed to leave all of Anima and Menagerie for my people only!"

Sun answered by extending his weapon and slashed it at Adam, who jumped over it before creating another cloud with his shoes.

"So that's why it's called cloud walking shoes," mused Neptune.

"Jaune, I'll take care of this one," said Sun, "Neptune, back me up. Scarlet and Sage, go crazy and kick ass, but don't die."

Jaune nodded and resumed his attack on Cobra while Sun and Neptune were at a standoff against Adam. The trio stared off before Neptune began to fire, using explosive rounds to prevent Adam from absorbing kinetic energy easily.

"Get back here!" shouted Mercury, rushing towards Jaune when he stopped and spun around, launching a high kick to block the high kick from Ren.

"Your fight is with me," said Ren calmly.

"Is that so?" said Mercury, "I remember you. You're the punk that shot at us back at the stadium. Surprise you're not running after this failed sneak attack like before. Seems like all you can do is sneak attacks."

"I assure you, I can do more than that," replied Ren grimly as the two stared off at each other. As a leaf fell between them, the two withdrew their legs and attacked.

* * *

Wong was busy dealing with Laire and easily pushing her back. Scarlet, Pyrrha, Sage, and Nora went to deal with the additional Grimm that was coming in, including a Nuckelavee, along with several Blood Fang members. This one was far older from the one Ren fought, but thankfully they were able to handle it.

"Sage, go help Wong!" said Pyrrha as she blocked a swing from the Nuckelavee, "We've got this."

Sage nodded and ran towards Wong only to find his path blocked by Hazel.

"I won't let you stop me!" Declared Sage as he raised his sword, "I'll cut a path through all of you!"

With a roar, he slashed down only to find his blade halted by a punch from Hazel. Shocked but not finished, Sage roared and spun, trying to add more momentum to his swing only for Hazel to do the same thing, blocking it with his brass knuckles.

"I won't be beaten that easily!" roared Sage as he backed up and tried to swing once more horizontally.

Hazel's fist went to meet the blade, but Sage used all his muscles to stop his blade from swinging, taking a spin step forward. His horizontal slash was a feint, and his real target was a vertical slash right at the head.

'Gotcha!' thought Sage as he began his downward swing only to suddenly cough out all the air from his body. Hazel hadn't bother to attempt to block or dodge his slash, but instead sink a right hook into Sage's stomach.

Sage was bent over, his butt sticking up in the air as he tried to remain standing and gripping his sword in a death grip.

"I… will not... let you defeat me!" spat out Sage.

"Hahah, look at him, so pathetic!" said one of the Blood Fang members as he walked up towards Sage, "Sticking his butt in the air. He's-"

The member didn't get to finish his sentence as Hazel suddenly had him in an iron grip on his head.

"Never," said Hazel slowly, "Insult someone who trying to overcome any obstacle in his path in front of me. This man has at least tried and put everything to face me, even though he knows inside his mind he cannot defeat me."

The mask cracked under Hazel's iron grip to the head as the Blood Fang member tried helplessly to escape, his feet dangling off the ground as Hazel lifted him up. The Faunus slowly slumped down, his hand twitching.

"Release my men!" shouted Adam, dodging a swipe from hammer swing from Sun, who had transformed one of his clones.

Hazel sneered and tossed the Faunus into some trees before turning back to Sage, who had managed to stand up once more.

"My last strike then," muttered Sage, "TAKE THIS!"

Sage jumped into the air, and with all his strength, tried to cleave Hazel's head and body in half with a downward strike. The air seemed to displace itself as Sage's sword swung down. Hazel's eyes narrowed and raised both hands to block the attack. The sword clashed with the brass knuckles, creating a bright flash of light. As the light died down, behind Hazel were three lines on the ground that had been cleaved. Hazel himself seemed unfazed until a small trickle of blood went down on his forehead.

"Impressive," said Hazel, "To manage to scratch me even as I blocked with my Aura still active, penetrating through the barrier. Unfortunately, not enough to win."

Hazel pushed the blades away, leaving Sage helplessly as he grabbed his foot and swung him into the ground. Sage could barely even react before Hazel drove in two punches into his stomach, destroying any remaining Aura left. As he laid there coughing blood from his mouth, his hand still tightly gripped his sword.

"Even after defeat, you still hold your sword," commented Hazel, " Commendable. A shame you had to encounter us, but goodbye. May you live peacefully in the next life."

"Sage!" shouted Sun, trying to reach to him, only to have Adam block his way, "Get outta my way!"

"No, watch as your human friend dies!" Adam snarled maliciously.

Jaune tried to shoot Hazel, but Cobra forced him to dodge instead. Cobra was stronger than Jaune anticipated, and in addition, his attacks seemed to have some sort of corroding effect on him. Not to mention the dragons recognized the ring he was using and told him it made the user faster than normal. And finally, Jaune himself wasn't at full strength thanks to the training shackles, which Cobra seemed to have noticed.

Pyrrha and the others were busy dealing with Grimm. Wong tried to assist, but Laire managed to push him away with her Maiden's power. Ren was busy dealing with Mercury in a close quarters combat with kicks.

Sage closed his eyes, accepting the fact the end was coming as Hazel's fist.

* * *

Suddenly, he heard a smack, but he didn't feel any pain. Nor did he feel any sort of contact except for some wind.

"Now, that's not very nice to do that."

Sage opened his eyes wearily to see a giant black man carrying a child on his shoulders stopping Hazel's fist with his own. Hazel himself was slowly looking at the man with intrigue. The two stood there for a bit before both their arms started to bulge up in muscle and power. Winds seemed to whip around the two of them before they both stopped and backed off.

"You're... strong," admitted Hazel.

"And you're the one that tried to intimidate Sienna Khan before," shot back the man, "Though you definitely have the power to back up that threat."

"Bal Bloo!" shouted Adam in surprise, dodging a shot from Neptune and returned fire, "What are you doing here!?"

"Hmm? Is that little Taurus I see?" mused Bal as he turned around, "Why it is! Young Adam Taurus has grown up! Though not in a way I like."

Sun and the others would've snickered if it wasn't a life and death situation right now.

"Forget that!" roared Adam, "Answer the damn question!"

"Well I'm wandering around Remnant, as usual," shrugged Bal, "Save this kid from being Grimm food, and ran into you guys. Oscar, mind getting down and taking care of the one on the floor while I handle..."

"Hazel Rainhart," supplied Hazel, not attacking even though Bal's back was turned. It would be dishonorable to do.

"Right, Hazel, Thanks."

Oscar nodded and quickly jumped off Bal's shoulder before slowly lifting Sage up, putting his arm around his shoulders and dragged him away. When he looked around, he shivered when he saw Laire. She had been one of the first to set his barn on fire while he escaped. The two big men stared at each other for a second before a punch from Hazel and a palm strike from Bal clashed against each other.

"No you don't!" shouted Mercury firing air blasts into the air as he jumped as far back as he could, dodging a slash from Ren. The blasts flew up and began to descend down towards Oscar. Ren growled, grabbing his knife and jumped in between the blasts and Oscar and Sage.

"Gotcha!" shouted Mercury in glee until he saw Ren put the dagger handle to his mouth and noticed it didn't seem to be a normal dagger.

A song was played out, and a barrier formed around Ren as the blasts crashed into the shield before bouncing back right towards Mercury.

"Oh bull!" shouted Mercury, dodging the blasts.

Pyrrha, Nora, and Scarlet had finished off the last of the Grimm and quickly ran to protect Sage and Oscar. Jaune was gritting his teeth as his blade clashed against Cobra's spear when he heard a roar of pain. He looked over to see Gigarock with several gashes around his body. Several Mutant Grimm Creepers latched onto his body and promptly exploded, causing Gigarock to thrash in pain.

" _ **How?"**_ gasped Aryz, _**"Wait. That liquid. Jaune, send Gigarock back and try to grab one of those weapons!"**_

Jaune quickly dismissed Gigarock away, allowing it to fade from view before blocking a stab from Cobra with his shield. He created a small tornado with his sword and swung, creating a bigger one to surround him and blow Cobra away before dashing forward with his yellow wings beating the air to accelerate him towards one of the more injured fighters. Although Gigarock had been defeated, he had still killed quite a lot of Grimm and injured most of Drac's fighters, even managing to kill a few. Snagging one of the contaminated weapons from a dead one, Jaune quickly flew back over to where Pyrrha and the others were. Sun and Neptune had disengaged from their fight with Adam, their Aura low from taking a few hits from Adam. His new arm apparently also fired Rapier Wasp spikes filled with poison as they found out when it hit a tree. Not only that, his swing seemed to have become even faster than before.

"Perfect! I have them now!" shouted Laire as she summoned a giant fireball to finish them off.

Jaune responded with a lightning roar from his mouth directly at Laire, forcing her to dissolve her attack as she took the hit and went down. Wong quickly moved back to the group, aiming to kill Laire but unable to as she now had others to defend her. Bal and Hazel stopped fighting and slowly walked back to their respective groups, staring off at each other.

It looked to be a stalemate when Bullheads with more Blood Fang, Drac members, and Grimm come over, surrounding the group.

"It's over!" laughed Adam, "Bal, you should've joined us! A shame a legend like you will die!"

Jaune quickly dove into his bag and grabbed the 5 staffs and threw them around them, creating an impenetrable barrier to protect them.

"What now?" said Sun wearily, looking at all the sneering enemies.

"It seems like this'll be our last stand," said Ren, gripping _Stormflowers_.

Nora nodded and raised her weapon, ready to fight.

"I'll take a Dragon Seed," said Jaune, "Try to link up with all my dragons. I could get buy us all some time. And I'll have to break the seal over my power. I'll need every bit I can get."

"No," said Wong calmly, "Break the shackles, and you'll never be able to train that way again."

"Better than dying," replied Jaune coolly.

"You will not die," said Wong quietly, "None of you will. You will all see what tomorrow will bring. This I promise."

"But!"

"One more thing."

"W-?"

Jaune didn't get the chance to say anything else as Wong surprised him by spraying something in his face.

"What the he-?"

Wong sprayed a bit more on Jaune's face, making sure the drug worked. Jaune fell asleep in Pyrrha's arms.

"Master Wong!?"

Wong ignored them all before turning to Bal, "Take care of them for me."

"Oi, you're not thinking of staying here alone? I can help out!" The Bear Faunus objected.

"Appreciated, but they need an adult with them. Not to mention, you still have much to look forward to. I'm just an old man looking for a good place to rest and to reunite with my family. Grant this old man his last wish."

Bal looked at the man before sighing, "I don't like it, but I'll do my best. But how are we going to get out of here?"

"I put out the SOS, but those jerks seem to be blocking the signal," piped in Neptune, "Not to mention they're trying to bring the barrier down."

They all looked to see guns firing upon them while other Grimm slashed and growled.

"I have a solution for that," sighed Wong, tapping the floor. Suddenly, the ground turned dark, and all of them found themselves sinking into it slowly.

"This will transport you back to Akai Churippu," smiled Wong sadly, "Unfortunately, I'll have to stay behind."

"No!" shouted Pyrrha, trying to get out of the sinking ooze, "Come with us! We can take care of them all! Jaune can use the Dragon Seed to beat them!"

Wong shook his head, "It would be poor manners to have my student to save us all when this was my responsibility. Not to mention, who knows how long it would take for Jaune to go full power. I don't think the barrier would hold long enough before even more of their reinforcements arrive. I have already decided this would be my last trip. Go home. Back to where you all belong. To see that bright future. Pyrrha, be sure to bring those neat staffs with you. Thank you all for giving this old fool a chance to prove himself."

As they continued to sink into the oozing floor, Pyrrha used her semblance to latch onto the metallic rings on the five staffs that Jaune had put back at school. As they all sink down so that only Pyrrha's hand was still above the floor, she summoned them back to hand, taking them with her.

"One more thing," said Wong, "Don't ever let your precious people die."

* * *

"Get them!" shouted Adam, pointing to the disappearing bodies as the barrier disappeared

Many dived forward, trying to grab Pyrrha's hand to drag her out, but it was too late. All but Wong had disappeared.

"Well, leassst we get to play and kill with the old one," hissed Cobra, "What are you going to do? Maybe if you beg, we'll give you a quick but painful death, rather than a ssssslow and extremely painful one."

"Begging has never been my style, freak," scoffed Wong as he slowly pulled out a small pill.

"Oh? Going to poison yourself?" asked Mercury, snickering at the possibility.

"In a sense, yes," smiled Wong as he put the pill in his mouth, confusing them all.

Hazel, however, quickly understood what Wong was doing and shouted "Stop him!"

Grimm Beowolves charged forward, along with both Alpha and Mutant varieties. As they all almost touched Wong, covering everyone's view of him, he gulped down the pill. A second later, all the Grimm suddenly died from a very loud spin attack from Wong.

"What!? HOW!?" they all shouted as they stared at a much younger Wong with blood red hair and skin.

"Don't feel like explaining," said Wong as he lifted his sword, "Just die."

 _Insert OST Farewell to Heroes_

The Grimm roared and charged to meet the challenge, only to be killed as Wong bellowed and charged towards Laire. Beowolves and Panthera died at by his giant blade. As he stabbed an Ursa Major in the stomach, two Hyaenida leaped to bit him. Wong clicked a hidden button in his sword and split his sword into two, one white and one black, cutting the Ursa's stomach wide open and decapitating the Hyaenida in one move. The Blood Fang members began to fire their guns at Wong, only for him to slash the bullets away as he charged towards the shooters.

"Get away!"

"Back UP!"

"DEMON!"

Wong descended upon them to deliver carnage they so desired, except they were at the receiving end.

One of them grabbed a thick shield as Wong's dual blade clashed into them. The defender felt his muscles burn as he felt it clash twice before Wong used it as a stepping platform to jump over and kill more of his cohorts.

"Bastard!" roared the Faunus as he tried to attack Wong's back. Wong immediately turned around for a slash. The defender put up his shield thinking, that if he could time it right, then when the dual blades hit, he could push them back to leave Wong helpless. But the blade cleaved right through his shield and body as Wong completed his stroke. As the defender fell to the ground, his last thoughts were on when did Wong put his blades together again into a greatsword, adding more weight to cut through.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" shouted Adam as he charged forward when Wong turned a shot an even bigger blade beam at him.

Adam raised up _Wilt_ from his scabbard/shotgun _Blush,_ thinking to absorb the attack to turn it against him when he found himself struggling to keep his feet on the ground. To make it worse, Wong changed up to dual blades and fired a cross blade beam attack at him. Unable to contain it all, Adam was sent flying backward into several trees, losing consciousness with his Aura shot and gashes on his chest.

"How is he so strong!?" freaked out Mercury.

"That pill," answered Hazel, "It was a pill developed by Atlas and Shade long ago, to find a drug booster to allow people to fight beyond their limits."

"And why isn't it popular?" asked Mercury, "Getting a boost like that would help a lot!"

"Not only was the recipe lost, but the user has to exchange his life for this power. He is using his life energy just to fight beyond his usual capacity. To say it is poison isn't far off. Not only that, it is said that while he is in such an empowered state, his body is burning from the inside out, torturing him with pain beyond belief. I recall not only does it use herbs, but also purified dust, such as lightning Dust to enhance his nervous system. There are even rumors that essence of Grimm was used."

"So we can just wait it out? Maybe just run away?"

"Yes, but he will not allow that. In the hands of a civilian, the person can become as strong as the most Huntsmen. However, in the hands of such a skilled opponent as him, it's ill-advised to outrun him, as he will be able to chase us down while our back is turned and tired. The best solution is to kill him as fast as possible, force him to use as much energy he has left."

"That's not much relief," gulped Mercury as he saw several more killed before his eyes.

"Bah, whoever hasss the longer range winss!" shouted Cobra as he thrust his spear towards at Wong, who dodged it. Cobra grinned as he flicked his wrist, causing his weapon to change into a whip snake and bite down on Wong's wrist, injecting poison into the bloodstream.

"You'll die faster, so just-?!"

Cobra was suddenly pulled forward as Wong let go of his sword, gripping the snakehead and pulling Cobra forward right into his fist. Detaching the bite from his wrist, Wong gave a viscous rib crushing left kick at Cobra's ribs. Cobra coughed up blood and tried to punch him, only for Wong to suddenly jump and spin, dodging the punch before launching a capoeira heel kick to the collarbone. As soon as Wong landed, he spun the opposite direction and with closed beak hand, stabbed Cobra in the ears and disorienting him. Without mercy, Wong punched the same ear 5 more times before grabbing Cobra by the head and spun him towards the ground until his head was trapped between his thighs and left hand holding his chin. Wong clenched his right fist loaded with Aura and punched Cobra in the face. This punch wasn't normal, however. The technique not only involved exploding the Aura upon impact, but the punch itself involved a two-step process. The fist was shaped so the proximal interphalangeal joints hit the target first. Then, within the same time frame, fold the hand so proximal phalanx knuckles hit the same area. All matter bear some form of resistance, so a single blow impact would hit such resistance. However, with this technique, the first hit from the proximal interphalangeal joint would meet and weaken the initial resistance. The second hit within the time frame would hit, meeting no resistance and dealing pure damage to the object. Add the fact that Wong could time his Aura at both moments made it even deadlier.

Wong smacked Cobra four more times in the face with the same technique before letting go to dodge a spear stab. Cobra's eyes rolled back to his head, his Aura, nose, teeth, and some parts of his skull shattered.

"You bastard!" shouted a Drac follower, this one clearly much stronger than the rest. He was second in command after Cobra, wielding a six foot spear, aka commander.

Using his range, he attacked rapidly, stabbing and swinging his spear to show he was no pushover. Not only that, Wong started to cough up blood.

"I win!" shouted the man, thinking it was his chance.

Wong suddenly split his sword into two and threw the white blade the commander. The commander blocked the blade sending it upwards. He grinned as he thought Wong was desperate when he noticed the blade didn't have the hilt, as if it had been detached. Wong jumped into the air and stabbed the airborne white blade with the black blade while attaching the hilt of the white blade to the hilt of the black blade. The blades connected to produce a long sword as Wong slashed down. Thinking he had the advantage in range, the commander spun his spear and slashed down.

The air stilled as they both completed their attack. The spear had grazed Wong's nose and body. The commander grinned before his vision split in half. Slowly, he slumped onto the floor, his whole body bisected in half as blood spilled everywhere. Wong's longsword transformation was seven foot, a whole foot longer than the commander's spear.

Without hesitation, Wong attacked, cutting down a Grimm Beringel before they could even come close to use their fists and strength. A Deathstalker and King Taijuta appeared, trying to sting and bite him. Wong easily decapitated the head of the King Taijuta and spun, dodging the stinger. As he did, he flicked his wrist, detaching the white blade from the black blade while simultaneously splitting his hilt once more. His left hand shot forward, catching the white blade with its original hilt to form a sword once more before crossing blades at the stinger and severing it. The Deathstalker squealed in pain, but it was silenced as Wong kicked the stinger up, connecting his two blades once more to a greatsword and used it as a bat, smashing the stinger into the Deathstalker's brain.

"Enough! I will not be humiliated like this!" cried out Laire as she floated in the air, orange flames around her eyes. She shot a stream of fire at Wong, who dodged it before dashing forward towards her. Mercury began to fire to provide backup, but Wong easily dodged those as well as other fireballs from Laire. Hazel stood in front of him, ready to fight. Wong roared as he raised his blade up in the air and slashed down. Hazel had positioned his body so his right side was facing Wong and launched a double fist attack towards the blade. The result was a great clash as the ground beneath Hazel gave way, creating a crater beneath him. Hazel gritted his teeth as he strained to keep the blade up, using his muscles and Aura. Wong quickly split it into two blades once more, and with the white blade still in the same position, he used the black blade and swung horizontally. Hazel's eyes widened, but keeping his cool, he pushed the white blade away and raised his left forearm. The black blade met Aura before cutting through to flesh. But Hazel had predicted this and met the blade with his right fist, preventing it from cutting further in. Then he clenched his left arm muscles tightly, preventing Wong from taking his blade out.

This allowed Mercury to land a kick to Wong's stomach, followed by a flurry of kicks as Wong shot up into the air. As he reached the apex of his launch, Mercury fired a specialized blast from his new boots, one that would surely extinguish Wong for good. But to his surprise, Wong raised his black sword, and with a roar, swung it forward. The result was his whole body shooting forward towards Laire. The jump force had been equal to the gravity force at the apex, and with it, Wong was able to launch in any direction he wanted with brute strength and timing.

"Stay away!" shouted Laire as she summoned shards of ice and fired them at Wong. Wong ignored all the hits that shredded his body, focusing only on Laire.

"DIE!"

Laire summoned a giant fireball and fired it, and then raised the earth in front of her to protect her. Wong spun, slashing the fireball and earth wall in half before stabbing Laire in the stomach.

"No... I can't die! Not like this!" cried Laire.

"Goodbye," said Wong as he began to slice upwards, both hands on the hilt of his sword.

Suddenly, a flash of light along with the sound of a sword being drawn could be heard, and Wong found himself handless. He glanced over to see Adam had woken up and charged forward and sliced his hands from a bit of distance. Laire blasted Wong away from her before dragging the blade off her stomach, spitting out blood. She seared the wounds and threw the blade at Wong, who dodged it.

"You are without hands to hold your blades now," commented Hazel as he jerked the black blade off his hands and threw it in front of Wong. Both blades were now stuck in the ground in front of him, hilt upward. "You would do best to surrender, and you have earned my respect, so your death will be a quick one."

"Not that quick," sneered Mercury, glancing at all the dead Grimm, Blood Fang, and Drac group, "He allowed Jaune and the others to escape from our grasp. No doubt they'll let _that_ group know we have the Fall Maiden."

He walked up, grinning and ready to take the Wong's head off with his kick.

"Do not think he is helpless, even without arms," warned Hazel, but it was too late. Wong, without any hesitation, stabbed his handless arms into the hilts of each blade before using his Aura to trigger a hidden function within the blade. Spikes sprouted forth from the hilt, ripping his flesh but trapping it into his arms. The blade's burned with fire from the dust compartment within the hilts, searing his wounds and halting the bleeding. He now had two blades for hands now.

"Oh that's just sick!" shouted Mercury as he dodged a blade slash from Wong and tried to kick him in the head. Wong leaned back and crossed his blades right on the right foot of Mercury.

"Oh no," paled Mercury.

Wong replied by cutting Mercury's right prosthetic foot off. He was blindsided by Hazel punching him in the ribs, destroying the bottom ribs. As Wong flew to the side, a Grimm Panthera bit down and ripped half his stomach and kidney away. As Wong's vision began to fade, he focused on one objective. Bringing the new Maiden down. He charged forward like a berserker, ignoring the shouts and gunshots that tore through his body. Other obstacles like Grimm or Faunus or human all died in his path as he slashed through them, heading for Laire.

"No! NO! DIE!" shrieked Laire as mustered all her Aura and fired a stream of scorching hot fire right into Wong. Wong didn't bother to dodge and ran headfirst right in.

Laire kept it up, not even relenting even for a moment for fear of death. As soon as she finished using her Aura, Wong appeared before her, scorched and suffering from what seemed to be fourth and fifth-degree burns. His blade halted inches away from the quivering Laire, just centimeters from touching her skin. For what seemed to be forever, Wong slowly glanced at Adam, who was flat on the floor and glaring at him.

"You've gotten stronger, little one," mouthed Wong towards Adam, who looked at him in complete confusion and shock at this.

Wong slowly slumped forward, unable to move any longer. The poison from the pill and Cobra had finally taken over and consumed his life.

"Ha... HAHAHA!" laughed Laire maniacally, "Die you arrogant bastard, die like the scum you are! All alone and failing! I'll take your blades as trophies, and maybe even use them on those brats! The look on their faces when I slice them with their mentor's blade!"

Laire was about to take one of the blades when Hazel's hand stopped her.

"Leave it. We need to go now. We stay here longer, we risk failing the mission entirely." He told her.

"Fine," scoffed Laire, "You. Faunus pig. Take the blade with me."

Adam scowled at her attitude but picked himself up slowly before glancing at Wong. Why had he said such a thing? Did he know him? He put those questions for later, focusing on getting back to base. One of the Faunus was about to take the blade when Hazel stopped her.

"We leave the body and blade untouched. This one has fought honorably. The least we can do is to let nature take care of his body and blade. If anyone tries to take his blade while I'm here, I'll personally feed them to the Grimm spawning pools."

"But!"

"No! I don't care about your imagination. Leave. It. Alone."

With that final statement, everyone nodded in understanding before gathering up once more. They quickly took the airships and left.

The incident with the Fall Maiden was not just an isolated one. Though Jaune and the others had walked in on Salem's faction cornering and stealing the Fall Maiden's power, back at on Sanus, the other Maidens had been found.

* * *

 _Near Vacuo, isolated settlement many miles from it._

"No, please!" begged a tan girl with pink hair.

"You have a power that doesn't belong to you," sneered another tan girl with black hair and orange stripes hair, along with tiger ears. This was Jazz Misae, and with her group, they had captured the Summer Maiden.

As she put on the glove that was to drain the Summer Maiden of her power, someone stopped her.

"Orders from Salem. We can't use the glove to steal the power. You'll have to do the transfer the natural way."

Jazz looked up to see Emerald on her Scroll. Emerald had changed completely. She had changed her hairstyle to mimic Cinder's and even wore the same red dress as hers, with some minor adjustments. She still wore pants and holsters, though in crimson red.

"And pray tell, why?" asked Jazz.

"Mistress Salem says that there are potential Silver Eye users. If done via Grimm drain, it could be a fatal weakness to you. I've received word that Laire has done it, but was given no choice as other people tried to intervene. They had to do snag and go. Here, we have all the time to drag her back to a secret location and torture her to become your slave before killing her."

"Hmmm, if you say so," smiled Jazz, looking at the Summer Maiden, "Here that? You get to be my little slave. I wonder what I can do to break your spirit before you call my master."

"I'll never do that," snarled the maiden, her eyes glowing in pink flame.

"Oh, I wouldn't be sure about that," smirked Jazz, "We have many ways of breaking souls. Emerald here is very capable in that field."

A bullhead pulled up from the sky, and a few moments later, they were gone, taking the maiden with them.

* * *

 _South of Vale, roughly 100 miles._

Another group had captured the Spring Maiden. The Spring Maiden struggled with all her might, her eyes glowing with green flames as she summoned tornadoes to blow her enemies away, but she was soon hit by a sound cannon, followed by multiple arrows to the back. The captors lifted her up and chained her to a metal pole, where it sealed her Aura. Her tan skin was marred by blood while her smooth brown hair was frizzled.

"You're part of Salem's group, aren't you!?" shouted the Spring Maiden, trying to break free.

They were all carrying the green dragon badge, signifying they were part of the cult that worshipped Drac, while a few of them were part of the Blood Fang. Around them were dead bodies of bandits that had tried to protect her. None of the captors knew why the bandits were trying to protect her, except for the fact that she was the Spring Maiden.

"When will Briar Rora arrive?" asked one of the grunts, kicking the head of a one-eyed bandit, "It's annoying to listen to her."

"Think we can have some fun with her before we have to give her up?"

"I think we do! I call first dibs!"

The Spring Maiden's eyes widened as he saw the lust on the man's eye as he approached her, his fingers dancing and twitching in the universal sign that he was going to grope her. She glared at the man defiantly before opening her eyes in shock. The man suddenly stopped, his eyes rolling up before slumping down dead. A bullet had shot right through his brain from the side.

"What?!"

There was a symphony of gunshots, and more of them found themselves dead or seriously injured. The Spring Maiden gaped in shock as she witnessed bullets bypassing Aura defenses as if it didn't exist, not even shattering it.

A man with a cloak stepped forth into view, revealing his one good eye as he stared at his victims with extreme prejudice.

"No... Please! Spare me!" begged a female Faunus with dog ears.

The man ignored her pleading and shot her in the head.

"You! You're Ezekial Liu-Wang! The enemy of Drac!" shouted another one.

Seeing as this one was a Drac follower, Ezekial decided for a more hands on approached and grabbed the man by the throat. The spikes in his glove broke through skin as the victim found it very hard to breathe as Ezekial introduced many new holes to his throat. Ezekial finished it with a palm strike to the right eye and turned to the others as the man silently screamed in pain about his right eye, but unable to articulate as his throat had been slashed.

The rest followed the man to the gates of Hell as Drac executed all but one. As soon as he finished, he glanced at the Spring Maiden for a second before completely ignoring her, going for the last victim, a follower of Drac. He intended to interrogate his last victim for any hints of their main base.

"Wait!" shouted the Spring Maiden, "Get me out of this at least! If it's true, then Salem's cohorts will be here to steal my power to use for her!"

"And why does this matter to me?" asked Ezekial, "I care not for this Salem character. She can do whatever she wants. I only desire the destruction of all traces of the dragons, especially the cult of Drac."

The Spring Maiden's mind raced through for a bit before asking, "Even though Salem has allied herself with such a group?"

Ezekial slowly turned his good eye towards her, causing her to shiver a bit before continuing, "Salem is hunting down the Maiden's power, and from what I can tell, those people that you killed were working for her. Will you allow them to achieve their goals?"

Ezekial stared at her for a bit before pulling out his gun and pointed at her, "Then should I just kill you to prevent her from getting it?"

The Spring Maiden winced at that thought before admitting the truth, "Technically yes, but the power would just transfer into some poor girl without any training, and Salem would just track them down. Would you really condemn another life to be hunted? Or would you just free me?"

Ezekial stared at the Spring Maiden, causing her to sweat from nervousness. Ezekial finally made a decision and pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed her cheek and crashed into the pole. The pole short-circuited, allowing her to feel her Aura well up within her once more. She quickly burned the chains off, palming her wrists to see if there were any marks.

"There. You're free to go," said Ezekial, turning around to drag his victim.

"Oh no you don't!" said the Spring Maiden as she suddenly grabbed him by his cloak, "I'm Natia Idoya, and you need to protect me from Salem until I'm fully healed. I have a cave not far from here with food and water, as well as a place for you to interrogate him."

"I don't need your help," snarled Ezekial, "I should've just killed you if you were going to be this annoying. I'm not hungry!"

Right after that, his stomach growled. He looked down to his traitorous stomach, reminding himself he really didn't need food.

"Too bad! It's your duty as a man to make sure I'm alright," said Natia as she dragged him to her cave, along with the helpless victim.

Ezekial could only sigh, "Fine. One day. Then you're on your own."

Twenty minutes later, Briar Rora appeared with her group, a young woman with dirty blonde hair and heterochromatic red and purple eyes appeared at the location just to see dead bodies and no Spring Maiden. She roared in anger before they quickly departed back to base.

* * *

 **Gasp! An all out attack by Salem on the Maidens! 2 of them now captured/taken, one in a hidden place, and the last one was rescued by an unlikely ally. Anyone wanna guess who Natia Idoya is supposed to be? I know technically it should be Vernal, but I wrote/planned this out way before the episode introduced her. Didn't want to change it. Also, anyone want to give a guess for Bal Bloo? Should be obvious.**

 **And what does that gaze mean for Adam and Wong!? Find out soon :)**

 **Hope you guys weren't too attached to Wong. He was my OC and I just killed him off! No, he will not be making a comeback into the story. Hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter.**

 **So Raven the spring maiden and she can transform? So she's technically more powerful than a regular Maiden T.T. Still, would've thought they'd use green fire instead of red based off the story of the maidens and their colors. Fall was orange, and Amber and Cinder's aura glow is orange. So based off that, I thought it be spring=green, summer=red, fall=orange, and winter=blue/white.**

 **So I managed to get Oscar Pine in here too. Yaaa.**


	55. Chapter 55 Aftermath of Akai Churripu

**Hope you enjoy! Time to find out what happened after Jaune and the others escaped.**

 **Thanks to my beta Readers TheMischieviousPuppyDog, UGX7, and Jauneforever as usual.**

* * *

Jaune suddenly sat up straight, waking from his unexpected sleep and looked around to see they were at Akai Chirippu. He saw his team was safe, though they all looked tired with reddened eyes. He turned his head to see who else was here. He saw team SSSN bandaging themselves up and Bal Bloo carrying Oscar while talking with some of the villagers.

"How did we escape?" asked Jaune as everyone turned their attention to him, "Is everyone alright? Wait, where's Wong?"

"Jaune," said Pyrrha quietly, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember getting ready to link up with all of my dragons. I was going to take a Dragon SeedAfter that... everything suddenly went dark."

" _ **Jaune. Wong sprayed some potent sleeping gas on your face that bypassed the Aura's protection completely. The body didn't even recognize it as a threat,"**_ stated Aryz.

"What happened?" asked Jaune once more firmly. None of his team could look at him to answer it, nor could team SSSN.

"The old man. He managed to teleport out of there with some weird oozing portal," said Bal Bool, finished with his chat, "Said he wanted to deal with them all alone. Crazy fella, but I had to respect his decision."

Jaune punched the floor in fury upon learning this. Why had Wong sacrificed himself like that? With the Dragon seed and link, he could've easily handled the situation!

" _ **Jaune. Whatever Wong did was his choice, and it is something you must respect. He did not want to cut your training short just so he could live. He obviously believes that you will lead a path to greatness. He sacrificed his life to make sure you could continue training,"**_ said Lung Wang softly.

Jaune clenched his fist, feeling powerless once more. He had all this power, but he still couldn't save everyone he cared.

"He also said one last thing," added Bal, "Protect your precious people."

Jaune snorted, that much was obvious, and even more now that he knew Salem had just gained the Fall Maiden powers.

"Neptune, is the SOS signal working?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah, it sent out the signal as soon as we got here, the Mistralian forces are on their way, though it might be a bit hard. You know, since being the world's widest-reaching territories," replied Neptune.

Jaune nodded, "Once we get reinforcements, we're heading back for Wong. There may be a chance he's still alive. If not... then we retrieve the body at least."

Nobody argued with that point and went to healing the injuries they suffered. An hour later, Mistralian forces arrived to help, as well as a surprise visitor.

"Professor Ozpin?"

"I am no longer a professor, merely an adviser. Just call me Ozpin, I don't mind," chuckled the former headmaster, "I was at Haven talking with Headmaster Lionheart when I heard the SOS signal from his office. Seeing how it was from team SSSN and knowing your team was also with them, I decided to help. After all, it's very rare that your teams would ever need help. So what happened?"

At that last sentence, Ozpin's gentle face became stern and business-like. This was no longer the gentle Ozpin who guided students as a professor. This was Ozpin the Huntsman, an experienced fighter, and leader.

Jaune nodded as his team quickly got into the airship. He sprouted his wings as he would fly there to lead the forces, while Pyrrha and the others would fill Ozpin in.

* * *

They flew for a bit before finally arriving at their destination. Bal Bloo and Oscar had decided to come with to pay their respects for Wong. As the ship descended, they saw craters everywhere and blood, but no bodies.

"They must've taken them with them," grunted Jaune as he looked for Wong.

"Over there!" shouted Ren.

Lying facedown on the floor was Wong, but his whole body had shriveled like an ancient prune. Not only that, his blades were still stabbed into his arms, and his hands were lost somewhere.

"Did they torture him?" asked Sun as he bent down, getting ready to gently lift his body. However, as soon as he touched the body, it began to break down and turn into dust.

"What the hell!?" shouted Sage as they all tried to keep Wong's body together. But it was fruitless as all of his body began to break down. A wind swept his remains away, leaving his swords behind.

"Renny, what's happening?" asked Nora, unable to comprehend the scene. "Human bodies don't do that!"

"I don't know," whispered Ren as he looked up, watching the remains of Wong fly away.

"Poison, maybe?" suggested Scarlet. "Maybe they did something to him."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin as he kneeled down, brushing his hand on the ground where Wong had been, "But it's hard to guess. The only thing I can conclude though is after you left, he took out many others before finally dying. Does he have any extended family still living?"

"Not that we know of. He visited a grave, but we're not sure if it was for his family. None of the locals know about him either," replied Jaune, "He was a private man."

"Speaking of extended family, I need your help with this kid," said Bal, pushing Oscar forward, "Found this kid being chased by Grimm. From what I know, his family was attacked and most likely gone. He was heading to the nearest settlement for help. I'd take him, but the next location I'm heading to... isn't very fond of humans."

Ozpin looked at Oscar directly and felt something pull at him. This boy... was creating a resonance with his own powers.

"What do you wish to do now, young man?"

Oscar looked up at Ozpin, hesitating for a bit, "I... don't know. I mean, I've always wanted to be more than a farmhand. But I wasn't sure what to do."

"Then what is your dream now? After everything you've seen in the past few days, what do you wish to do with your life?"

"... To become a Huntsman. To make sure no other families will suffer a Grimm attack like mine did. To ensure families don't get torn apart."

Seeing Oscar look up and declare such a statement with a burning fire inside his eyes, Ozpin grinned, "Then I will help you do so. Will you become my personal apprentice?"

"What!?" shouted almost everyone who heard this.

"This boy. I can feel it. His Aura, Semblance, his very soul is quite similar to mine. Who else better to help him than an old man with similar traits?" explained Ozpin.

"Are you serious?" asked Oscar. When Ozpin nodded, Oscar shouted "Y-yes! I accept Gladly!"

"Good. Now then, if there are any more reasons we should be here, I suggest we return to Haven. It is not safe to be here for too long."

Jaune glanced at Pyrrha, who nodded and used her Semblance to levitate the swords with them. They arrived back to Akai Chirippu, where Bal Bloo said his goodbyes.

"I gotta go. This event has to be reported immediately," said Bal as he left, "Oh. And don't be shocked if an envoy from the White Fang comes forward. It's a long time coming if you ask me."

Team SSSN and JNPR took the swords to the graveyard where they had seen Wong pray to earlier. They bowed their heads in respect for the man before placing the swords in a coffin. Jaune had purchased a piece of the land next to the grave to mark it as Wong's graveyard.

"I'm sorry we couldn't recover your body," whispered Jaune, "This is the next best thing we can do for you."

As the coffin was sealed and placed in the grave, Jaune linked up with Fafnir and had the dirt placed over the coffin, compressing it to allow a perfect burial. The teams left to take an airship back to Haven, saying their last goodbyes and thanks. As they left, the winds blew as a wisp of sand and dust still in the air made their way to the grave, circling around the tombstone before settling down in front of it.

 **Here lays Hong Wong. A beloved teacher of Team SSSN and JNPR. May his spirit find peace as his students proudly carry on his legacy.**

* * *

"Mr. Ryu-Long? May I ask why you have that weapon with you?" Ozpin inquired.

Jaune blinked and looked down at his waist before remembering that he had apprehended one of the Drac cultist's weapon.

"Oh right. I need to examine this liquid on the blade. Somehow, it was able to not only cut through my Aura even when linked to the dragons but also almost kill my summon. It cut through its scales like paper, though the dragon in question wasn't high in rank." He elaborated.

"That is worrying," frowned Ozpin, "If it can pierce through that, then it may be able to cause untold problems to others. Will you be sending it to the labs for analysis? I can get James to help out."

"Maybe later. I'll try my sources first before turning it over to you."

They soon made it back to Haven, where Lionheart was waiting. He was about to launch a series of questions when Ozpin stopped him.

"I know you want answers, but let them rest first. They need time to recover, both physically and mentally. They have just lost a beloved ally and teacher."

"The sooner we get answers, the better prepared we can be!" argued Lionheart.

"Then I can give you some. They told me enough to satisfy our curiosity, so leave them alone. Team SSSN, if you wouldn't mind, could you take Oscar to your room and allow him to bunk with you for the night? I have business with your headmaster that could take some time."

Sun nodded and gently guided Oscar away to the dorms.

"Saijo, prepare the communication room immediately, full security. Contact everyone within the group," said Ozpin. Lionheart gulped and nodded as he saw Ozpin's face change from kind to serious.

Once communication was established, Ozpin told everyone about what happened to the Fall Maiden "The Fall Maiden's in Salem's clutches already?" gaped Ironwood.

"Unfortunately, Jaune and the others were too late to save her. She had been drained completely. However, we do know the new Fall Maiden's identity. Have each of your security force be ready to identify the woman named Laire Delma. From Team RWBY, we can guess the potential Winter Maiden was to be Daki Nerys. Luckily, they managed to successfully prevent the stealing of the Winter Maiden's powers," said Ozpin as he closed his eyes.

"This is bad," gulped Dory, "My forces are trying to find the Summer Maiden as we speak. I hope we're not too late."

"The Spring Maiden's whereabouts are also currently unknown," added Goodwitch, "Qrow and Raven are looking for her now."

"I can only hope for the best," said Ozpin, "Hopefully, the other two are merely in hiding. Spread out and find them. Listen for any information about them."

Everyone nodded and was about to turn off the communicator when Ozpin piped up once more, "Oh, and I've taken an apprentice."

Ironwood had been sipping a cup of coffee when he heard this and spat it onto the screen, as did Lionheart. Dory fell back in her chair while Glynda just blinked a few times before glaring at Ozpin. He had a small smirk on his lips, but Glynda knew that was his trolling face.

Meanwhile...

Jaune sat in his room looking at the liquid that had been splashed on the weapon. Though it had dried, Jaune was able to scrape some of it into multiple test tubes before heading to sleep with Pyrrha by his side. He soon opened his eyes to see he was in his mindscape with his dragons.

" _ **Gigarock is fine,"**_ said Fafnir, _**"A few injuries that merely require rest."**_

" _ **But the fact that he was injured so easily is cause for worry,"**_ commented Aryz.

" _ **We know they put some sort of dark liquid on their weapon, but what could it be?"**_ said Alaerth.

" _ **It has to do with Drac,"**_ growled Othim, _**"I remember she was experimenting on something with her own eggs."**_

" _ **Whatever she was doing, we can't find out now,"**_ sighed Lung Wang, _**"If we want to know more, we're going to have to capture one of them."**_

" _ **There is another option,"**_ mused Andusk, _**"Though it may be risky."**_

" _ **You're not thinking of**_ _ **him**_ _ **are you?"**_ questioned Ryo-Wo.

" _ **Who else? He may hate all the dragons, but his hatred for Drac eclipses his own hate for Jaune and us. He may have the information we need,"**_ shot back Andusk.

"The Ezekiel dude?" asked Jaune, "I'd prefer to avoid him as much as possible. He seems to be the one that'll try to bite my head off even if I knock all his teeth out. Not to mention, I'd prefer my mates to be far away from him."

" _ **We're not asking you to actively find him,"**_ assured Lung Wang, _**"Just if you encounter him once again, see if you strike a small alliance. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, though do be careful that he doesn't stab you in the back while you're not paying attention."**_

"Of course. I'm going to have Junior try to analyze this with his contacts, though if all else fails, I'll have to send it to Ozpin," nodded Jaune.

* * *

Salem sipped on her favorite wine as she played the events through her mind. The Winter Maiden had escaped, which was disappointing. However, the Fall Maiden had been successfully stripped of her power and placed into Laire's, though she had to use the Grimm parasite to absorb it. She would have to be careful in dealing with Ruby Rose, as her silver eyes could easily destroy her, thanks to the method. With Grimm blood circulating within Laire by using the parasite, she was easy prey for Ruby.

The capture of the Summer Maiden was a brilliant strike against Ozpin, though. With Jazz and Emerald torturing her, Salem was sure that the current Summer Maiden would crumble and call Jazz her mistress. Then, they would kill her, and the maiden would think of Jazz and transfer the Summer Maiden's power naturally, thus eliminating the weakness of forcefully absorbing by Grimm Parasite. The only reason they used it was because it was quick and it ensured the previous Maiden didn't think of somebody else, as it had happened before from past experience.

However, they were supposed to grab the Fall Maiden without anyone knowing. The fact that there were survivors who coincidentally saw everything when Watts made Lionheart agree to not post missions near the place was concerning. Watts would be heading back to … discipline him.

But not only that, they apparently missed their chance on the Spring Maiden. It was confirmed that they had captured her, but something or someone intervened, and thus she had disappeared.

But she was a bit uneasy about her alliance with the so-called Dragon Slayers. From what she knew from Watt's network and Hazel's description of them from his report, they were actually a cult that worshiped a specific dragon called Drac. Who that dragon was, she wasn't sure. But the fact that they could damage a dragon was both a blessing and a curse. If they could do this, who was to say that they wouldn't betray her? And they might prove to have the power to do so.

"I'll have to keep a closer eye on them," mused Salem before summoning her seer orb, "Merlot, are you there?"

"Ah Mistress Salem," replied Merlot from the orb, "How can I help you?"

"Are your spybots ready?" asked Salem.

"Just managed to finish them now! Who do you want to spy on? Ozpin? Ruby Rose? Jaune Ryu-Long?"

"All in due time. But first, I need you to put those spybots on the Cult of Drac."

"Why spy on our allies?"

"Because, my dear Merlot, who's to say they won't betray us? We are not close to each other, just sharing the common enemy. Once Jaune Ryu-Long is gone, they may decide we are the bigger threat. Are you doubting my orders?"

"Of course not! I was merely surprised you would prioritize them over our enemies. But as my Lady wants, I will have them set up to spy on them."

"Excellent. And your other projects?"

"Going exceedingly well! The Grimm truly is the ultimate specimen. If only you would allow me to try out the elder Grimms and maybe the ancient Grimms."

"In due time, doctor, I may let you attempt one. But for now, focus on those and your robots. And try to analyze that liquid they used against the dragons. It may prove useful."

"Of course, my lady."

* * *

Adam was busy slicing through some practice dummies for practice. But every time he sliced, that man's face and words just wouldn't leave him.

Who was he? Why did he give him that look? How was he in any way even related to him?

Adam wracked his brain for any memories, but he never recalled ever interacting with any humans. Why would he? He hated all humans! He had been a damn slave back in Haven's rich district! He had been one of the slum kids who had been caught, only to be freed later by the White Fang. It was why he dedicated his life to the old White Fang, but their peaceful ways weren't enough. When Ghira had retired, he had been ecstatic. Living in Menagerie to recover and train had made him restless, and so when he left, he had been euphoric when Blake agreed to leave with him.

When he was going through his memory, he had a sudden flash of an old man with floppy dog ears but shook it off. That man was someone he deeply respected, as he had been the one to not only raise him but treated all his wounds and even taught him how to fight. Before Adam could convince him to come with him, though, the man disappeared.

"Forget it," mumbled Adam, "It doesn't matter. What matters is the future. Where Anima will belong to the Faunus. Where we will show those arrogant humans they can't shove us all into a small island and try to forget about us. An all those who opposed us will die."

Just then, Ilia had rushed into the training area. She had been busy spying and managing some new Blood Fang bases throughout Remnant when she heard Adam's mission hadn't gone smoothly.

"Adam! I heard you were injured! Are you alright? Do you need anything? Do you want me to get food? Or maybe... help you relieve yourself?" asked Ilia with a lustful gaze and seductive pose.

"Not now," replied Adam without a second thought, "I need to meditate on what happened on the mission. Nobody is to interrupt me unless if it's serious."

"But..."

"LEAVE!"

With a roar, Adam left the arena to head to a makeshift waterfall area, sitting at the edge of the water to concentrate. Ilia pouted but left the room to leave him in solitude.

* * *

"How are you feeling, Cobra?" asked Chernobog as he watched Cobra rise out from the healing tanks, courtesy of Merlot's invention.

Cobra glared at Chernobog, knowing fully well that he knew how he was feeling while he leaned against the tank, one head on his head from a splitting heading while using the other to help keep him standing.

"Yes, yes," chuckled Chernobog, "Be glad your weapon is still functional. That man grabbed it and almost crushed the transforming sequences inside while he pulled you towards him."

"I won't underestimate my enemies again," hissed Cobra, though two of his fangs were missing. Luckily, they found the old ones and would surgically plant them back in before using Aura to heal it.

"See that you don't. Word is that Ezekiel is on the loose," said Chernobog, "He would love nothing more than to find us and kill us. Now, go get dressed."

Cobra simply nodded and went to go do what he was told, after all, he was completely naked after all due to being in the healing chamber, multiple scars littered his body, but the one that stood out the most was a word that was cut and left to scar on him which was the word "SLAVE" right above his heart. It looked to be the oldest scar he had if one were to guess it would be roughly 17 years old, back when Cobra himself was but a child.

After Cobra got dressed, the two walked towards their base and opened the door, hundreds of worshipers were kneeling before a giant statue of a dragon.

* * *

"Been awhile since we flown together, sis," commented Qrow as he landed on a cliff. Raven appeared next to him, looking into the distance.

"The tribe should be around here," said Raven, looking around.

"So when were you planning to tell Ozpin you've had the Spring Maiden all this time?" asked Qrow as he took out his flask to drink.

"You knew?" asked Raven in surprise, "And didn't you promise to reduce your drinking habits?"

"It's Wike's harder lemonade," grunted Qrow, "Weak as shit compared to the whiskey I usually drink. Can't expect me to just give it up so easily. It's a gradual process. And I do keep tabs on the old tribe. Surprised you didn't use her to try to capture Jaune."

"Of course. You're the wizard's eyes. And it was too risky to use her right in the middle of Vacuo. Dory and several others would've found out," grumbled Raven before producing a whistle from the depths of her cleavage. She was about to whistle when Qrow stopped her.

"I don't think it'll be hard to find," said Qrow, pointing towards a specific patch of land.

Raven squinted her eyes before widening them in shock. She slashed into the air to create a portal for both of them to jump through and land right in the midst of the clearing. Laying on the ground were members of the Branawen tribe, all pretty much dead.

"What happened!? Who did this!?"

"Boss...,"

Both siblings whirled around to see Duncan, Raven's right-hand man, leaning on some trees, blood slowly spilling out of his stomach.

"Duncan! Hold on, I have a first aid kit," said Raven, digging out the equipment, but Duncan held out his hand.

"It's too late for me," coughed Duncan as he spat out blood, "Luckily, I can... still give you this. I stole it from the attackers."

He lifted his hand to show a badge of a green dragon.

"A new group? Did they take you out alone?" mused Raven, but Duncan shook his head.

"They had Blood Fang members and Grimm and... Cohorts of Salem."

"Is Natia alright!?"

"Natia was in trouble, but… someone came in and… saved her. Killed all of the others ruthlessly. A fine addition to our... tribe if we can convince him... Sorry boss, this is as far as I go."

As his life faded, he gave one last look at Qrow and flicked his middle finger at him. Duncan then slumped down the tree, lifeless and his eyes gazing into the distance.

"I'll miss you too," sighed Qrow as he took the badge, "I think Jaune might know what this is. He mentioned about some sort of evil dragon cult. C'mon sis, we should head over to Junior's to get some more info."

"You do that," said Raven as she drew her sword, "I have my tribe to avenge."

"Raven! Not now!" shouted Qrow as he grabbed her wrist, "We have more important things to do!"

"Like what? Like it or not, the tribe was my responsibility and still is! I may have agreed to spend time with you, Yang, Taiyang, and Ruby, but in the end, I am still the leader of the tribe. It is my duty to look over them, even if you don't feel like they are family."

"Use your head, sis!" hissed Qrow, "I'm talking about finding the Spring Maiden first. If Salem captures the Spring Maiden, then she has the chance to get a relic and gain even more power. Plus, if she is part of your tribe, wouldn't it be smarter to gather your forces first?"

Raven took a deep breath before sheathing her sword and agreeing to Qrow's plan. "Fine. But once we make sure Natia is safe and we have her put with Ozpin, I'm going hunting."

"You're not going to try to convince me or drag her with you, are you?" asked Qrow, taking note of the Spring Maiden's name.

"If they could overpower her, then I'm not taking the risk of losing her to Salem. Plus, I can escape easily."

"I don't know, with this new group, they got some pretty weird tech now. Let's find the maiden first before we do anything else."

"Qrow. You know that once we've secured her, I'm going to get revenge for the tribe. Even if it means never seeing Yang or any of the others again."

"I know, sis. I know. I can only hope to convince you before then."

The two of them nodded and transformed once more, flying away to track down the missing maiden.

* * *

Bal Bloo was whistling as he arrived at his destination. A hidden cave, where trees and other natural landscapes blocked the entrance. He entered in it, navigating through the cave easily before arriving at a clearing with quite a few buildings and a rather large castle. On each building, there was a flag bearing the insignia of the White Fang. To be more specific, Sienna's White Fang mark. Bal himself carried the White Fang mark of Ghira's White Fang. He never agreed with Sienna's policy of using violence to demand respect and left when she became the leader. However, it didn't stop him from visiting now, especially when he had some important messages.

"Halt!" shouted one of the guards, "How and what are you doing here, you filthy human?"

Bal had to roll his eyes at this accusation. Many, including quite a few Faunus, thought he was human until they saw his hands. It made life easy for him to walk through crowds, so he didn't really mind it. But for a Faunus guard who was supposed to be trained to protect high leader Khan to not recognize a fellow Faunus was quite disappointing. He assumed that this guard was quite new to guard duty and kept walking forward. Both guards lowered their spear at this.

"I said stop!" shouted the guard, not even giving Bal a warning before both guards tried to stab him.

Bal easily grabbed the spears by the shafts and lifted two guards in the air as they clung on to their spears.

"I need to speak with Sienna," announced Bal as he stared at the struggling guards.

"How dare you speak her name without respect, human!" snarled one of the guards.

"First, I'll call her as I want, since we're old friends," sighed Bal, "Second-"

"Liar! High Leader Khan has no human friends! She hates them!" shouted the second guard.

At this delay, there was already a gathering of guards surrounding him, their weapons pointed at Bal.

"Ok, this is just embarrassing," grumbled Bal, "I know you boys are new, but you really can't tell that I'm also a Faunus? Guess I'll just show you proof in a... beary painful way."

The guards blinked at the declaration before Bal tossed them into the air simultaneously. As they were falling towards the ground, Bal had set up so one was right behind the other and slammed a palm strike into the guard's face. As the approaching palm came close, the guard's last thought was that those pads on his hands looked cute and soft to be on a man like him before pain erupted in his face and blacked out.

Sienna Khan was a female Faunus with tiger ears, brown skin, and black stripes all over her arms with a Bindi on her forehead. She wore black clothes and a red cape and was sitting on her glorious chair, contemplating and designing more raids when the doors to the grand hall burst open. Two guards were sent flying through the door and hit the ground roughly four times while spinning before coming to a halt to her feet. She looked down at the guard and saw a familiar paw print indent on the guard's face and sighed while her four guards around her stood ready for action.

"Yo, Sienna! Guess who's back to visit?"

The four guards snarled as Bal walked in nonchalantly while being followed by multiple other guards to surround him, though they didn't know what to do. They all saw Bal was a Faunus, and when he had slammed his attack, the wind blew up his shirt to reveal the original White Fang symbol on his back. They weren't sure if this man was the enemy or not, as the guards in the entrance did deny him entrance and accused him of being a human.

Before the personal guards of Sienna attack, she raised her hand to stop them.

"Bal Bloo," said Sienna imperiously, "How long has it been since I've last seen you?"

"About the time you took leadership," shrugged Bal, "Did you already forget? That's not a good thing."

"No you idiot, that was just... urg," sighed Sienna, "Guards, pick up those two and send them to the infirmary and clear out."

The guards quickly obeyed, and soon, it was only Bal, Sienna, and her four guards.

"So, what do you want?" asked Sienna with a hint of sarcasm, "Another plead to stop the violence? Ghira would be so proud that his second in command followed his ways."

Bal merely glanced at her four guards for a second before clearing his throat, "I'd like a chance to speak to you in private, Sienna."

"How dare you speak to her without respect!" growled a guard, but Sienna raised her hand.

"Forget it. Bal has never been one to call anybody by their rightful title, and he won't change now. More importantly, why do you need to speak to me in private?"

Bal didn't answer, but Sienna wasn't looking at his face, but rather his fingers and feet. Bal's right toes curled twice and his left pinky and ring finger curled up for a second before lowering it down. Sienna blinked as she understood what Bal meant to say without actually voicing it.

"Fine. We'll use my personal room. Nobody is to disturb us while we talk."

"But, High Leader Khan! It's-"

"Don't worry. I can handle the big lug myself. Bal, no matter how are views digressed, is still an old friend of mine who would never think of using dirty tactics or treachery."

"As you wish, High Leader Khan," said all the guards before retreating away.

Sienna lead Bal to her personal private room, where she had the place meticulously swept for any bugs.

"Ok, Bal. Explain why you think there are traitors in my White Fang," growled Sienna as she whirled around to him, her eyes gleaming.

"I see you still remember our secret signals," grinned Bal, not even worried that Sienna was threatening him.

"How could I? It was drilled into my head, your thick head, Ghira's head, and developed by..."

Sienna stopped for the last part, bowing her head in remembrance as did Bal. Long before the creation of the White Fang, there were four people who were best friends. They weren't Huntsmen or Huntresses, but they were powerful enough to fight them. Their last friend was an Ape Faunus who always liked to nickname himself as King, and called the team Jungle even though the anagram was nowhere close to it. The four of them created the White Fang, and for the while, it went decently. Then Ghira got married and started to invest more time with his wife. Still, nobody blamed him as they went through peaceful protesting. However, everything changed on one fateful day.

* * *

 _Flashback_

" _This will never work," grumbled a much younger Sienna Khan, lifting up a sign at a protest at Vale._

" _Don't be like that," replied the young Bal. "Look, Ghira even brought his little daughter and wife to the rally!"_

" _Yes, but the humans will never respect us if we don't do something drastic!"_

 _The two began to argue when orange_ _hairy_ _hands wrapped around both of them._

" _Now what's got you both in such a tizzle?" asked King_

" _Sienna thinks this won't work," answered Bal._

" _You have to admit, King, it_ _won't_ _! All this effort and humans still look down at us. Look at the SDC! Abusing Faunus rights and not even looking remotely sorry. We fight in the Great War, and all we get is a lousy island where they try to_ _deport_ _us. It's barely inhabitable! If we don't do something, then in the future years, our kind will be looked down and laughed while we struggle to survive! I want a future where us Faunus are looked as equals!"_

" _And we will! True, Ghira's way is going slow, but it's making some difference. I admit, it's frustrating, but I've been meaning to talk to Ghira about doing something a bit more. Mind you, it's not drastic like-"_

 _King didn't get to finish as gunshots suddenly rang in the air. The Faunus screamed in terror as they ran from the gunshots. King,_ _Sienna, and Bal rushed towards the source. Ghira ran towards it as well, but King shouted Ghira to get back and protect his family. Ghira looked frustrated between duty and family, but both Bal and Sienna assured him they would be alright. As they approached the source, they saw several drunk human males with guns firing at the fleeing Faunus with wild abandon. Sienna growled as she noticed some of them had badges and rather rich suits, signifying they were the wealthy class of Mistral and Atlas. Most likely drunk heirs who thought it would be funny to kill some Faunus without repercussions, as they could use their money and 'diplomatic' immunity to save themselves. Well, that immunity didn't stop fists from flying into their faces. The three of them quickly disabled the attackers before kicking them out of the place._

 _However, it was there the ugly nature of reality kicked in._ _The three of them were deemed dangerous and unstable, and the White Fang was under fire from many of the_ _wealthy elite_ _. Nobody seemed to pay attention to the fact it was the human that started it. The rich manipulated the story to earn sympathy from others, painting them as the vile perpetrators._

 _It was then that King made a deal. He, as one of the head leaders, would come clean and allow himself to be arrested while Bal and Sienna would be allowed to go free. The two argued, but King apologized before knocking them out._

 _By the time the two woke up, it was too late. King had been arrested, and with some money greasing and corruption of the systems, was executed. This was what caused Sienna to pursue violence as the key. Peace spread complacency of their position as second or third class citizens. Raising her voice, she vowed for violence. Many Faunus in the White Fang agreed with her, and soon she became the High Leader to replace Ghira, who had decided to retire to rule Kuo Kuana_ _when_ _the previous mayor died. Bal had departed from the White Fang, feeling lost and decided to see what he could do, traveling the wilds._

 _Flashback_ _E_ _nds_

* * *

"Enough," said Sienna as she shook her head to clear her thoughts, "The past is the past. Why are you here?"

Bal took out his Scroll, placing it on the holo-table before pulling out some files.

"Ghira was in contact with me recently. With Adam free, the Blood Fang is gathering power."

"So? This doesn't concern the White Fang. I have announced to all that I do not approve of his ways. I may resort to violence against humans to demand respect, but trying to destroy a Huntsmen Academy and murder innocent people goes too far. Not only that but because of the destruction of the CCT, communications have slowed. We are lucky that repairs are going well because of that Ryu-Long man. To which, I am not even sure if he is a Faunus or not. I don't recall any of the race having wings."

"He's not," answered Bal, "I just met him a few days ago. He's human."

"A pity. He would've served well as another pillar of strength for the White Fang if he was one and joined us."

"That's not the problem I want to discuss. What I want to say is that Ghira sent me some files saying there are traitors loyal to Adam within the White Fang."

Sienna remained silent on this for a bit to contemplate the information. "And why is this a concern of mine?"

Bal didn't answer, but rather tapped a few buttons to call someone. A screen popped up to reveal Ghira Belladonna sitting in front of his desk.

"Sienna," said Ghira roughly.

"Ghira," replied Sienna coldly, "Where's Kali?"

"She's busy," replied Ghira, "Let's get down to business first. Bal has shown you the files?"

"Some of it," admitted Sienna, "They do worry me a little, but rest assured, I am not one to go down easily."

"I know you aren't, but that was before I decided to use Jaune's little underground network," replied Ghira.

"You know Jaune personally?"

"Hard not to. He not only donated 15,000 Lien for the village, but he's a rather close friend of my daughter."

"Ah, young Blake. It's good to hear that she's close to him... wait did you say 15,000 Lien!?"

"Yes, but forget about that. I want to focus on what I want to address now. From what I know, the Albain brothers are spies for them."

"Then I'll dispose of them immediately."

"Forget that. My problem is that Adam was viewed as an inspiration for many in the White Fang during your rule. He helped cripple Beacon and would have destroyed it had Jaune and the others not intervened. But even with that loss, he is still admired by many under your rule. And it doesn't help the Albain brothers keep spreading the word about the Blood Fang being able to truly bring the Faunus race to what he thinks is the proper position: above the humans. You know damn well I created the White Fang with you all for equality, not to be the abusers and get revenge. Such a path would only bring a cycle of violence for both humans and Faunus. And the Grimm will prey on such weakness, and wipe us all out if we are not careful. And even with your violent views, many think it's not enough and that Adam's way is more effective. Hasn't recruitment for the White Fang dropped?"

Sienna quickly looked at her own scroll to check and saw that Ghira's statement was true. Recruitment had dropped, but she thought it was because of Adam's vicious ways that caused such a thing.

"Sienna. As an old friend of yours, trust me when I say be careful. Adam may come marching in and demand you to bow before him. He may even kill you and blame it on a human or a Huntsman spy to make you a martyr for a cause. And your guards will not protect you because there is a chance they want to follow Adam. Make plans in case of such treachery."

"Agreed. Curiously, how did you find about all this?"

"Ilia, a previous member, dropped her Scroll that contained plans. One of them gave a rough outline of bringing the White Fang under Adam. From there, Jaune's information network helped out."

"Hmm, is it possible that I can have access to that network?"

"That might be hard since the leader of it is a human. And knowing your hatred for them...Yeah. But if you want it, for once in your life, swallow your pride. Pride is not worth risking your life."

Sienna remained silent at this as Bal also gave a plea. She remembered King swallowing his own pride to save her, though she was now one of the most wanted women in the world.

"...Fine. For once, I will... accept help from a human."

"Thank you, old friend," said Ghira, "If something does go wrong, head over to Menagerie immediately. You are always welcomed here. Bal, stick with Sienna for a bit if you can. The same goes for you, if you need help, come here. Both of you are my valued friends, even if we don't see eye to eye. Sienna, I'm sending the Scroll number over now of the people that might help you."

"Speaking of people, I actually met Jaune a few days ago," cut in Bal.

"Oh? And how is he doing?"

"... Not too sure. They were on a mission that went sour. Adam and several others were trying to kill them."

"What!? Bal, tell me everything now."

And so Bal told his tale about the battle, ending with Wong sacrificing his life to ensure their safety.

Ghira remained silent at this while Sienna looked a bit worried. If what Bal said was true, then Adam had some serious firepower, even if he was working with humans. But to work with the Grimm... that was beyond even her.

"... Did this Wong person have a broadsword with black on one edge and white on the other?" asked Ghira after a moment of silence.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"If it's who I think it is... then this irony at its cruelest. It doesn't matter, at least for now. I should hang up soon, Kali will be back soon."

Sienna nodded and as Ghira was about to hang up, she added, "It was... nice to see some old faces again."

Ghira paused for a second before nodding and hung up.

"So... are you going to call them now?" asked Bal.

"Might as well," grumbled Sienna as she tapped the number in.

The dial tone went on for about 30 seconds before a face revealed itself.

"Why hello there! Didn't think I'd be working with the White Fang again."

On the screen was a man with orange hair and a fancy hat. It was Roman Torchwick.

* * *

A few days after the meeting, Saijou 'Leo' Lionheart was nervously walking into a secret room that nobody but Arthur Watts knew, and he was walking with him. Soon, they arrived at a secure location where the walls were plated stone and steel. Amongst the wall were high emitters that would cancel any noises made within the room so nobody could hear what Leo and Watts were about to say. In the middle of the room was the Grimm Seer Orb floating with its tentacles barely touching the ground. As soon as the door closed, the orb glowed.

"My mistress," stuttered Leo, "Are you there?"

The orb grew cloudy before a clear picture of Salem appeared before his eyes.

"Leo. How nice to see you."

Before Leo could reply, Salem's finger twitched, and one of the orb's tentacles suddenly wrapped around Leo's throat, choking him.

"Tell me, Leo. What exactly were two teams of Huntsmen and Huntresses doing near Akai Chirippu when I had Arthur clearly tell you not to have any over there? And how an old man managed to deal a crippling blow to some of my forces? We're lucky that Lara was able to recover."

Leo tried to answer, but the tentacle constricting his throat was making it difficult talk or breath. Arthur watched in amusement before deciding to intervene.

"Lionheart did take all missions at Akai Chirippu off the missions board and even other villages nearby. However, from what the records show, the old man had taken them, claiming it to be a training trip while doubling as a bodyguard job. He failed to place the location, therefore bypassing the red markers. As you know, bodyguard jobs do not have to specify exactly where they need to go."

"I see," nodded Salem, "But the fact remains that you've disappointed me, Leo. Tell me, exactly what use are you to me now that I have the Fall Maiden? Especially since the relic is inside Haven Academy, and you are in the way. Don't think I didn't notice you leaking information to Ozpin's side. I merely overlooked it as it played out well within my plans."

"Better answer her, Leo," sneered Arthur, "It's very easy to make your death seem like a terrible accident. And since I already know this academy quite well, it will be a cinch to find the room where the relic is, with the Fall Maiden in hand."

The relics were also something created by the two brothers, the god of light and god of darkness. Before they left Remnant, they created this in secret. Not even the dragons knew of this. These relics were choice, knowledge, creation, and destruction. In the great war, it was said that the King of Vale used these relics to end the war when it became too much. After witnessing its power, the relics were separated and given to each kingdom, where the Huntsman Academy was built right over the vault to protect it from being abused. But there was another defense to the vault beside being guarded by trained Huntsmen 24/7.

The relics were not only in a secure vault that the Headmasters knew, but the security was based on the Aura signatures of the four Maidens. It was decided that the Headmasters and Headmistress would only know the location, as if they were allowed in the vault, the temptation would be too much. What better way than to have the Maidens as the keyholders, who would travel through Remnant in secret?

As the tentacle slackened for Leo to breathe and talk for a second, Leo shouted, "Ozpin has taken an apprentice!"

That caused both Salem and Arthur to blink in surprise.

"The wizard has taken one? You're sure it's not offering a place in Beacon?" asked Arthur with unbridled curiosity.

"No. He told all of us during the Inner Group's meeting that he was taking one. He didn't specify, but I think I might know who he is. An additional young boy came back from the said mission. I don't know who, some orphaned farm boy."

"So Ozpin has decided to expand," murmured Salem, "This is very important news. Arthur, try to find out more about this new apprentice. Leo... you'll live to see another day. But make no mistakes. We will get the relic we want. Then we will leave Mistral alone, as promised."

Leo could only massage his throat as his mind went into overdrive. All the information he had carefully leaked had been monitored without him noticing!? Then who was to say that Ozpin also knew of his job spying for Salem? Putting on a mask, Leo thanked Salem for her mercy.

"Good. Leo, leave us for a moment while I talk with Arthur for a bit."

Leo obeyed and quickly left, trying to formulate a plan. If he could just get Jaune to stay, then his presence alone would be enough to deter Salem from acting. He was no fool. He knew with the alliance of the Blood Fang, Adam wanted Mistral to fall so he could rule it for the Faunus. He, Saijou Lionheart, would not allow Haven and Mistral to fall like Beacon and Vale had almost did! Mistral was under his watch!

Arthur watched Lionheart leave before turning back to Salem. "Are you really going to keep that promise? I thought you promised Taurus the destruction of Mistral for his kingdom and full kingdom alliance to you when he pledged his allegiance to you."

"I intend to carry out my part of the bargain. As you know, the Blood Fang is part of our alliance, and thus cannot touch Mistral. However… the White Fang is not. Adam has promised to have the White Fang see our way, and they will be the one to attack Haven. If the Blood Fang decides to join the White Fang, along with any weapons they might mysteriously receive, then so be it. With so much fear during such time, the Grimm will be attracted to such an event. I myself will not command the Grimm, but nor will I hold them back, as I am to keep my hand clean. Holding them back would break our bargain. Therefore, I have fulfilled my promise to Leo."

"Ingenious, if I do say so myself, my lady. But did you need me for something else?"

"My dear doctor, how perceptive you are. I need you to make sure Jaune Ryu-Long will not be here when we get the relic. The Academy semester should be ending soon, giving the students a two-week break. Convince him to return to Beacon instead of continuing his education here. Make Leo seem unreliable and suspicious. While you're at it, find more information about Ozpin's apprentice. We will take the relic within the two week break period. Adam intends to convince Sienna Khan within that time frame."

"It will be done, my lady," bowed Arthur, "But might I ask a question?"

"You may," said Salem, raising her hand to let him proceed.

"Why are you so worried about the boy? Sure the dragons may be a threat, but surely not enough to deal with the Maiden and the relic at the same time."

Salem closed her eyes for a bit before explaining, "The brothers created the relics of unimaginable power for one of their creations to use, whether humanity or Grimm. Whoever holds them, can change the world. The dragons, however, are not affected by this. Only with all four relics would the dragons even begin to worry. But still, the black dragon we saw back at Vale would merely sneer at this power before destroying it."

"Then how will we handle them?"

"We let our dear dragon slayers do the job. Once both sides are weakened, then we swoop in and take care of them in one strike. But we must get the relics before we do so. And Jaune Ryu-Long has proven that he can handle a single Maiden alone. If they get wind of this, then Ozpin may intervene, and it becomes infinitely harder."

"I see. Then I will do my best, my lady."

"See that you do. You have yet to disappoint me. I expect great things from you," said Salem as the orb's light diminished.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Felt like Sienna and the others needed some sort of backstory to why she turned for violence. Anyways, say goodbye to Wong. He dead.**

 **Oscar Pine becomes Ozpin's apprentice! Woot, who saw that coming muhaha. Also, alliances! Salem is allied with them, but she doesn't trust them. Very like her, in my opinion.**

 **So... been busy playing ff15, borrowed it from my friend. It's pretty decent. No spoilers though. Also released my newest story, History Strongest Disciple Again? Check it out on my profile. I even got Third Fang to take a look over the chapter and give advice. And not only that, he's also given a shout out to it! So it's only fair that I say this.**

 **Praise the Log!**

 **And finally, woot hit pass 2k fav! I'm so happy! Also, my other story Mending the Knots almost hit 1k follows, so yay! Thanks for reading, and review if you can to see what I can improve on, or even just compliment me! Every one counts!**


	56. Chapter 56 Wills and Plans

**Hello Everyone! I've made a decision and have decided to remove all my stories and quit writing... Yea no I can't even say that with a straight face. April Fools etc etc.**

 **Anyways reason why it took much longer than my usual update rate is due to planning, life, and trying to improve this chapter a bit, considering the last chapter didn't seem to do so hot. Hopefully, this one will get more reviews.**

 **Enjoy and Review if you can! Whether it's criticism or just compliments!**

A few days had passed since the mission with both Teams JNPR and SSSN looking quite down. The semester would be ending soon, and then they would have their two-week break. During those days, Lionheart was trying his best to keep Jaune at the academy, almost begging and adding additional bribes such as extra room, food, and high priority on mission choices and events. On another hand, he kept getting secret notes telling him not to trust Lionheart and even some small blackmail materials.

"And what's worse is I don't even know who's doing this," sighed Jaune as he read another note highlighting Lionheart's cowardly acts from his past. He was sitting on his bed with his team in a conference.

"I don't like how the headmaster was trying to bring my family into this," frowned Pyrrha, "My family has accepted my path and the fact I'm planning to be with Jaune."

"Me and Ren also got some weird mail. Something about a scholarship through the SDC science division if we stayed," chirped Nora.

"I cannot help but feel Lionheart is in some sort of trouble, bad enough that he needs us to stay," observed Ren, "Or more specifically, for Jaune to stay. He may try to push for a leader switch and put Jaune with another team, one with teammates that wish to stay here."

"He wouldn't go that far... would he?" thought Jaune.

"If he tries, then I'll break his knees!" shouted Nora, wielding her mighty hammer.

Before they managed even managed to talk more about the subject, there was a knock on the door. Jaune quickly opened it to see the local mailman carrying a trolley of boxes.

"Delivery for Jaune Ryu-Long!"

"Umm, thanks," sweat dropped Jaune as the mailman pushed the trolley into the room before producing out his Scroll to have Jaune sign it. Jaune looked at the trolley with suspicion before signing it. The mailman saluted and walked away, whistling a song as he did.

"Anyone want to guess this package is from Lionheart or the stranger?" asked Jaune.

"I say throw it all out!" voted Nora.

"We don't know what's in this. For all we know, it could be from a friend," reminded Ren.

"But from whom? We were just talking with team RWBY and NDGO two days ago, and none of them said anything about delivering stuff," said Pyrrha.

"I don't think it's from Junior, either," mused Jaune, "He would've made the delivery personally. Either way, there's only one way to find out."

Jaune cautiously ripped the tape off the top box and opened it, ready to jump out the window if needed. Instead, all he saw was a Scroll flash drive surrounded by Styrofoam balls, along with a paper that said 'Watch this first.'

"What do you think?" asked Jaune.

"There doesn't seem to be any harm, so let's just watch it. We could put it on a private computer room in the library," suggested Pyrrha.

Unsure what to do with the other two boxes and whether to open them, they opted to carry it to the library and quickly secured a room to watch it in. Nora insisted on bringing popcorn and drinks for this, claiming it could be a movie. They dimmed the lights and shut the door as Jaune inserted the flash drive into the holo-screen. What they saw completely surprised them.

"Hello? Is this on? Is it recording?"

It was Wong, looking at his own scroll, trying to fiddle around with the recording program.

"Blasted thing. Never learned how to use this. I see a red flashing light."

Jaune quickly paused the recording and speed dialed Sun.

"Sun, you busy? No? Then get over to the library now! Yes, I know you try to avoid the library if you can, but this is important. Bring your whole team now! Wong left us a message!"

Almost half a minute later, Team SSSN ran through the door and quickly sat down as Jaune hit the play button again.

"Hello? Hellooooooo….. ok it's on, screw it. Feh, if it doesn't record, I have it in writing in another box. Well, if you're seeing this," started Wong, "I'm dead. Bluntly put, I went out in style. But enough about that, I didn't make this about my passing. The boxes were to go to you all when it was confirmed I didn't return to the bank to check them. What I want to tell you all is keep training and don't lose your friends if you can avoid it. Of course, in life, there are times when it is just unavoidable. My advice? Keep living and don't look back in misery. I may die, but I sure don't want you all to mope about my death. It's just part of the job as Huntsmen and Huntresses. To be used to death and seemingly impossible situations. Use this as a chance to learn and move on. Use it to become stronger not only physically, but mentally as well."

Wong took a quick breath before continuing on, "Anyways, this video is my will in case I die. Jaune, I've taught you the Aura cuff techniques, but there are two others I didn't get the chance to teach or put on others. In one of the boxes is the technique and instruction on how to apply it to someone. However, if whoever chooses one of the other training styles, they will never be able to choose the other one, as they cannot overlap. I may have made the decision for you, but in my opinion, the Aura cuffs are the one most suitable for you. I will have notes on who should take what, but the choice is yours."

Wong leaned back on the coach, taking a sip of his tea, "I never thought I'd say this, but I enjoyed torturing- er, training you brats for a while. Especially that Neptune kid."

"Hey!" shouted Neptune, but with no real anger.

"You all have a lot of potential. No doubt Lionheart will try to keep you here to make sure the city, and by extension himself, is safe. What I say may shock some of you, but Lionheart is not the man he seems. He used to be brave in the past, but over the years something happened that made him a coward. Of course, nobody would listen to this old man, so I listened to the wind. Letting it tell me rumors and secrets while I observed from my spot. A suspicious man keeps visiting him, and Lionheart always looks worse for the wear after each meeting."

Wong took a sip of water before continuing "I can't be sure, but I have a feeling either Lionheart is being blackmailed, or he now serves somebody else. I am aware of the Headmasters or Headmistresses of each Huntsmen Academy all know of the Four Maidens. Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall. And from my observations, they have formed their little secret group, trying to stamp out the information about the Maidens. For the most part, it worked, and the legends faded in time. But as I said, not all legends will fade from the minds of everyone. From what I can guess, Lionheart is double-crossing his little entourage. I can't be sure, but be careful around him and the man that always seems to be with him. Has a funny little mustache, pretty thin and weedy, and tends to wear gray."

"I think I know who's he talking about," gasped Jaune.

"Feh, but in the end, I can only say, don't spend your time moping about me. I couldn't save my family. Don't make that happen to yours. I'd rather you all keep moving in your path. Don't stagnant, and don't look back too much. Keep practicing, as I can only take you so far. It's time for my eternal rest."

In the room, everyone tried their best not to shed tears as they nodded.

"Well. Bye."

Scarlet was about to stand when Sun stopped him and nodded towards the holo-screen.

"One more thing! The third box you got contains a gift I got you all. Whether you like or not, doesn't matter. Can't return it, because I'm dead!"

The screen froze before blacking out, signifying the end of it.

They were all silent for a bit as if to pay respect for Wong before Jaune stood up.

"He's right. We've been moping for too long. We should move forward like he wanted us to. I can just imagine him whacking our heads, telling us to get over it."

"Yeah!" said Sun, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going ahead on my path! I won't let something like this happen to my team and my friends!"

"That's right!" shouted Neptune.

"We should take his death as something to push us forward," commented Ren.

"I say we bust out the book and start using their training techniques now," said Sage as he eyed one of the boxes.

"We should see what Wong bought for us before anything," said Pyrrha.

They all nodded and opened the last box and saw it was an advanced weapons maintenance kit for all of them, including Dust polish and removal for gun barrels.

"Whoa, this can't have been cheap," said Scarlet in awe, "I recognize some of these brands, and they cost a fortune. To get one for all of us is... well, very expensive."

"Not only that, but it seems each one has been custom made for each of us," added Sage, "Some of us have whetstones while others don't."

They opened the last box to see several scrolls and books. The top 3 scrolls were what they were most eager, as it contained the training seals. The other books were all theories about various fighting styles, something that was quite useful.

"Should we all put on a seal?" asked Sun.

"Better not," frowned Jaune, "It wouldn't bode well for us if all of us was handicapped."

"Hey, another note!" observed Nora.

 _One more thing! Do NOT put the training seal on everyone all at once._

"Well, there's that answer," noted Ren.

"Let's see what the other seals do," advised Pyrrha, "I could probably go last because of the Mate Mark from Jaune.

" ** _Advisable,"_** added Alaerth, **_"The mark boosted her Aura control and reserves quite a bit."_**

Jaune quickly read through the scrolls and found that besides the Aura cuff technique, there was the Resistance sea, which was more used to empower the muscles to grow denser and trained on Aura streaming through the body, though not as much as the other two. Then there was the other version of the Aura cuff. Jaune's version was applying weights on his Aura reserve, forcing his Aura reserves to grow. The other version apparently granted the user better Aura control, and according to the notes, allowed the user to be able to reflect some Aura based attacks if their control was good enough.

"Something similar to how Wong managed to null Adam's Moonslice," mused Ren.

"So, who's going first?" asked Jaune, "No offense to my team, but I don't think my team should have another one shackled until I'm at least 80% combat ready."

"None taken," grinned Nora.

"It would be foolish to handicap ourselves while you are weak at the moment. We would be unable to protect or help you if we are unable to bring forth our full strength," agreed Ren.

"According to the notes, Wong suggested either Sage or Scarlet for the Resistance seal first," said Pyrrha, looking at the scroll.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement when Neptune stepped forward first.

"I think... Sun should get the first seal, and it should be the Aura cuffs, same as yours."

"Neptune?" asked Sun in shock.

"His use of clones, armor, and weapon, that stuff consumes a lot of his Aura, and I don't think being able to control the flow of his Aura is going to help," continued Neptune, "Better for him to increase his reserve as soon as possible."

Sage and Scarlet glanced at each other before nodding in agreement with Neptune's conclusion. They could wait if needed.

"I appreciate the thought, but from what Jaune and Wong say, these cuffs will bring my reserves way down. I'll be almost helpless for the while. Jaune was able to handle it and still be able to bring out at least 30% in the beginning, but I wouldn't be surprised if I could only use 10%! Heck, I might suffer Aura break during the day just by walking! I don't want to burden you guys, it might be too much for you all, no offense, and I refuse to make all of you suffer because of me," stated Sun, folding his arms together, as if this was over.

"True, it might be too much," nodded Neptune before looking at Jaune, "But that can be remedied. Jaune, you said you had one more Dragon Mark to give? I'm willing to take it, even though it means becoming one of your retainers. You're not a jerk, and I know how you tried to help Weiss with the Beacon dance and all. I was the biggest jerk to Weiss. I know you were dating her before you two broke up because she wanted to date me, and I rebuffed her, thinking I didn't want anyone to see my lack of dancing skills and humiliate myself while it worked out in the end, that's not the point. I'm willing to throw away my coolness if it means helping others and never losing them."

Everyone blinked before realizing that Wong's death had a much more profound effect on Neptune than they realized. Here was a man willing to throw away what he prided himself in to make sure he wouldn't lose what was truly important.

"Are you sure?" asked Jaune, "You know what it means to accept the Dragon mark."

"I'm sure," stated Neptune, "Sun has it, and you haven't restricted him much. If anything, he's improved, though I wish you'd make an order to have him stop stealing stuff. The guy's a kleptomaniac."

"Hey!" shouted Sun.

"You know it's true," said Sage, as he and Scarlet rolled their eyes in sync.

"My own team," cried Sun as he sat down in the corner, assuming a fetal position.

"Well, then, shall we do it now?" asked Jaune, putting his hand out.

Neptune nodded in response and clasped Jaune's hand in reply.

 _"In my hands, I trust you to with my blessing. To defend those who cannot do so, and to aid my clan. To be able to protect those worthy with your new power. Will you do so, Neptune Vasilias?"_

"I will."

 _"Then by my power and contracts, I bless you with Ryo-Wo's Dragon's Mark. Prove to me you are worthy of his mark."_

Neptune felt it burn into his body part as the ritual finished.

"Umm, the place where the mark is. Is it supposed to burn slightly?" asked Neptune.

Both Ren and Nora confirmed it while Sun was still in his little corner.

"Oh... this is awkward where the location of my mark is then."

"Umm... where is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"I think... it might be on my left butt cheek!"

"What!?" they all shouted.

" ** _Ryo-Wo? Do you have something to say?"_** asked Othim.

" ** _I didn't choose that spot!"_** shouted Ryo-Wo, **_"You know as well as I do that we don't control the placement of the Dragon marks! And the Mate Marks are always above the left chest, over the heart, otherwise, I know where you'd put it on a female!"_**

" ** _Of course! Who wouldn't want to put it there!"_** exclaimed Othim, **_"Come, and enter the dragon's cave of wonders! Explore through the mystical channels as the marks are placed right on top of a female's v-"_**

Othim didn't get to finish as he found six dragon fists simultaneously landing on his face.

Neptune briefly went into another private room to see where the mark was before returning, stating a false alarm, and that the mark was actually on his left back thigh. Jaune quickly read over the Aura cuff technique one more time before getting ready to apply it on Sun when they heard a knock on the door. Pyrrha opened it to reveal Ozpin and his newest disciple, Oscar Pine.

"Ah, Team JNPR and Team SSSN. I was hoping to find you all before I left for Beacon. And Jaune, thank you for recommending Hephaestus. He made a fine weapon for Oscar," stated Ozpin as Oscar raised his new weapon. The design was similar but obviously smaller as to suit his size. The handle was orange with a white polish, while the stick itself was brown.

"Team SSSN, you requested to transfer to Beacon next semester. I will be happy to accept you as future students."

Team SSSN all made a fist pump at this while Ozpin turned to Jaune.

"Is there somewhere we can speak... privately? I'm afraid just a library private room won't be enough for what I need to discuss."

Jaune glanced at his team before making a decision.

"Sun, can you and the others stand watch for now? Help clean up this place a bit and put the books and scrolls back into the boxes. I'll do the cuffs later. Nora, help them out. Pyrrha, Ren, you're with me. Hea-... Ozpin, please sit down and hold out your hand."

Ozpin looked slightly confused but ordered Oscar to help out. As SSSN and Nora began to clean up, Ren and Pyrrha quickly put their hand on Jaune's shoulder while Jane grabbed Ozpin's hand and dragged them all into his mindscape.

Ozpin blinked, unused to the sudden sensation as well as seeing everything around him turn to darkness.

"Where... are we?" asked Ozpin.

"Inside my mindscape," said Jaune, "I think this meeting is long overdue."

" ** _Indeed_**.

Ozpin turned around to see seven dragons towering over him. He didn't visibly jump or twitch, but one could see his left pinky move very slightly.

"So this is who Doctor Oobleck has been... eager to meet. It is an honor to meet the dragons that have taken care of Jaune and saved Vale."

The dragons returned the greetings, though Aryz was a little cold. She didn't like the fact Ozpin had burdened a young maiden with such a heavy choice when it should've been their job. Ozpin had apologized for the event, but Aryz had always been the most protective one amongst the dragons.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" asked Jaune.

"Are you planning to return to Beacon after this semester? Saijou has been saying that you would be staying here."

"Headmaster Lionheart has been very persistent, and I don't know why. He's even resorted to emotional blackmail." Pyrrha revealed.

"What? That doesn't sound like him at all." Ozpin said, confused.

"Yes, but lately, I've already been receiving weird packages not to trust him. It's as if one side wants me to stay, and another wants me not to be there." Jaune said.

As Ozpin pondered about this, Ren chipped in, "Our Master Wong told us that there was a chance Lionheart was being blackmailed. He knows of your group, and suspects that Lionheart is a double agent."

Ozpin froze at this before taking a deep breath.

"I had my suspicions about the double agent was in Mistral, someone high in the chain of command, but for Lionheart to be the traitor... Tell me, what made you think it's Lionheart and not his deputy Headmaster? Or not any of the other Headmasters, trying to frame Mistral? Or even me?"

"Wong mentioned a suspicions man that would meet with Lionheart. I believe his name was Arthur Watts," replied Jaune, "Plus, the other headmasters, from my impression... Ironwood would rather shoot himself than betray humanity. Dew's aunt, Dory, would be more likely to jam her high heels into somebody's ass for suggesting such a thing. You have Headmaster Goodwitch to kick you back in place, and even then, you have always tried to find the best possible path for humanity. Even if you did pressure my mate into becoming the next Fall Maiden. Lionheart, however, doesn't seem to show as much courage. Even Wong noted that Lionheart's personality changed after a certain visit."

"Arthur Watts," mused Ozpin, "I know of him. A brilliant programmer and psychologist. He helps the police every now and then to catch criminals. If he is part of Salem's group, then this got much harder. We already know Merlot, Hazel, and Tyrian work for Salem."

"Was there anything else you were going to ask?" asked Pyrrha.

"Oh, yes. When the next semester start, the Vale council wanted to know if it was possible to retake Mt. Glenn. Ever since you summoned that black dragon the Grimm have been giving Vale a wide berth. They want you to help lead the expedition of expanding Vale's borders. I will also be accompanying the expedition, as I am no longer restricted as before, being a Headmaster. No more of the accursed paperwork, too. Also, repairs have been going great thanks to Mr. Xiong, his crew, and generous donations. It is said he now has a hand in quite a lot of businesses."

"Well, I was already planning to head back to Beacon, but what should we do about this situation? Lionheart seems desperate now." Jaune noted.

Ozpin put his hand to his chin as if to think.

" ** _I may have an idea that will help,"_** said Lung Wang suddenly, **_"Care to listen?"_**

Lung Wang quickly explained his plan, causing them all to nod in agreement.

"Quite the strategist, Lung Wang," said Ozpin, giving him a bow.

"So then we follow this plan, then?" asked Ren.

"Sounds like a grand idea," nodded Pyrrha.

"Alright, we execute this plan soon," said Jaune before taking them all out of their mindscape. Just before they did so, Lung Wang asked to meet with Ozpin one more time about a certain legend. Ozpin blinked but nodded in reply.

* * *

Sienna Khan sat in her chair, pondering about her next plans for the White Fang. She had heard rumors about the SDC being 'nice' and immediately sent agents to see if it wasn't just the wretched devil Schnee just spreading propaganda to make himself look good as usual. To her surprise, the agents reported back, saying it was true. Somehow, Jacques 'Beelzebub' Schnee had a change of heart and had actually handed promotions to a few Faunus. Of course, some were skimmed out for humans, but that was mainly because of the lack skills the applicants had. The ones that did qualify were given a fair interview and chance. Not only that, but the Schnee actually donated a good amount of Lien to supporting a hospital that specialized in Faunus health and injuries. Of course, this could be viewed as a way to get his workers back to work if they were injured on the job. A classical cost and benefits analysis.

'Could it be that our fear tactics are working on him?' though Sienna before shaking her head. She was not a fool. She knew that in face of these tactics, Jacques would be harsher on her race and take it out on them. It was half a reason why Ghira would send her a letter telling her to stop with such tactics

"So what made you change," murmured Sienna, "What sort of divine being used their magic on you to have a change of heart? Or rather, be given a heart."

She sighed as she put such thoughts away and looked at the calendar in her Scroll. According to the date, today was the last day of the first semester for the Huntsman Academies. After the two week break, all four Academies would be back open. Beacon was back up and running again while the CCT had been fixed long before that, as it was priority number one. She debated about heading to Vale and maybe try to get a meeting with Jaune Ryu-Long, the hero of Vale. There were just too many stories about him. Some said he was a Faunus, others said he was human, and some claimed he was neither, but a servant of a higher power. It was still worth getting to know him, as if she managed to convince him to support the White Fang, it would cause her organization to grow stronger.

She warily looked around, seeing her four guards around her, all standing tall and firm. She was dealing with way too much stress right now and could use some relief. In her shame, she had indulged in a guilty pleasure and had... pleasured herself to release in the very throne room with her skillful fingers. Of course, she did it when she was sure she was alone, and that nobody interrupted her time or suffer a very bloody death, involving clawing the said person's eye out.

"A bit sad when being the leader of such a huge organization take out all the time out of a gal that she can't even get in a relationship," sighed Sienna.

She and Ghira had been a bit close while the self-dubbed "Team Jungle" had been fighting for Faunus right. Then Kali came in basically swept Ghira away. She was, of course, a bit angry and confronted Kali about taking Ghira. She walked back out of her conversation with Kali an hour later, feeling... awkward. She was a fighter, while Kali was of a civilian status, and yet Kali managed to talk her out of it. Sienna would've thought that she could resort to her fists when necessary, but she didn't even get to fire the first shot. Kali's calm yet aggressive words controlled the whole flow of conversation.

In the end, Sienna couldn't find it in herself to hate Kali. Though they were close, Sienna and Ghira had never been exclusive nor talked about it. A few flings here and there, but nothing serious. Not only that, Sienna found Kali to be a good friend even with their difference in views. And add to the fact she introduced her to Ninjas of Love, they became quite close friends. Of course, nobody knew of her ultra platinum edition hidden under lock and key in the secret compartment of her secret room in her secret house.

She was debating about dismissing the guards for some well deserved private time when she heard a commotion occurring right outside the throne room door.

A few seconds later, the doors opened to reveal Adam Taurus, strutting into the throne room. He was no longer wearing his usual clothes, but rather something more regal and yet still combat oriented. His color scheme was still the same, black with hints of red all over his clothes. On his back was his signature emblem, a red rose with thorns over a white floral design. His right sleeve was cut off to reveal his robotic arm, gleaming in mostly black tint with red lines tracing over it. He stopped at the steps before kneeling to her.

"High Leader Khan. I have returned from my unjust imprisonment."

Sienna gazed at Adam, scoffing at that statement. She may hate humans, but she knew the importance of the Huntsman Academies and the CCT tower. They were the key to preventing the Grimm from consuming them all, as they produced the protectors and communication for all. Not only that, she knew each Headmaster were not close-minded like many other humans and actually respected the Faunus. The fact that Adam was willing to destroy both not only on his whim but on the words of some other human group who apparently was able to control and mutate Grimm, was beyond her. Grimm was the ultimate enemy, not humanity. Grimm was a race she would not ally with, as their base instincts were to tear both human and Faunus apart.

"Adam Taurus," Sienna practically spat his name out, "Why are you here? Is the formation of your Blood Fang not enough for you?"

"I come here bearing news of a possible alliance and a dream. My Blood Fang will willingly serve the White Fang once more if you accept this. The-"

"Enough," sighed Sienna, "My first question, Adam, is what were you thinking? You were a symbol for many in the organization, but you are not infallible."

"I was merely following your example, High Leader. The example of strength. Unwavering conviction. The whole world saw that."

"The whole world saw you cross a line that shouldn't have been crossed!" shouted Sienna, "I advocated violence where violence was necessary. Destroying the Huntsman Academy put millions in danger from the Grimm. The loss of the CCT brought global communications to a crawl until they fixed it. You justified humanity's campaign against us for empty promises from a group of humans!? The whole world would've thought it was the White Fang that was responsible for this and made the goals for the White Fang much harder if it wasn't for the fact Jaune Ryu-Long, the hero of Vale, exposed the true criminal. You merely showed the world how easy you're manipulated and your talents diminished by short-sightedness!"

Sienna noticed that as soon as she popped that name, Adam's hands clenched into tight fists, but she continued on, "Speaking of the group of humans, none of the White Fang know anything of them except the fact you're willing to sell your sword to them!"

"If you want to know more about these humans, why not ask them yourself?"

The doors opened to reveal Hazel, walking in the room. Sienna exploded, demanding to know why Adam brought him here and was ready to call for an execution. The four guards themselves pointed their weapons at Hazel. However, Hazel's calm words and clear respect for Sienna was enough for her begrudgingly hear him out. She had heard of Hazel before, as he had gone to one of the bases to demand a meeting with her. They rejected him and the White Fang members of that said base tried to kill him, but he walked away without a scratch.

"You don't like me," started Hazel calmly, "You have no reason to, but you don't have to like me to get the results you want."

Sienna narrowed her eyes, "I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with that we cannot win!"

'And most of all I don't want to see a world where brave people like King be executed because humans can bend the rules to their own whim.' She thought to herself.

"That's where you're wrong," said Adam as he stood up, "We can win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's master, but because the Faunus is the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear us, they should serve us."

"And how do you propose dealing with Jaune Ryu-Long, then?" asked Sienna, "He's a human with a lot of power. Not to mention that dragon that annihilated the Grimm. Its power and roar could be heard all over Remnant. Not only that, but I hear that he supports Faunus equality, not our violent ways. A believer in Ghira's policy."

"Ghira was nothing but a coward," sneered Adam, "He-"

"QUIET!" shouted Sienna, "Ghira was unwilling to take such steps, so he willing stood aside to let me take the lead. You will respect him, as he was once the leader and one of the founding members!"

Adam gritted his teeth at this, allowing Hazel to intervene.

"We have our ways to deal with the dragons. In fact, one of our allies was able to take on a smaller dragon and almost kill it and Jaune."

He turned around and raised his hand, signaling Cobra to come in.

"Your gracccee," hissed Cobra as he walked towards her, his weapon wrapped around him like a belt with the snakehead eyes dimly lit blue, "I can asssssure you that Jaune would not be a threat, nor will hisssss dragonssss. We have the power to kill them after all."

"I've had enough of this conversation," sighed Sienna as she leaned back on her chair, "Guards, take them away."

However, when the guards remained stationary, she became suspicious and repeated the order once more. Adam chuckled as he stood up, walking up the stairs to the chair.

"I will admit, Sienna, you were right about my popularity. My followers in Vale already see me as the true High Leader. And many here in Mistral feel the same."

At once, Blood Fang soldiers burst through, pointing their weapons at Sienna. Hazel narrowed his eyes while Cobra clapped and laughed in glee at the sudden coup. Two of the Blood Fang soldiers were using a cane and an umbrella that was quite familiar.

"From this day forward, I will be the one to lead the White Fang. The Blood Fang will be absorbed into the White Fang once more," declared Adam.

Even more Blood Fang members revealed themselves as they burst into the room while Sienna's own guards pointed their weapons at her. Sienna quickly looked around and assessed the situation. This shouldn't have been possible that her own followers would turn on her, but she quickly figured it out. Ghira had warned her about moles, and they had sprung their trap. They must've slowly replaced guards with Blood Fang sympathizers until they were all Blood Fang members.

"And you plan to kill me," guessed Sienna as she looked at her guards, or rather, specifically at a guard.

"Every revolution needs a martyr," grinned Adam, "Thank you, Sienna, for volunteering. You were there when our people needed you, but now they need me. I'm sorry you couldn't see this through to the end. All who were here tonight will claim that you were murdered by a human Huntsman. And in your final act, you appointed me leader and became a martyr for our cause."

Sienna turned around just for Adam to stab her in the gut.

"Goodbye," whispered Adam.

* * *

Suddenly, Sienna's body shattered like glass to reveal Sienna had dodged the surprise attack, her hands raised up as she slashed downwards into Adam's face. Adam's head snapped down, his mask clattering on the floor. The rightmost and leftmost guards also shattered like glass, revealing them to be in disguise. The two smacked the other guards into the wall, knocking them unconscious.

At the door entrance, the ones wielding the umbrella and cane heard a voice.

"Better grit your teeth, because this is going to be beary painful."

A palm strike struck both Blood Fang members in the back, sending them flying towards the disguised guards, who grabbed the weapons for tossing the two unconscious Faunus aside.

"Why hello, there! So nice to see you again!"

Roman Torchwick grinned as he spun his cane, relishing as it was back in his hand. Neo was standing on the other side as she opened her umbrella and put it on her shoulder, bowing to the audience.

Adam growled as he looked up, showing gashes where Sienna had clawed him.

"Sienna, you dare denounce me for working with humans when you yourself are working with them? You're a traitor to your own beliefs!"

"To be fair, mad bull," called out Roman, "We were hired by Bal. But aren't you a hypocrite yourself? You worked with me, you're working with more humans than ever. At least I have class, compared to the others you're working with."

Neo giggled as she started to walk forward with Roman.

"Roman Torchwick. You helped us once, so why not help us again? I remember you said yourself that you like to ally with the winning side," growled Adam as he raised his sword.

"Hmm, a tempting offer," said Roman, as if pondering about his words, "But no. Like you said, I prefer the winning side, and the side that has a big dragon that tore the Grimm into pieces is a pretty convincing argument."

"I can very much asssure you, I've faced Jaune and his dragonsss before," began Cobra as he had his arms folded amused by this whole ideal. "I took GREAT pleasure in their defeat~"

"Did you kill the big scary black dragon, or was it another dragon?"

Cobra didn't answer, but rather glared at him, very tempted to use his weapon on him but decided he wouldn't be worth it.

"Didn't think so. Plus, from the latest rumors from my friend's information network, roughly 30 people and Grimm were killed by one old man. That says a lot about your group."

Adam roared and slashed down, only for Roman to easily parry it away. Adam attacked, but Roman showed no signs of having trouble blocking his attacks at all.

'How?' thought Adam, 'He's just a weak human! I should be stronger than him! I-'

"Should be having him kneel before me?" asked Roman sarcastically, as he blocked another slash from Adam, "Well, besides not being your mother last night, seriously, you are just too easy to read, mad dog. You think I'm that easy to take down? I'll give you a hint, I only lost to the Faunus girl with cat ears because I let her. I needed to be on that Atlas airship, and the best way was to get myself arrested. All part of the plan. Except for losing, but that's another thing."

Adam growled as he suddenly backed off as Roman took his hat and threw it at his face like a frisbee. A simple hat would've seemed harmless, but Adam sensed danger and heard Hazel yell at him to dodge, so he did. It was a good thing as it ricocheted off the walls and a few grunts with a loud noise before returning to Roman's hand.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but we have to go now. Neo, if you please?"

"Don't just stand there, get them!" shouted Adam. The Blood Fang soldiers shook out of their shock and fired as Adam raised his right arm to fire poison spikes. However, it was too late as Roman, Neo, and Sienna shattered into pieces like a mirror. They looked around to see Bal had also disappeared from their sights. A second later, they heard yells and the sound of an airship revving its engine. Quickly dashing outside, they saw Sienna and the others already lifting off in the airship.

"Mark my words, Adam!" shouted Sienna before they were out of range, "All of the Faunus shall know of your treachery! Of how you tried to have me killed for your own greed! The world will know how you're willing to kill your own race for your own thirst!"

The bullhead quickly departed away, leaving Adam to grind his teeth in anger.

"Adam, what should we do?" asked Ilia as she walked up to him.

"Spread the word. Sienna Khan was a traitor to her own kind, making a deal with humans. I caught her and tried to bring her to justice, to which she attacked me first. I pleaded with her, but she was too far gone. Sienna Khan is to be tried to treason if we catch her, and in the meantime, I will be the new High Leader of the White Fang. The Blood Fang will be absorbed into the White Fang, but as a 'splinter cell' with you as the leader, my darling."

Ilia shivered at the name before saluting and running towards the communications base. With luck, they could spread word of this before Sienna tried to tell the truth.

"When were you planning on telling me about that?"

Adam turned to see Hazel giving him a disapproving glare and bristled for a bit. "This was my business, not yours."

"It's our business now. Add the fact Sienna Khan is now firmly against us, this makes it much harder now." Hazel pointed out.

"Your master was concerned about Sienna's willingness to cooperate. This event merely showed she would've never done so." Adam argued.

"None of this needed to happen," growled Hazel. Even if Sienna had died, it would've been a pointless death, something he liked to avoid.

"Why didn't you help out?" accused Adam's right-hand man, the White Fang Lieutenant Ed.

"It was not my place to involve myself in your plans," grunted Hazel.

"I found this whole ssssituation far too entertaining to even give a damn," cackled Cobra.

Ed revved up his chainsaw, eager to cut Cobra down, but Adam stopped him, all the while Cobra gave Ed a taunting laugh.

"They're right. This was my business, not theirs. For now, gather all the White Fang members here. It's time to prepare."

Sienna gazed out the window, barely able to comprehend what had happened. One moment, she was the leader of the White Fang, fighting to demand respect for the Faunus. To be seen as equals. Now, Adam was leading the White Fang with a different goal; to pay evil unto evil and force humans to serve them. If they did so, then they were no better than the humans themselves. She admitted, the idea itself was tantalizing, but she could never do such a thing. It would completely dishonor King's ideals, along with the rest of Team JNGL. Both King and Ghira wanted equality, never wishing to rule over others, even though King's name implied that he wanted to do so. When asked about it, King just laughed and said he just liked the name than his original one.

"So, what are you going to do now?" asked Roman, "Any plans where to go? Because my job ends as soon as I drop you lot off."

"We should head to Menagerie," said Bal softly, "We'll be safe there for a bit before planning our next move. Did the little girl get a recording?"

"Of course she did," scoffed Roman, nodding to Neo, who was driving the Bullhead, "She's my trusted partner. Not some amateur sidekick."

Neo nodded in reply, smiling at the compliment before tossing her umbrella to Roman.

"Oh right, gotta make sure these don't have tracking devices," said Roman as he took out a lightning Dust crystal, along with several other electronics from the bullhead. Quickly manipulating through the device, he sent a small EMP onto their weapons, destroying what seemed like 3 tracking devices on the weapon.

"Oh, that's all of them, right?" asked Bal, but Roman shook his head. He slowly trailed his hand down the weapons, his eyes never wavering before plucking out two more hidden ones.

"And that's how a pro does it," declared Roman while Bal clapped in admiration.

"We head to my secret house," declared Sienna, walking to the cockpit, "We can restock there before heading to Menagerie. Plus, there are a few personal things I want from there."

She quickly typed in the coordinates, to which Neo nodded and turned the Bullhead in that direction. Bal took a peek and raised his eyebrow at the coordinates.

"Our old stomping grounds?" asked Bal.

"Nobody ever knew of the place," replied Sienna, "Perfect for hiding my things. I could trust that you and Ghira wouldn't do anything to it."

"Neo, did you send the video to Junior?" asked Roman. Neo shook her head, pointing that she had been too busy to do so. "No worries, I got that covered, then," He told her as he opened his Scroll, already sending it to him.

"So, you two in a relationship?" asked Bal. Roman and Neo tilted their heads in confusion at that answer. Did Roman not say that she was his trusted partner? "I mean, you two husband/wife, fiancee...," clarified the Bear Faunus, causing both of them to turn green momentarily.

"Oum above, no!" shouted Roman, "She's my little sister! Well, adopted as I did find her once upon a time, but ew!"

Neo threw a dagger at Bal, who caught it in midair before apologizing for the assumption.

"This is why you were never leader material," sighed Sienna as she closed her eyes, letting her darkness overcome her.

Junior was whistling a tune as he cleaned some more glasses, ready to open his club for the night again. It was hilarious how he now basically owned a quarter of Vale because of his investments. Through shrewd deals and other very legal means, he was much richer now than before. And it was all completely legal, too. He blinked as he suddenly received a message on his Scroll. Taking a peek at the contents of it, he frowned before quickly making a copy to send to his back up drive.

He glanced around, seeing his gang cleaning up the club, making sure there were no loose ends. Melanie and Miltia were out in the back, sparring against each other again. That, or shopping for clothes. He had received confirmation from Jaune that they would be heading back to Beacon for the second semester. He pitied Ren, for when he arrived, the twins had already discussed plans to drag him to the nearest bedroom. Junior would've been worried for their chastity, but he knew that the twins had long lost their innocence. Being in this line of work and getting drunk easily, it was hard to avoid. Especially since the two girls liked to hit on other boys easily, manipulating them with their body. Frankly, he was surprised the twins were still with Ren, not even cheating on him. Other males tried to hit on them, including previous flings, but they were all met with a no and a kick to the balls if the male tried to force his way. If that wasn't enough... well they had sharp objects for a reason.

"Better make sure this stays safe and secure," muttered Junior as he went to his office, quickly putting the video into another flash drive and putting the drive in a secret lock under the floor. He now had three copies of the video, all in different places. One in a backup drive at his home, one in his office, and one that he would carry on him at all times.

He quickly called his men to take care of the club while he went to the nearest news station. He personally knew Lisa Lavender, Vale's most popular newscast member. It also helped that he now owned a portion of the said business.

With luck, this video would be circulating through the whole world. Of course, the video was edited so that it ended right as Adam stabbed Sienna, with the audio of Adam declaring what he had planned to be very loud and clear. Sienna would reveal herself later to the world.

* * *

 **Yea, yea I know, took me awhile. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter, review if you can. Next chapter is gonna be epic!**

 **As you can tell, Sienna lives! Also another side note, just a reminder, I'm not following canon. I may take some elements from it, but that's about it.**

 **Also, as some of you guys might've noticed, I've decided to commissions for one shots. Another notice, I've finally decided to go ahead and put up a page. For those willing to donate, come support!** **It's gonna be:**

 **pa_treon dot com slash azndrgn. Just replace the dot with and slash with their symbols and take out the spaces and underline.**


	57. Chapter 57 Exposing the Traitor

**This chapter has been beta by TheMischieviousPuppy and UGX7. Please enjoy, and review if you can!**

* * *

Lionheart grit his teeth in anger as he lead Watts and Laire through the secret passage in Haven that would lead them to the chamber where Laire would open it to reveal the Relic of Choice. They had already taken the elevator down several floors and were currently walking down the hallways to the secret room. His mind flashed back what had happened in the few days prior to him leading the two.

* * *

Adam's people quickly spread the word of Sienna being a traitor and started to rally more Faunus into the White Fang, promising them what they so desired; to be respected and feared. It worked for a bit, as more and more Faunus were inducted in. Then came the footage of Adam stabbing Sienna and telling the whole world his plans. Many White Fang members abandoned ship as fast as possible until Adam locked it down. Even then, the White Fang was now a bigger target than ever. Any sympathizers the White Fang might have had were completely wiped out. The Faunus living in Atlas looked at Jacques Schnee in fear that any nice changes he had instated would be rescinded, and their lives could be in danger. Then, they were all surprised when Jacques gave a public announcement to the whole world.

"I don't believe my employees have anything to do with the White Fang, Faunus or not. My company has done background checks on all my employees, and as long as they are not associated with the terrorist group, I have no grievances against them. I merely urge the people to not give the White Fang any more power than they deserve, and hope they are quickly brought to justice."

Seeing as they were safe, none of the Faunus working with the SDC boycotted or went on strike. There had been a few instances where White and Blood Fang members tried to convince them to spy for them but were all rejected.

When the semester ended, Lionheart's pleas were crushed as Jaune and the others took the next airship back to Beacon. With him gone, there was no deterrent as Watts and Laire came in a few days later in the two-week break to retrieve the relic.

"Don't look so glum, Leo," smirked Watts as they were crossing the school grounds. Leo had been forced to tell the staff to take the day off and not be at Haven for the next 5 hours, saying there was some personal construction going on. Laire was under disguise, wearing a red wig and brown contact lens, along with various makeup on her face.

Before they could enter the building, Watts stopped them and looked around slowly.

"Headmaster Lionheart!"

Team CFVY popped up from the entrance, waving at him. Lionheart forced himself to smile as he made small talk with them, with them thanking him for their time here, but that they would be heading back to Beacon.

"It's good to see you've all expanded your horizons," commented Watts, "Not many Huntsmen and Huntresses have gone to different Academies as this year."

"Yeah, it's been a blast, though I can't wait to get back to my favorite store," grinned Coco, looking at Watts, "Nice suit. Looks pretty suave. What store did you get it from?"

"Custom made," smiled Watts, flapping his suit a bit "One of my personal tailors. I'm afraid I can't give you a reference or their number for now, but perhaps when you graduate, I might give you a lead. You don't look bad yourself."

"Hello," said Velvet, waiving to Laire, "Are you a new student coming in?"

Laire glared at them but Watts intervened, "Possibly. She was under the apprenticeship of Huntresses but has decided she wants to check the Academies out and possibly spread her wings, so to speak. She's a bit shy, but hopefully, that will change."

Laire managed a fake smile and shook Velvet's hand before Watts shooed them away, saying that the grounds were supposed to be under construction and that nobody should be here. After they left, Watts pulled out his pistol and fired at possible locations for people to hide. Seeing that there was no reaction, he looked back to Lionheart. Laire was cloaking her hand in fire to burn away any traces of that girl's skin on her hand.

"Lead us on, my dear man," smiled Watts.

* * *

And thus the situation was him leading Watts and Laire towards the relic.

"Don't be upset, Leo," teased Watts, "Just do this, and Salem will never touch your kingdom and school again."

His smile stopped when they entered a huge room with vault door at the end of the hallway... with Ozpin, team JNPR and SSSN waiting.

"Ozpin?!" Lionheart cried.

"What?! How is this…?! Watts shouted in surprise.

"So it's true," sighed Ozpin as he stepped forward, "You really did sell out to Salem. You disappoint me, Lionheart. Where is that brave man I used to know, one who would laugh in the face of Grimm and dive in head first? The one who would always give commanders headaches for rash actions, but commendation for bravery and raising morale?"

Lionheart looked at the ground, unable to meet Ozpin's eyes. It had been because of his rash attitude when he was younger that he landed in hot water. A single life-changing event about seven years ago, during the summer off-season, Lionheart was off killing a Grimm horde, laughing as he did so, only to run into Hazel, Tyrian, and Watts, who overpowered him. Seeing that he was the new Headmaster of Haven, they dragged him in front of Salem, where Lionheart tasted fear just from meeting her. It was this fear that struck his very heart and never left. Tyrian had suggested putting a Grimm worm near his heart in case of betrayal while Watts suggested something similar, but with technology, but both were rejected, as a Headmaster, he was to get an annual exam ensuring he was fit to lead, and the in-depth scans would show those. Instead, Salem relied on the fear, preying on his emotions.

"I'm surprised you managed to find or sneak past us," said Watts, "As you have us trapped here, help a gentleman out and explain how you did so? It would let me have some peace of mind."

Neptune and Sun were tempted to yell out how awesome Ren's Semblance was until they were elbowed by their teammates. The reality was that they had gotten on the airship, but immediately jumped off as Ren activated his Semblance. They stayed in town for a few days until they received word that Lionheart was driving the staff away temporarily. They quickly ran towards the school and used Ren to hide themselves. Team CFVY was on standby to distract Lionheart while they ran through the school. Ozpin used his knowledge of Haven while Jaune linked up with Fafnir to explore the school and found the hidden passageway. Pyrrha unbolted the elevator floors, allowing them to all just jump down. Pyrrha was taken with Jaune last as she welded it back shut while Jaune flew her down. After quickly running through it, they waited at the end for the three to arrive.

"Sorry, but it's a mystery that you'll just have to leave unsolved," smiled Jaune as they all drew their weapons.

"A pity," sighed Watts as he took out a ball with various runes written upon it. He cursed a bit as his disguise was now useless. He had been a hidden supporter for Salem, but with Ozpin and others as witnesses to what he had planned to do, he would be exposed to the public and become a wanted man, so he could no longer be Salem's public face. Watts cursed himself for not disguising himself as he prepared for escape.

Laire, however, was dying for another chance to kill Jaune and the others.

"Die!" she shouted as flames appeared in her hands.

Watts merely sighed and pulled out his scroll, tapping a few numbers. Laire suddenly seized up and stopped moving.

"Think, my dear," sighed Watts as he touched her shoulder, "We're at a disadvantage here. As much as I hate to admit it, Cinder was much more trained than you. If she was here, I'd consider fighting, but the truth is, you're not as strong as you think. You still have quite a bit of training to go, compared to the other ladies. With your fiery temper, I had something placed on you just in case if I needed to stop you."

"And where do you think you're going!?" threatened Sun, "No way you can escape!"

"And that's where you're wrong, boy," smirked Watts as he threw down the sphere. A whirlwind came forth from their position when it cracked. Jaune quickly linked up with Aryz and dispersed the wind, but they were gone, leaving Lionheart behind, though the headmaster did dart to a hiding place within the darkened chamber.

"Damn it, they got away," growled Jaune. The dragons recognized the sphere as an old dragon relic, used for quick escapes. It returned the owner to a set location that must be designated beforehand. Aryz growled, as she recognized her handiwork in those spheres. She would be working to negate such an advantage next time.

"We cannot win every battle," said Ozpin wisely, "But we can at least take solace they did not grab the relic. However, Haven is clearly no longer a safe place to hold the relic."

His eyes sharpened as he glared at Leo at his hiding spot, "Leo, you disappoint me. But the greatest sin you've done is to betray humanity."

"I have not!" snarled Leo as he called out from his hiding place, "All I've done is look after Mistral and its lands! Mistral is the widest reaching out of all the kingdom, and it is so much harder to protect, compared to the other kingdoms. All I've ever done was to secure Mistral as a safe place! My goal was always to the kingdom of Mistral and its inhabitants!"

"While that is indeed an important job, your primary objective should have been the protection of both humanity and Faunus for all. If Salem had achieved her goal and gotten the relic of Choice in this Academy, then she could have influenced many people to lay down their arms and die for her. Salem would robbed many of their free will! It is vital that she not get any of the relics!"

"She promised to leave Anima alone!"

"Anima is one continent! You are willing to sacrifice roughly 80% of the whole population of lives just for roughly 20%!?"

"... Yes. Anything to protect my kingdom."

Ozpin sighed, setting his glasses aside into his pocket before flipping his cane in a fighting position.

"Then this is where our paths diverged."

"You're one to talk, Oz. I know the history between you and Salem. She told me all about it!"

"What happened in the past is the past. I look to all the mistakes I've made in the past to try to make the best decisions possible. I have warned all of you to never trust Salem. And yet, here you are, blindly putting your trust in her. By the power vested in me as the advisor at Beacon, ex headmaster, and leader of the Inner Circle, I remove you from your position as Headmaster of Haven for treason."

"You think I'm afraid of you!" howled Leo, "I fear Salem more! Compared to her, you're nothing! She is a lion while you're just a housecat!"

Ozpin stepped forward with his cane as Leo finally stepped out from the hiding place, wielding a giant black cross he had hidden in the room. Before Ozpin went to engage Leo, he turned around to Jaune, "Make sure nobody gets hurt. I fear Leo is no longer completely sane and may try to kill you if I fail."

"Got it," replied Jaune before gazing at the vault. From what they had heard, only a specific Maiden's power could open the vault. Trying to break through it... may take a lot of firepower and time.

" _ **Hold on,"**_ murmured Lung Wang, _**"Remember, the original hermit who gave the four maidens their power was a dragon contractor, like you. It is possible with your power, your mate, and your retainers that it could recognize it. You'll need to go into full link with all of us, though."**_

'Worth a shot,' replied Jaune mentally before getting into a meditation position. The others quickly covered him.

* * *

Ozpin and Leo stared off at each other, ex-headmaster to treasonous headmaster preparing to fight each other.

"I see you're not using your old weapon," commented Ozpin.

"Needed a new one," grunted Leo, "Old one broke."

"Indeed, as you seemed to have died on that day, too," said Ozpin lightly.

Leo's old weapon was a giant cross like the one he held, but it was galaxy gold in color. And on each side of the cross were the words _Courage_ and _Valor_. But with Leo's recent behavior, those words didn't suit him anymore.

"Perhaps I found charging in head first wasn't the best idea," replied Leo before taking a deep breath and roared.

Ozpin immediately created a barrier as he knew Leo had used his semblance, Lion's Roar. A fierce attack the involved Leo roaring, amplified by his Aura and Semblance, and all without any tools. The roar caused the walls to shake and dust to fall down. Ozpin withstood the attack and charged in as soon as the roar ended 10 seconds later. Taking a quick glance, he saw that the Ren had grabbed his dagger and was already playing some sort of music, which protected them from the attack. Leo heaved his cross so the long side was pointing at Ozpin and opened fire with a machine gun, but Ozpin easily dodged them and parried a few more. Seeing him get closer, Leo flipped the cross 180 degrees, this time the short length in front and opened fire, firing out shotgun pellets. Ozpin quickly smashed his cane into the ground, upheaving a large chunk of rock before kicking it forward. Leo blasted the flying projectile apart, only to let Ozpin leap on to a piece of it and using all the broken pieces of land as footstools to propel himself forward. Ozpin thrusted forward with his cane, to which Leo quickly blocked it with his cross.

"You've gotten rusty, Leo," observed Ozpin.

"And you've... gotten better?" gasped Leo, "I was sure you wouldn't be so powerful after losing to Cinder!"

"I got rusty and made a huge mistake in doing so," replied Ozpin, "So I've used these past few months to train myself back up. And you're open!"

Ozpin suddenly spun and kicked the cross up, leaving Leo defenseless as he staggered back. Ozpin landed and without hesitation, jabbed his cane twelve times into Leo at vital areas before punching him in the face. As Leo flew backwards, he noticed that last punch wasn't as strong as he thought it was.

'Maybe he's not as strong as he thought he was,' thought Leo, but in reality, Ozpin had purposely lowered his strength in that punch. Afterall, he couldn't follow up his next attack if Leo flew too far from him.

Ozpin dashed around Leo and slammed his cane into Leo's back, sending him flying upwards. Leo grunted in pain and quickly parted his cross in half. On both halves, a slot opened up or Leo to grab as he started to spin his tonfas to block a follow up attack from Ozpin.

"Whoa, this is serious stuff," gaped Sun as he watched the two ex-headmasters duke it out. The two of them became blurs as they clashed against each other. The stalactites at the top of the vast room started to fall down, but the two fighters either ignored them, used them as projectiles, or fight on them. However, it was easy to see Ozpin was pushing Leo back, though Leo used his Semblance to try to drive Ozpin away from him.

"This is something we all want to achieve," said Ren, "The pinnacle of being a Huntsman or Huntress."

"And Oscar is getting training from Ozpin himself! Can't wait to see how strong he's going to get!" cheered Nora as she chomped on some popcorn that nobody knew where she grabbed it from.

Pyrrha stood next to Jaune, who was meditating and linking up with all his dragons. Though he could link up faster than the past, thanks to the Aura Cuffs, it was slower once more.

Saijou 'Leo' Lionheart growled as he took another hit from Ozpin. He quickly turned around and roared at him, hurtling Ozpin towards a wall. Ozpin merely flipped in the air and landed feet first into the wall as the impact created a small crater beneath him before he shot forward once more. Leo blocked the cane with his tonfa and spun the other one to Ozpin's smug face. Ozpin raised his other hand to block it,but it sent him back a bit as he shook his arm to shake off the pain.

Leo took this chance and raised both tonfas up and smashed down with all his strength. Ozpin raised his cane as if to block it, causing Leo to internally smirk. There was no way Ozpin could take this easily. Leo had no doubt Ozpin's weapon would be able to take it, though he hoped he could crush it. But this would force Ozpin down to the ground, letting Leo unleash his strongest roar right at him in point blank range.

As the tonfas went down, Ozpin suddenly retracted his cane to its mobile form and tossed it in the air behind him. As the students yelled out in confusion to watch out, time seemed to slow down for Ozpin and Leo. Ozpin clasped his fists together tightly as he took a step forward. As Leo's attack was nearing Ozpin's skull, Ozpin suddenly managed to sneak his fists right between Leo's attack and separated them. Each fist hit a tonfa, redirecting it away slightly. It was enough as the attack missed Ozpin's shoulders by a millimeter and smashed towards the ground. Ozpin wasn't idle as he suddenly spun, grabbing his cane that he tossed and used the momentum to do a full horizontal swing right into Leo's chin. Leo's face cracked up as he went up into the air, his Aura around him glowing before shattering. Leo wasn't done yet, though.

"I've had it!"

Leo flipped in the air and clashed his tonfa's together, but this time, in a different way. Instead of trying to create a cross, he created the letter H instead. The weapon began to transform once more until it became a large cone with the smaller opening near his face. Ozpin narrowed his eyes and opened them as he figured out what Leo was planning and quickly formed a shield made from his Aura.

However, Ozpin underestimated how much Leo had cracked mentally. Instead of aiming it at Ozpin, he aimed it at Jaune and the others.

"Students! Take cover! Scatter!" shouted Ozpin.

"Too late! Die!" shouted Leo as he used up the last remaining reserves of his Aura and used his Semblance. He roared into his cone, and within the cone was sprinkled with fire Dust. The cone itself amplified his roar to a destructive degree. The air seemed to distort in front of the cone as fire filled up in it. A second later, the roar fired, swirling in the air with fire as the destructive roared carved a path towards the students.

"No!" shouted Ozpin, but it was too late. A second later, there was an explosion, and the winds buffeted Ozpin as he tried to stay on the ground. Leo himself was sent flying into a wall from the recoil as he had nothing to stabilize him, as he was in the air. Fire whipped out into the walls and onto Ozpin's shield. Soon, the explosion settled down as the dust stopped whipping everywhere.

"I... win," coughed Leo, "Salem will no longer be troubled by Jaune... I will be rewarded."

"I think it's a bit too early to call that!"

Sun's voice rang out as the dust cleared to reveal a giant staff horizontally placed blocking the students. The staff was large enough that vertically, it almost touch the ceiling. Horizontally, the staff was stuck into the walls for support. As the staff shrunk, the two ex headmasters saw a water barrier created by Neptune, who had made it to deal with the overwhelming heat and dust. As the staff landed back on Sun's hand and the water barrier collapsed, both Sun and Neptune collapsed to the ground, the Aura around shimmering and crackling. They had used up their reserves to protect them all.

"Impossible! H-how?" gasped Leo.

" _Ruyi Jingu Bang_ , isn't normal," grinned Sun as Scarlet helped him up, "Got a major upgrade when I went looking into some old legend in my family. I can use it easily, but anybody else using it, its going to weigh about 8000 kilograms, no matter the size. Not to mention it's very dense, too, and made out of some sort of weird material."

Leo sighed as his eyes rolled back into his head and fainted, finally losing consciousness.

"Well, that was surprising, Mr. Wukong," complimented Ozpin as he walked up to them after securing Leo and tying him up, "I presume the legend you speak of is the Great Sage under the Heavens?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" asked Sun.

"It was one of the many legends I've read of. Though to see it come to life is quite surprising. Then again, quite a few legends have been true and coming back to life. Though if I may ask, what is Mr. Ryu-Long doing?"

"And finished," said Jaune as he stood up, flaring all his wings at once. It was the same style as the time he had fought Cinder before. Jaune turned around and flared his Aura towards the vault, telling Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Sun, and Neptune to do the same.

Ozpin watched and widened his eyes in shock as the vault began to respond and slowly open.

"What? How?" asked Ozpin, "The security measures were made so only the Maiden of a specific season, namely Fall for this one, could open it!"

"The Story of the Seasons," grunted Jaune, "The old hermit? He was also a Dragon Contractor. Linked up with several powerful dragons, one of them being Lung Wang's son. He created some sort of bastardized Mate and Dragon mark combined and gave them to the four maidens. The only consequence was that he didn't expect the powers to keep transferring over to another maiden after each one died. Luckily, mine won't do that."

Ozpin blinked in awe as the legend behind the hermit was solved. After all, he had suspected that the hermit behind the story was no ordinary man, but could not formulate a hypothesis of who he was at all.

The door finally opened to reveal a floating orb in the center. Each of them could feel the power being exuded from the orb itself.

"The Relic of Choice," said Ozpin relevantly, "Left behind by the brothers, the god of light and the god of darkness."

" _ **Those two left something this powerful in Remnant?"**_ growled Lung Wang, _**"I thought they said they would only create humanity! Not also create relics that could influence all of humanity."**_

" _ **I believe Ozpin can give us some answers to this,"**_ suggested Fafnir, _**"He seems familiar with most legends."**_

" _ **In the meantime, Jaune, take the relic and put it in your bag. It's safe to say this place in no longer secure enough to keep the relic,"**_ commanded Ryo-Wo.

Jaune nodded and lifted the relic from the pedestal and quickly placed it within his bag. As soon as the relic disappeared from view, they all noticed the traces of its power vanished.

"Curious. What sort of bag is that?" asked Ozpin, "I was going to suggest a high density steel box with a high security lock and a null field to hide the traces of power as much as possible. Instead, your bag seemed to have taken care of it."

"A relic from the Dragon Clan," replied Jaune, "A form of spatial manipulation so I can place all my stuff in here. Nobody else can use this bag. They can put their hand in it all they want, but they won't be able to get anything from there. And because the bag itself is made from dragon skin, trying to destroy it is next to impossible."

"That's good to know," sighed Ozpin in relief, "Though I wish I could use your bag as a security measure, I feel uncomfortable leaving such a relic with you. Could you carry it back to Beacon and place it in the vault that contains one of the other relics?"

Jaune nodded in agreement. He didn't feel comfortable having such power just hanging around in his bag. His dragons made him promise not to use it or they would cut off their links with him.

"Excellent. Let us depart quickly. Haven will have the need for a new headmaster, and I have no idea what the backlash will involve," declared Ozpin.

As they left, dragging a tied up Leo on the ground, Jaune quickly asked Ozpin for a private meeting with him and anyone he deemed trustworthy. Ozpin nodded in agreement as he already mentally decided to call in Ironwood and Dory into the meeting. They needed to know about Lionheart's betrayal.

* * *

"Say that again, my dear doctor," growled Salem as she was staring down Arthur Watts, who was currently on his knees and bowing down to her.

"I beg your forgiveness," pleaded Watts, "I don't know how Ozpin and the others found out about me, but they managed to sneak into the entrance of the vault and waited for Leo to lead us right into the trap. And from the looks of it, Lionheart had no idea he had been tracked."

"How... clumsy of you, Arthur," chided Salem, "I expected better from you. Much better, as you are one of my smartest agents. How did Ozpin and two teams walk right past you? And why not fight?"

"One of them was Jaune Ryu-Long," Watts answered quickly, "I deemed the situation too dangerous and decided a tactical retreat was in order. Not to mention there was a possibility that another team could be coming from behind."

Salem considered it for a bit as she sipped her wine. Around the sweating Arthur Watts were Grimm Beowolves, ready to tear at his flesh if the order was given.

"Mistress, if I may?"

Emerald stepped forward, her appearance still quite similar to Cinders.

"Emerald, my dear girl. Were you not with Jazz at the moment, re-educating a certain maiden?"

"We're taking a small break. So far, the maiden has been proven to be quite stubborn, but given a little more time, we're sure we can make her crack. What I wanted to ask was if there was Lie Ren in the group. He's the one with black hair, pale skin, and pink eyes. He usually wears green. I have reason to suspect his Semblance is being able from people and can take a certain amount of people. He managed to follow me to a Bullhead and ambushed one of the ships back at Beacon. Not only that, none of the Faunus could even sense him before he attacked."

"Interesting," commented Salem, "One of the videos Merlot gave us showed that they were able to sneak past Grimm without any of my children sensing them. I merely thought it worked on the Grimm, but to hear it can work on humans, too... Another potential recruit if we had managed to find him earlier."

Salem gazed at Arthur, who was still bowing his head in penance before making her decision, "Arthur, you have disappointed me severely. However, I am in a forgiving mood today. Your past services have helped me immensely, and so I overlook this loss today. Not to mention, you made the right call to retreat as fast as possible, preventing Laire from attacking. If she had attacked, there would have been a chance that the vault would react to her power and open the vault door for our enemies. Most likely Leo will be replaced, but without the Maiden, they cannot move the vault. And knowing you, you remembered the path to it. See to it that such a mistake never happens again."

"Of course, my lady," breathed Watts as he let out a sigh of relief, "I will be tracing back to what I did and find out how my identity was exposed. I still have contacts with my spy network, so I am not out of it yet."

"Good. See if you can't work with Merlot on some of his inventions. He is currently creating some new droids, and while he is an excellent scientist, he is in desperate need of someone who can help him with coding."

"It will be done."

As he left, Salem looked out into the dark skies to wonder about her plans. The White Fang led by Adam Taurus was determined to attack Haven and take the whole continent for himself, but with the video leak, he no longer had as many followers as he thought. She would need to punish Adam for acting on his own without even consulting her or Hazel. But if they attacked, then they could potentially use it to grab the relic once more. She needed to do some more planning.

* * *

 _Location - Kuo Kuana_

"High Leader Adam," greeted the Albain brothers in a private communicator, "What can we do for you?"

"How are the Faunus in Menagerie?" asked Adam, "Will they be willing to take up arms for glory? For a new continent where they have no need worry about overpopulation? For a chance to take their rightful place above the humans?"

"Errrr," started Corsac, not knowing where to start.

"There have been... complications since your ascendance to the throne," said Fennec quickly, "Video proof of your... attempt for the high throne has been shown all over the world. Ghira Belladonna over here has made a speech to the crowds, publicly denouncing you and swaying the crowd to his side. Many do not want to have anything to do with the White Fang. And our group here has gone into hiding as a precaution."

"The Belladonna name has brought me nothing but grief," snarled Adam, "I will not allow them to ruin this! They are the loudest voice in rejecting the White Fang, correct?"

"There are others, but they are indeed the ones who hold the most sway," answered Corsac.

"Then they must be silenced," commanded Adam, "Sienna is of no worry for now. Thankfully, we managed to spread word about how Sienna was working with humans, weakening her case. Ghira, however, is one of the founder and ex-leader of the White Fang, and ultimately, a traitor to Faunus kind. Sacrifices must be made for our rightful ascension to this world. Kill him and Kali, though do not be found. Make sure you lay proof of a human was the one who did this. A huntsman would be best if you can frame it on them. That will rouse the Faunus to join the cause."

And with that message, he hung up.

"He seems... high strung," frowned Corsac.

"The burdens of leadership weigh heavily upon him," replied Fennec.

"Do you believe he is the right leader?"

"He is our best one for the Faunus. Sienna was too light against the humans. Adam will be the sword to pierce through this world."

"As for silencing the Belladonnas... I believe we can use a recently formed group.?

"Ah, the recently formed radical group who hates Faunus and believes that we shouldn't be second-class citizens, but rather slaves? I believe they were just formed after the Beacon incident, though it just recently gained momentum. Nobody knows where their main base is, but it's believed to be very south of Vale, somewhere on the island beyond Sanus. It would make sense that they would be the one to strike at Menagerie, the heart of the Faunus community. If we can spin it that a human Huntsman or Huntresses that joined them assassinated the Belladonna family..."

"It could bring the great surge High Leader Taurus was looking for."

"Come, brother. We have work to do."

As they left, they opened up a scroll to look up the symbol of the radical human group. It was two human palms crossing over each other, the right one being black and the left one being white, the latest Anti-Faunus group composed of humans. Its name was the Children of the Brothers.

* * *

 **A bit shorter than usual, but it did have a fight scene. I'll try to make the future chapter longer.**

 **Anyways, rants.**

 **I felt like Lionheart died of a really pathetic death in RWBY season 5. Not much of his ability showcased either, and he's the headmaster of Haven? Feels like Headmaster or Headmistresses are supposed to be rather strong to hold the position. Add the fact he gets his ass kicked by Oscar Pine without Ozpin taking over? Oscar, who had like, at most, a month's worth of training? Bull shit, even with Ozpin inside him.**

 **So in this case, I made him stronger so he seems at least worthy of the dam position.** **Anyways, need to plot this out more. And oooh, a human radical group, muhahaha. That'll come into play, and unlikely alliances might be formed :).**

 **Also, I made another Jaune of _ story! This time, it's gonna be the keyblade! Come check it out on my profile!**

 **Side note, I have a page! Just search azndrgn. otherwise (Pat reon) . coom/ azndrgn, removing the obvious o, (), and spaces. Come donate if you're feeling generous. Otherwise, enjoy the story and see ya'll soon!**


	58. Chapter 58 Striking While It's Hot

**This chapter has been beta by UGX7 and TheMischieviousPuppyDog. Please enjoy the story and review! More A/N at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Teams JNPR, SSSN, and CFVY were taking the Bullhead back to Beacon. Ozpin was still at Haven, trying to find a new Headmaster or Headmistress for Haven with Oscar accompanying him, as he was still personally learning from Ozpin. Of course, when Dory and Ironwood found out about Lionheart's betrayal, they both wanted to come in guns blazing. Dory wanted to drive her foot up Lionheart's cowardly ass so deep that Lionheart wouldn't be able to sit while Ironwood wanted to interrogate Lionheart and learn everything he knew. Unfortunately for Ironwood, he would not be able to as Lionheart was from Mistral, and so an Atlesian General like Ironwood wasn't allowed due to international law. Instead, the Mistral council would be leading this case. So far, Ozpin found a potential replacement, Lionheart's nephew Raphael. A bit hot-headed, but ultimately fiercely loyal to those he cared about. When he heard of Leo's betrayal, he immediately cast Leo out of his life.

"Glad that's over with," said Jaune as he sat down, his hands gripping tightly on the bag, as the Relic of Choice was still buried inside. Once they got to Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch would be waiting for them, along with team RWBY and NDGO, where they would quickly be guided to the secret chamber containing the other Relic. They would be blindfolded, of course, so they wouldn't know the exact location.

"It'll be good to see the others again," added Pyrrha as she leaned her head on his shoulder, "Though I will admit, I will miss sleeping by your side every night now we're with the other girls again."

"I can't wait to see what Beacon looks like so I can brrreeak it in!" chanted Nora, emphasizing a favorite word of hers.

"Nora, no breaking," scolded Ren, "We're still in our two-week break."

"But you just said we're on break. So why not break stuff while on break?" Nora said to him.

Ren sighed and shook his head, Coco chucked at the scene before voicing "Once we get there I've got a date with my favorite store and you're coming with me, Velvet. We need to get you some new clothes."

"Fox and I will-" started Yatsuhashi, but Coco stopped him cold.

"You two get to be our carriers. We got a lot of shopping to do," interrupted Coco, snapping her fingers, "I have a whole closet to restock in the latest fashion. And you guys also need to get some new clothes, too. No skipping out of it!"

Yatsuhashi and Fox both groaned as their heads fell forward sadly, knowing this shopping spree would take all day.

"Aww, don't look glum," said Coco as she leaned forward, "I have a summer beach wardrobe that needs updating, and both Velvet and I could use a man's opinion about our swimsuits."

"Coco!" said Velvet, mortified at this while Yatsuhashi and Fox now seemed interested.

"Hey, I can see Beacon!" shouted Sun as he leaned out the door.

Everyone quickly rushed to the windows to see Beacon pulling up in sight. Though construction was still going on, the academy looked almost fully repaired. The CCT was standing stronger than ever, and they could see it had been reinforced with a few turrets around it. The arena was also fully repaired, as were the dorms. Only a few classrooms seemed to still be under construction.

"It's good to be back," smiled Jaune as the Bullhead was preparing to land.

"Be prepared for a hug fest," warned Sun, "I only got one girl tackling me. You got five."

Jaune shrugged while Neptune was off crying in a corner, ranting about injustice. As they landed, they all hopped off just to hear their names being called out. Sun was right as Jaune turned to the source. Team RWBY and Dew tackled Jaune onto the ground as soon as they saw him. Pyrrha just smiled as she saw her sister mates, the fellow wives of Jaune's beloved family.

Jaune wasn't the only one, as Ren found himself tackled to the ground not only by Octavia, but also by Melanie and Miltia, with Nora joining in because she could. Junior stood to the side chuckling at Ren's situation. Sun was merely tackled by Gwen but still standing as he hugged her back.

"We're going on a date as soon as possible," said Gwen, "It'll be a group date. You and me. Ren and Octavia. Jaune and Dew. Team NDGO is going out!"

"How'd you get Team RWBY to agree to let Dew get first date?" asked Sun.

"Easy. they drew straws, and Dew won," shrugged Octavia.

"Dang it! I'm so jealous!" cried Neptune, tears streaming once more until Nebula walked up to him and gave him her handkerchief.

"I'll give this back to you when I'm done," said Neptune in awe as he wiped his tears, but Nebula was still there as if contemplating something before turning her back to him but not leaving.

"Ask me out Neptune," commanded Nebula.

"Yes," said Neptune immediately.

"Wasn't a question, but I like your enthusiasm. I'll go get ready."

"I'll come with you."

"While you all have your plans," coughed Glynda interrupting all of them, "Jaune and some of the others still have a very important mission to fulfill at the moment."

Nodding in agreement, anyone without the Mate Mark or Dragon Mark left while the others were blindfolded and lead by Glynda into the secret passageway. They were only allowed to take it off when Glynda told them to, and found themselves staring at a huge vault door similar to the one in Haven. However, in addition to the door, they looked around and saw no visible entrances that they might have come in through.

"Part of the security measure," said Glynda with a smirk, "Even if someone manages to grab the image of the place from your head, they have no idea where to even start."

"Let's just get this over with," sighed Jaune as he began to do full link with his dragons.

As soon as he flashed his power along with the others, the vault door opened slightly.

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask Jaune to accompany me alone," insisted Glynda.

The others nodded and waited outside patiently as Jaune and Glynda entered through the vault doors. In there, Jaune saw a pyramidal object floating on a pedestal.

"The Relic of Knowledge," said Glynda before asking Jaune to take out the object she had given him earlier. Jaune nodded and took out several thick glass panels. Glynda moved the pedestal with the relic and connected the glass panels together to form a barrier around the relic, sealed up tightly. Jaune then took out the Relic of Choice with a pedestal, placed it a few feet away from the Relic of Knowledge, and let Glynda do the same thing once more.

"There," said Glynda as she lowered her crop, "That should act as a secondary protective measure. Even if they get through this vault, they'll need to have some serious firepower to break through these. James managed to get some for me just in time. They're very durable to almost everything, even Aura."

The crew was blindfolded once more before being lead out of the vault and back to the grounds on Beacon.

* * *

"Uhh, Jaune?"

Junior approached Jaune cautiously, "I may have made some decisions without consulting you. I-"

Jaune stopped him there, "Whatever decision you made, I trust you. You can tell me later, Dew wants to go out on the date soon."

"Will do, boss," said Junior, saluting him, "Also, we technically own half of Beacon now."

"Uhh, what? How?" A baffled Jaune asked.

"I helped out with the reconstruction and paid for a lot of it. Stuff happened, and I became the patron for half the stuff."

"... Sweet. Good job. Now I need to change into some regular clothes for the group date tonight."

Soon enough, Jaune, Ren, Sun, and Neptune were waiting for their dates. They were currently using the empty rooms for now, as the dormitories had yet to be assigned once more.

"Looking good," complimented Yang as she and the twins entered the hall, "I can't wait for my turn."

She winked at Jaune and moved to leave, putting a noticeable swing in her hips as she walked away.

"Us too," added the Malachite twins as they gave Ren a swift peck on the cheek before following Yang's example. Team RWBY, Pyrrha, Nora, and the twins were having a girls night at their dorms while the others were on a date night.

"Oh boy, I'm so nervous! What if it doesn't work out? What if-"

Neptune was panicking so much that Sun slapped him on the back to snap him out of it.

"We're ready, boys!" Said the voice of Nebula.

They turned around and felt their jaws drop as they were all wearing tight dresses of their color scheme that accentuated their figures. Dew was wearing forest green, Nebula with lavender, Gwen with black, and Octavia with turquoises.

"You boys ready for a good night out?" asked Nebula.

They all nodded at once and hooked arms with their date for the night.

Ruby and the other girls observed them as they left, and the silver-eyed Huntress asked, "Think they're going to do anything after?"

"Dew said something about making it special," answered Weiss.

"Huh, so did Octavia," added Nora.

"You don't think...?" asked Blake, her mind already going into the gutter while her hand was writing ideas.

"That the boys are going to get a good glimpse of other girls?" finished Pyrrha.

"Probably," shrugged the twins as they examined their nails.

"How are you so calm about this?" asked Yang.

"Easy. We trust our boy not to 'taste' other girls than the one he's dating," said Militia.

"We allow looking," continued Melanie, "After all, we admire movie star and their hot looks, don't we?"

"Long as we both know who's truly in our hearts, then it's fine," finished both of them.

The other girls stared at the twins for a bit.

"Damn, that's deep," said Yang.

"We know. Meanwhile, you girls have fun while we interrogate Nora so we know what to expect," replied Militia as the two girls suddenly grabbed Nora and dragged her away.

"Huh. Guess tonight's going to be an interesting night for Jaune and the others," blinked Ruby.

"Well, I get to go next," huffed Weiss.

"Hey Ruby, wanna make it a dual date when it's our turn?" asked Yang, "We can go to that cafe that serves those cookies you like."

"Yeah, that'd be awesome!" cheered Ruby.

"You're going to have to wait your turn for a while," said Blake, turning to Pyrrha, "You had Jaune the whole semester to yourself."

"I know," sighed Pyrrha, "Don't really like it, but I still demand I get my cuddles on my nights."

"I don't think any of us have any problems with that. By the way... how many times did you two make love?" whispered Blake, her nose practically about to bleed.

Pyrrha smirked and said, "Ohhh quite a bit, and while I'll leave the details up to your imagination; let's just say that Jaune proved to me he really does love me."

Pyrrha walked off, leaving a flustered Blake behind.

* * *

The dating group had finished their dinner and were now at a nightclub dancing away. Neptune's disastrous moves were luckily covered up by Nebula's sensual dance while Sun showed Octavia a good time with his wild moves, and Ren and Jaune were more restrained and romantic with their respective partners. They spent the next hour dancing away in the night and soon enough they were walking back towards the docks to the Bullhead, tired from the eventful night.

All of a sudden the four girls nodded to each other, and grabbed their dates and dragged them to a hotel, where they had booked the penthouse in advanced thanks to Junior's connections.

"Whoa, whoa, not that I'm complaining, but you sure you want to move this fast?" asked Neptune, "It's only been the first date."

"Relax big boy, you ain't my first," said Nebula as she rolled her eyes, "I just want to see if we're compatible. Unless you're feeling shy?"

"No, no, I'm good! I'll become a man tonight!"

"Good boy. Now sit and stay while we girls change into something... more comfortable."

As the girls disappeared into the bathroom, the others were already calling the rooms they wanted when they noticed there was a rather large round bed in the middle of the room.

"Errr you don't think?" asked Sun, pointing to the bed.

"They can't be serious... can they?" asked Ren.

"I knew they were all close as they went to the same combat school, but this close?" murmured Jaune.

Neptune was in the middle of hyperventilating from this information.

"You got that right, boys!"

They whirled around to see the girls come out and jaws dropped even lower. Each girl was now wearing only panties and bra again with their usual color scheme.

"You see, admittedly, Gwen and Dew are only the real virgins here. Me and Octavia fooled around a bit back at our final year at Shadow Combat School," answered Nebula.

"Sorry Ren, you won't be my first, but I do hope you'll be the only one I have for the rest of my life," waved Octavia.

He smiled and nodded, "I would be honored, my dear."

"Gwen admitted that when she wanted to lose hers, she wanted to do it in style, and that was with all her girlfriends together," smiled Dew as she hugged Gwen.

"Hope you don't mind, Sun," said Gwen shyly, "But in return, I'll let you see other girls. No tasting them, though."

"I wouldn't even think about it," said Sun gently and firmly, taking Gwen into his arms, grabbing her by the hips, lifting her up and kissing her lovingly.

"Guess we're doing this," sighed Ren before Octavia dragged him on the bed.

"Come on, stop breathing heavily and get to work," commanded Nebula as she dragged Neptune onto the bed.

"Hope you don't mind," said a blushing Dew as she hugged Jaune, "But I admit I feel better doing it with my friends."

"Long as you feel comfortable and don't do swapping, I'm good," answered Jaune.

" _ **Holy crap you're lucky!"**_ shouted Othim from inside his mind, _**"Such a kinky group!"**_

" _ **This continues to bedazzle me,"**_ sighed Aryz, _**"But I guess they feel safer in a pack."**_

" _ **Alright, everyone just turn away and head to sleep,"**_ waved Alaerth, _**"No point in us being here. Except for Aryz. He might put the Mate Mark on Dew today."**_

" _ **I'm staying up to watch this!"**_ said Othim eagerly, just for Andusk's fist to land on top of his head.

And thus, Team NDGO and their boys stayed in the penthouse suite. They didn't check out until noon time the next day.

* * *

 _Kuo Kuana_

Kali and Ghira were enjoying their time together, sipping on some tea that Kali had made. It was a fine day as Ghira had finished the overwhelming paperwork for the day.

"I hope Blake is doing all right," said Ghira as he sipped his tea.

"I'm sure she's doing fine. She has friends that will watch her back, as well as Jaune now. Blake sent us a letter how they would be meeting back at Beacon," replied Kali as she took a fish chip from the center bowl that she laid.

The two enjoyed each other's company when Ghira suddenly shifted left to dodge an arrow aiming for his head.

"You might as well come out now," growled Ghira as he stood up, ready for a fight, "You chose a very bad time to interrupt my time with my wife."

Five cloaked figures revealed themselves, with the human palms of black and white on their back.

"The Children of the Brothers demand your death so humanity will prevail," rasped one of the figures.

"Oh give it a rest, I know you're not with that group," sighed Ghira as he rolled his eyes, "You're Adam Taurus's people, trying to kill me and my wife, frame that human radical group so the Faunus will flock back into the White Fang."

The five gaped at this, but one of them chuckled, "It won't matter much once your dead. Be proud, as the Belladonna family will become martyrs for the Faunus to ascend to their rightful position, above the humans. Just as the White Fang fought for."

"The White Fang fought for equality," spat Ghira, "Not superiority. Either leave or face the consequences."

"What consequences?" sneered another, "You're outnumbered, and your helpless wife is just another weakness for us to use. Maybe she could be used to help us in more than one way. Your daughter's next, and I look forward to some -"

He didn't get to finish as a knife embedded itself into the man's hand. He screamed in pain as he fell to the floor, his hood dropping to reveal weasel ears.

"I may be a housewife, but I'm far from helpless," said Kali as she sipped on her tea while her other hand held several throwing daggers.

"I see," said the leader, stepping forward, "A misconception on our part. But well in our plans to handle you. You didn't think we'd just bring so little to take you down?"

He snapped his hands to reveal five more people. He frowned at that sight, though. They had brought 20 White Fang members to deal with this. Where was the other ten? He had his answer as the wall burst open and a White Fang member came crashing through, knocking out four more.

"What!?"

"Bal, that's coming out of your pocket," groaned Ghira as he looked at the broken wall.

"Sorry. I hit her a little too hard," said Bal as he peaked through the hole.

The leader gulped and tried to order his assassins to attack, but another sound rang in the night.

"Stop right there."

From the shadows came out Sienna Khan. They all paled at the sight of her growling at them. Even if she wasn't their High Leader anymore, she still had a presence that demanded respect.

"So trying to kill me wasn't enough. Adam ordered the deaths of all the founders of the White Fang, is that right? Well then, Adam has another thing coming then."

At once, the Kuo Kuana security force arrived to arrest them.

"We must flee," hissed one of the members, "This mission has failed."

The leader hesitated but agreed, throwing down a smoke bomb with special properties. Each one of the assassins quickly put on a mask as the cloud spread. The smoke contained chemicals that would irritate the eyes and nose of anyone, but it was especially effective against Faunus. As the security department gagged and tried to get out of the cloud, one of them tried to go for Ghira. Sienna intercepted the assassin with her eyes closed, her hand gripping the assassin's head.

"Remember when I bragged that I could pop a man's skull with my bare hands? Well, let's put it to a test." She snarled.

The assassin's eyes widened as Sienna's grip tightened so much that he felt his eyes were popping out. His lemur tail drooped down as his hands clawed at Sienna's hand, but it was fruitless. Sienna was just too strong as her grip cracked through the face mask and digging into the man's skull.

"Sienna, let him go. We need one to interrogate as the others ran," said Kali as she grabbed Sienna's side.

Sienna frowned before tossing the man into the wall, where he would live but be unconscious for the while. On the man's head, they could easily see indents where Sienna's fingers had been digging in. They wouldn't be surprised if there were cracks on the skull, either.

"What about the other ones that ran? Can't we take them?" asked one of the guards.

"They ran towards the jungle area... and Ghira's already following them," replied Kali.

"We must assist him!" shouted one of the guards.

"Don't bother. He won't need help. He's in hunting mode," waved Kali.

Both Bal and Sienna shivered at this statement while the guards looked confused.

"Trust her," said Bal, "When Ghira's in hunting mode and its at the jungle, he's beary scary to fight against. He's so silent and swift even though his size doesn't seem like he would be like that."

"There will be no prisoners. Just dead assassins. The hunters have now just become the hunted. They are prey to the alpha predator," said Sienna, her voice shivering a bit. They had fought Ghira before in the jungle and lost badly. Only their old friend King had been a match against Ghira, but even he still lost. In the jungle, one could say Ghira was the king in there.

Kali, however, noticed that when Sienna stated that fact, she detected within that shiver a hint of lust. She thought about it for a bit before deciding on a perfect birthday gift for Ghira.

"Sienna, let's talk for a bit. I have the 6th volume of the Ninja's of Love and would love to have someone to talk to with," whispered Kali to Sienna.

Sienna blushed at that but agreed, not knowing what Kali was scheming.

* * *

"Where is he?" huffed a female member, scared out of her wits.

"Just keep running!" replied leader.

There had been eight of them that made it into the jungle. They thought they were safe when they heard a growl, followed by one of them flying through some trees before landing on the floor hard. It was easy to see from the way his neck was bent that he was dead. That made them panic and split off into different directions, some sticking together.

As the two members were running, they could hear screams, threats, gunfire, and finally people begging for mercy, only to be silenced in the next second.

"How is he so efficient?" sobbed the female member, her clock already off to reveal bunny ears, "I can't even hear him, and yet he's taken down others! He should be weak! Adam said so!"

"We made a huge mistake," gasped the male leader with a wolf nose, trying to sniff Ghira out. He looked much older than even Ghira. "We thought being the mayor of this place made him soft and rusty. We all forgot that despite his seemingly loving nature, he was still the leader of the White Fang as well as one of the founders. My Uncle once told me that before Ghira helped create the White Fang, he was described as the best assassin. Rumor has it he can hide where nobody even expects it. Even with Faunus bodyguards and hi-tech equipment he can go undetected and slip past defenses to slit his target's throat without anyone even knowing he's there. THe worst part is, that I asked him if he was just exaggerating. He gave me a look that told me everything."

"How?! He's huge!" cried the female, twitching and reacting to even the slightest sounds.

"Nobody knows. It might be his Semblance, but it also explains why Sienna respects him so much even though she took his place as... OH SHIT!"

"What!?"

"We fucked up. We ran into the jungle! Rumor has it if it's in the jungle, Ghira is a hundred times more deadlier!"

"How can he be a hundred times more deadlier?" asked the female in a hysterical tone.

"I'm not sure I should be happy or not that my reputation still remains."

Before the two could react, a hand shot out and grabbed the male by his throat before an eerie crack was heard. The male fell down to the floor gurgling with a broken neck.

"That was for thinking about threatening my family," whispered Ghira before kicking him into some trees. He slowly turned around to see the bunny Faunus had fallen to the ground and trying to scramble away, still facing Ghira. Ghira could see that the White Fang member had pissed herself, as there was a path of liquid trailing from her.

"Please, don't kill me!" squeaked the Faunus, "I'll do anything!"

As if to show that, she started to strip herself as she was even willing to lower herself to a sex slave. Anything to live and escape the wrath of Ghira Belladonna.

Ghira stared at the Faunus before his hand shot out. The Faunus flinched until she felt a gentle hand touch her head. She looked up just in time for Ghira to disappear before something hit the back of her neck, where she fell unconscious.

"Oooh, not looking forward to carrying her back." sighed Ghira as he grabbed her clothes, bundled her up, and started to carry her back to the village. He stopped by two more places and dragged two more members with him.

"Damn, you took prisoners?" whistled Bal as he saw Ghira coming back, "You used to never take prisoners back in the day. Especially when it's in the jungle and you're in hunting mode."

"Assassins or not, they're still Faunus. As Mayor of a major Faunus settlement, I had to give them a choice. Most of them just refused it, though," sighed Ghira, "Where's Kali and Sienna?"

"Inside your private study, talking about something. Not sure what, but sounds important."

"Sir, you're back!" saluted one of the security force.

"Take these to the jail cells, along with any other you managed to capture. Nobody is allowed to see them until my say so. I've had a long day, and I want some rest," ordered Ghira as he passed his three prisoners to them.

They saluted and put them on a wheel barrel along with the others and left.

"Kali, I'm going to take a shower first," shouted Ghira as he grabbed his clothes.

"Oh dear," said Kali as she stood up, breaking her conversation with Sienna, "I'm going to go in with him."

"Not that I should ask, but why?" questioned Sienna.

"Ghira may be one of the best assassins ever, but when he goes savage he isn't exactly left in a mentally sound mood. If I don't do something, he'll try to drown his feelings and scrub his hands as hard as he can to wipe off the blood that he believes is still on his hands, even to the point of bleeding," said Kali softly, "He's had this before we even dated."

"I never knew," whispered Sienna, "He's never shown that side to us before."

"He hides it well, but he can't hide it from me. I know him too well," said Kali.

As Kali left, Sienna sighed as she leaned back on the couch.

"Perhaps it was best that Ghira went with Kali," sighed Sienna, "Oum knows I would've been a terrible housewife. She handles him the best."

"Oh, and Sienna? Bring yourself and Bal to the bedroom. He'll need all the company he can get," added Kali, "And do think about what I said earlier."

Sienna blushed crimson at that last part before shaking her head.

"I will never be able to understand her. For a Cat Faunus, she's a real vixen," muttered Sienna before going to find Bal.

* * *

Kali swiftly stripped her clothes and entered the bath to see Ghira trying to scrub his hands with a sponge.

"Shhh, it's okay," said Kali as she hugged her husband.

"It won't come off. The blood. The stench. It's not washing off," said Ghira feverishly as he continued scrubbing, even though there was clearly no blood.

"It's all in your imagination. Just relax."

"I can't. I killed those people. Fellow Faunus. I, the mayor, killed them! I, I-!"

"You did what you had to do to protect not only your family but all the Faunus here. Such is the burden you carry."

As Kali began to gently wash his body, Ghira felt his body slowly relaxing.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," sighed Ghira.

"Don't worry, I'll always be here," replied Kali.

The two of them soon finished and went to bed. As Kali placed her husband's head towards her chest, he felt someone's chest hugging his back, followed by a soft paw on his head.

"We're with you," said Bal as he patted Ghira's head. He knew Ghira didn't like killing but hadn't known about how he dealt with the fallout.

"We know you. You're not a cold-blooded murderer. You're a protector, who's willing to do what needs to be done," said Sienna from his back.

Soon enough, Ghira's breath became soft as he fell asleep. Bal pulled out a sleeping bag and slept on the floor while the others laid on the bed, falling asleep into the night.

* * *

"WHAT!?"

The Albain brothers winced at Adam's voice before Fennec replied, "Mission failed. The Belladonnas had Bal Bloo and Sienna Khan with them. I don't understand how they managed to sneak into Menagerie without us noticing."

"This is unforgivable," growled Adam, "Sienna Khan. Ghira Belladonna. They were supposed to be the 'martyrs' for the revolution. The necessary sacrifice for the Faunus to assume their rightful position, above the humans. I understand Sienna and Bal can fight, but how did they not kill the foolish peace loving oaf? He's weak now! He's not a fighter anymore!"

"We promise we'll get them, but for now, we need to lie low," said Corsac, "Wait and recover for some months, maybe half a year before we start building our members again."

"...No."

"What?" gaped the Albain brothers.

"We cannot afford any more delays. Gather your forces here and leave for Anima. I shall be contacting all others branches to gather at the main headquarters. While you're leaving, convince as many as you can to join us. And make it they have no other choice but to join, or die for being a traitor. We will gather strength here and strengthen our current forces. We'll strike at Haven and for freedom for the Faunus near the end of the semester. From what's been told, Lionheart's been exposed, and so it is too risky to strike now."

And with that, Adam hung up, most likely to call the other branches.

"Wouldn't it be better to attack right now?'" asked Fennec, "Haven is in chaos right now."

"No, Adam is right," lectured Corsac, "Because of it, the security within Haven must have increased. Huntsmen and Huntresses of Mistral will have been called back and they'll have their strongest forces at hand. It would too risky and too costly to attack now. Better to wait and let their guard go down when they send their forces back out in the field."

"Then it is good we have time," smiled Fennec as he looked at the door for one of their members to walk in. He was significantly different from the other Faunus that was known in this world, for he had bat wings. Fennec and Corsac had finally found a flying Faunus.

"So, will your village fight with us?" asked Fennec.

"...Maybe," grunted the Faunus, "I'll have to ask and convince of the chieftain."

"Perhaps a meeting with High Leader Adam will help," suggest Corsac.

"No. My chieftain won't like someone who is so willing to draw his blade easily for his own sake. My tribe chose to be isolated from everyone to avoid all conflict. If the White Fang drags us in, we will most likely fight against you, as your organization is the primary offender."

"Then a more peaceful solution is needed. Bring me to your tribe, and I'm sure I can convince your tribe to side with us," soothed Corsac before turning to Fennec, "You will need to gather all the White Fang here and prepare them to head to Menagerie. If you can convince more people, all the better."

"I will prepare for our departure," said the Faunus as he left.

"It's a good thing he didn't hear what Adam said earlier," murmured Fennec, "Otherwise they would surely refuse."

"Indeed. I will be leaving this to you. Do as High Leader Taurus says. And if you can, free our members from their unjust prison and try to silence the Belladonnas. Though I don't understand how it failed."

The problem with that thought process was that many of the Faunus in the White Fang lived after the Great War, and did not know about the legends behind Ghira. Many took him as a naive has been with no real fight, even with his large body size. All they saw was him trying to advocate peace and equality. They did not see the other side of his face, the darker half. Those who lived during the Great War didn't know much about Ghira either, as he worked in the shadows. They only spoke of his other name, and never attached it to him. Only a few knew of his assassin's name: The Black Panther.

* * *

"So, how was it?" asked Yang as she dodged a punch from Nebula.

All the girls were sparring against each other without weapons for the day before heading to a spa. Sun had gotten the Aura Cuffs and was trying to just make it through the day. His Aura didn't shatter at night like he thought it would, but he was having a hard time moving much less fight. Team SSSN decided to just use the pool to swim for a bit, allowing Neptune to get more used to the water while helping Sun adjust. Jaune and Ren were off to see Junior and the twins, as they had business to deal with.

"Not bad. Neptune shows good potential, but room to improve," replied Nebula as she tried to kick Yang.

"I meant the whole thing of doing it while everybody else was watching," said Yang slyly.

"If you're asking it was a full-on orgy then no," answered Nebula dryly, "Nobody swapped partners. We did get an eyeful of each other and our boyfriends, though. After that, we split into our rooms to continue our fun."

"So, any of you girls ride your partner to exhaustion?" piped Blake as she leaned back from Octavia's kick.

"Oh, mine easily," said Nebula, "But it was Neptune's first time."

"I was surprised at Ren's stamina. He doesn't seem like the guy that has a lot of energy," added Octavia.

"That's because of me!" exclaimed Nora as she tried to hammer fist a squeaking Weiss. Her fists made contact with the ground and created a crater.

"That makes a lot more sense now," nodded Octavia.

"Sun was... eager," said Gwen, blushing "We both blew a short fuse in our bed."

"I'll say. It sounded like you were enjoying yourself a lot," commented Nebula, "Though I could've sworn I heard you moaning before something stifled it."

"One word. Semblance," answered Gwen, leaving it to their imagination.

"Damn girl. Who knew you were so kinky?" said Octavia hotly.

"What about you, Dew?" said Gwen, trying to push the spotlight off her now, "You must've enjoyed yourself."

"Oh, I did," blushed Dew, "Granted, Jaune's already been with almost everyone except Weiss in our group."

"And I have no plans on pushing it further than I'm comfortable with," added Weiss, though she admitted that she was nearing her limit to herself.

"And I admit, I don't think I can handle Jaune by myself," finished Dew, "He's just so... vigorous. And with a nice size, too. But I'd get too sore if I had him to myself. I saw stars before I knocked out, and he still seemed like he was able to keep going! I'm wondering how you lasted so long with him alone Pyrrha. Didn't he say that when he takes the Dragon Seed, he's in heat for 24 hours?"

"I admit, that was hard," coughed Pyrrha as she ducked under Ruby's dropkick, "I'd say that the Mate Mark helped out a bit, along with how eager I was to finally sleep with him. I almost went unconscious while he was still thrusting and barely managed to hang on before he called it a night. He was still inside me when we went to sleep, though. When we woke up, we were going at it again. Looking back, I'm glad we had a few extra days to rest. I was limping for a whole day while he went into a healing coma."

"Too bad we can't use it as an aphrodisiac," commented Yang before adding a teasing tone, "Then we'd force feed him it and let him go crazy on all six of us. Be a nice workout and stress relief."

"There are other ways to do that without putting him into a healing coma," said Blake dryly.

"True enough. Weiss, we need your Lien to buy some special items!" yelled Yang.

"Don't spend my money on frivolous things!" shouted Weiss.

"You'd call the love fest of a lifetime frivolous?" Yang said, aghast. She shared a looked with Pyrrha and Blake, both of whom blushed as they all began to imagine the erotic scene of Jaune making love to his entire harem, with their naked bodies shining due to being covered in aphrodisiac oil.

Yang absently licked her lips while Pyrrha covered her chest to calm her beating heart and Blake's nose began to drip blood again.

"You should really get that nose looked at, Blake," Octavia suggested.

"Oh, brother." Ruby said with a laugh before adding, "We should probably get ready to go, we don't want to be late to our spa appointment."

The girls all nodded and headed towards the showers. While doing so, Yang observed her fellow future sister-wives before noting Dew spotting a Mate Mark on her chest.

"Welcome to the club!" cheered Yang as she came from behind and cupped Dew's breast, causing her to squeak out in surprise from the sudden contact.

"Yang! Stop doing that!" admonished Ruby.

"Aw c'mon sis! I'm just welcoming the newest member! Dangit, I need to get it too, now," proclaimed Yang, "I call next!"

* * *

"Jaune! Welcome back," greeted Junior as he mixed up drinks for both Ren and Jaune.

"Junior, what you got for me?" asked Jaune as he sat on the stool with Ren next to him.

"Take a sip first," replied Junior as he poured out a drink for the both of them, "It's non-alcoholic. Testing out this cocktail I recently found. It's called Cinderella, from what I know."

"Not bad," nodded Jaune after he took a sip, "So what did you need to speak to me about?"

"Well... you know how Atlas had a prison break?" started Junior.

"Yeah, Adam escaped along with a bunch of others. Saw him and Mercury back at Akai Chirrupa," said Jaune darkly.

"They weren't the only ones. Two others escaped, but they chose to defect from Cinder's old faction. You're quite familiar with them. They're right in the other ro-"

"Dragon boy!" called out Roman as he entered into the bar and sat right next to Jaune, "Good to see you're still swinging!"

"Dammit Roman, I told you to wait," growled Junior.

"No need. I'll introduce myself, thank you very much," grinned Roman.

Ren and Jaune stiffened up a bit at seeing Roman before looking to Ren's right to see Neo sitting there with a bowl of Neapolitan ice cream. She saw them looking and gave a sultry grin before licking the ice cream off her spoon in a sexual manner.

"Stop trying to hit on our boyfriend!" growled the Malachite twins as they appeared and inserted themselves between Ren and Neo.

"This better have a good explanation, Junior," said Jaune as he turned to Junior with raised eyebrows and a small glare.

"I'll explain it," said Roman, interrupting Junior's attempt to talk and appease Jaune, "Basically, I've got some information about a few Blood Fang bases as well as their plans. I come in peace to work with you in exchange for protection. If it helps, I was the one who rescued all those Atlas soldiers and wardens before they blew up the prison."

"You think it's enough to make me ignore the fact that you helped Cinder almost kill my mate?" growled Jaune, his eyes turning into slits.

"Hey, I was being threatened to work for them," said Roman as he waved his hand defensively, "They came to me, not the other way around. They threatened to kill me and Neo if I didn't cooperate. Surely my other job would also persuade you to see that I can help."

"I'll take over from here," said Junior quickly, "One of your stepfathers, Ghira Belladonna, contacted me, asking for some help. He needed someone to sneak in and help protect Sienna Khan."

"Khan? Wasn't she the leader the of the White Fang before Adam took over?" asked Ren, "Isn't she dead?"

"No, she's still alive," answered Junior, "That footage that the news broadcasted is edited a little. I cut off the footage right after Adam started bragging. Neo and Roman were actually there to protect Sienna. When Adam stabbed her, Neo used her illusion semblance to protect Sienna while still making it look like Adam killed her in the video. Right now, she's at Kuo Kuana along with someone name Bal Bloo with the rest of the Belladonna family."

"We know Bal," added Jaune, "He was with us when... when Wong was killed."

A heavy silence fell upon them all for a bit before Jaune lifted his cup to the air. The others recognized the gesture and did the same before Jaune finished off his drink. At this, Junior started the conversation once more.

"Jaune... I know I haven't been honest and didn't tell you as soon as Roman and Neo contacted me, but-"

"No need. I'm not exactly pleased at seeing them, but I trust you. If you think they can help out, then I'm for it. Just don't let it be in vain," interrupted Jaune.

"Thank you!" bowed Junior, appreciating Jaune's trust in him.

"Well, glad that's out of the way," mused Roman as he ordered another drink, "Now, about my pay-"

"I'll deal with that," glared Junior, "You're under my jurisdiction. We can discuss that later, though. I've got other business to discuss with Jaune."

"Good, with that, we have business with Ren," said Melanie as she hooked Ren's left arm as Militia took the right, "Don't expect us to be back until tomorrow."

"Wait, what?" said Ren stupidly before being dragged away, "Girls, I'm tired! Can't I rest?"

"Nope. You've had enough rest. Now it's our turn," replied Melanie.

"Don't worry, we have something that'll get you up easily if you tire," added Militia, "Nora told us how you managed to handle her. I think you'll do just fine."

"Can't we talk about this?" pleaded Ren.

"We've been waiting patiently for a year," said both twins, "That's long enough."

"Make sure to use protection!" shouted Junior as the three left, "I don't want to be a grand uncle yet!"

"I can't tell whether to pity the boy or not," said Roman lightheartedly.

Neo pouted before sizing up Jaune before trying to sit closer.

"Not interested," deadpanned Jaune, "Junior what else you need to tell me?"

"Oh just some investments..."

Jaune spent the rest of the day with Junior going over their stocks and possible future plans.

* * *

 **Yaa another chapter through. Now on a side note, NO I did not get the Black Panther thing from the movie. Ghira is based off of the panther from the Jungle Book, and so I molded it from there. I had this written out before the Black Panther movie even came out.**

 **Speaking of movies, finally watched the Black Panther and Infinity War. Not gonna say anything because spoilers. Will say they were good to watch.**

 **Yes, there is a new chapter for the special scenarios for this story involving all of NDGO. Again, didn't write it in this story for reasons, etc. Damn its been months since I last wrote a new 'special scenario' scene. Enjoy.**

 **Just a friendly reminder, I have a page! Just search azndrgn. otherwise (Pat reon) . coom/ azndrgn, removing the obvious o, (), and spaces. Come donate if you're feeling generous. Otherwise, enjoy the story. Also want to thank those that did donate!**

 **Also got a challenge fic on my profile, go check it out if you're interested!**

 **Also, very tempted to start writing a My Hero Academia fanfic. Been reading through quite a few, too, and got three different ideas for it.**

 **And finally, totally bummed/hyped for KH3! Saw the newest trailer, excited for it! And yet bummed because they pushed it back to 2019 instead of their promised 2018.**


	59. Chapter 59 A Small Vacation

**This chapter has been beta by UGX7 and TheMischeviousPuppyDog. Please enjoy! Also celebrating for breaking the 1 million view count, woot!**

 **Side note, I put up a poll for the choice of my next story! Come and vote!**

 **Also, yes another chapter in special scenario.**

* * *

"Ren, are you alright?" Jaune asked as they took a ship back to Beacon the next day. He looked at his best friend/right hand man in concern as Ren looked a bit frazzled when he came back the morning after the Malachite twins took him away.

"Yes, just fine," yawned Ren in reply, "Melanie and Miltia took me to go clubbing in a new dance club that just opened up. Flashing strobe lights, dance floors, drinks, etc. They then took the VIP seat where they proceeded to make out with me in front of everyone. Even did a three-way kiss somehow. They then dragged me to the dance floor to dance, only to eventually grinding up against me, pressing their breasts against both my chest and back. Some guys tried to cut in, but I... dealt with them."

"Wow, getting possessive now?" asked Jaune, getting the implication of a fight over the girls.

"You can thank the girls for that," sighed Ren, "I've never lost my temper like that. Though the girls apparently thought it was... hot. They decided to show their appreciation by making out with each other in front of Oum and everyone tight there on the dance floor before asking me if I wanted to continue this in private. I think everyone's mouth dropped to the floor and the men felt their pants tightening as I nodded as they dragged me to the private room upstairs, where my limits were tested."

Jaune nodded sagely before giving a trolling smirk, "Did you do the same thing you did with Octavia?"

Ren stiffly stopped before giving a very minute nod.

"Huh. Never thought you to be an exhibitionist," chuckled Jaune.

"I could say the same thing to you with Dew," argued Ren.

"Yeah, but I did it way up in the skies where nobody could see us. You were more daring than any of us, doing it right where everyone could have seen you."

"Not even going to reply to that. By the way, how are you faring with the Aura cuffs?" asked Ren, changing the subject.

"Much better now," answered Jaune, "I'm almost back at peak performance, which took longer than I expected. Who do you think should go next on our team?"

Ren contemplated an answer for a while before honestly answering him, "I think it should be Nora. I would like to go next, but she's the next powerhouse. Pyrrha is linked up with you already, getting a boost from the Mate Mark, but she's also someone important to you."

"I was actually thinking of risking two at once. Ozpin told me that he and Glynda would be willing to combine JNPR, RWBY, SSSN, and NDGO into one team. He wants us to mainly take on just one mission for the next semester."

"What mission could take us so long?" Ren asked, surprised.

Jaune sighed and looked at Ren with a serious expression and look in his eyes. "Retaking Mt. Glenn."

* * *

Back at Kuo Kauna, Ghira slowly woke up to find his beautiful sleeping wife hugging him. He sighed in relief as he hugged her closer to him, knowing she was his rock, his support through any rough times he had. As he breathed in her scent, he felt someone shift behind him and felt two very familiar "buns" press on his back, along with something that felt like arms and hand and when he glanced down, sure enough, the tanned arms were there, along with black stripes. He gulped as he slowly turned his head to see Sienna Khan snoozing right behind him, hugging him like a body pillow.

'Oh right, they decided to sleep here for the night,' remembered Ghira as he slowly tried to lift her hands away, but she just hugged tighter. Ghira started to sweat when he felt Kali close in and put her arms around him, just barely touching Sienna's.

"Breakfast is ready, it's good and hot," shouted Bal, walking right into the room without the slightest hesitation.

Ghira's heart froze as he saw Sienna and Kali both yawn and wake up, smacking their lips before looking at each other.

"Morning," greeted Kali, "I'm going to go for a shower. Didn't get to last night. Want to join me, Sienna?"

"I could use a shower and a good back scrub after all this," admitted Sienna, "You scrub mine, I scrub yours?"

"Sounds like a plan," smiled Kali, "I'll get the towels and clothes for us. You warm up the water."

As the two lovely women left, Ghira was left blinking as he tried to figure out what happened.

"You coming to eat breakfast?" asked Bal, "I'll save some for the ladies, but you have to be hungry after what happened."

"... Yeah, I'm coming," said Ghira as he got out of bed to grab some breakfast.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Sienna and Kali were laughing at the gobsmacked expression Ghira's face had. The two Faunus women stripped down as the water warmed up.

"My word, you don't look a day over twenty-five." Kali said as she admired the caramel beauty before her.

"I'm not the only one who kept my looks, you have a teenage daughter and are still quite the beauty," Sienna commented as they stepped into the shower.

"So, Ghira's birthday is coming soon. What do you say we give him a little birthday present at night, just between the three of us?" asked Kali as she scrubbed Sienna's back.

"I can't believe you're willing to even entertain with that thought," Sienna said with a blush as she leaned into Kali's massaging hands.

"The two of you had a little history together," shrugged Kali, "I'm not blind to the fact that you were attracted to him. And ever since you became High Leader of the White Fang, I'm betting that you've had a very long dry spell."

"Got that right," muttered Sienna, "But still, why are you so willing to share?"

"It's not only a gift for my husband, but also a way for you to relax. Plus, I would be lying if I didn't hold an interest in your body and how you look while you're in bed with us," smirked Kali before she reached from behind and groped her breast.

" #$%# !" yelled Sienna, her words cluttered before moaning at her ministrations.

"Mmm, yes, very interested," smiled Kali as she continued.

* * *

Jaune was laying in bed with Blake by his side, as it was her turn for the day. They were all sleeping in their old rooms. Jaune had just finished putting on some of the specialized training links on several of his friends. On his team, Ren had been given the Aura control cuffs while Nora had been given Aura reserve cuffs. Team SSSN was still keeping Sun with the Aura reserve cuff. On team NDGO, they voted to let Octavia get the resistance seals first.

Now what they surprisingly found out that anyone with the Mate Mark was actually unable to use any of the seals. Jaune had attempted it on Dew first, as team NDGO had first voted to let Dew get the Aura reserve seal. The cuffs went on when the Mate Mark on her chest suddenly glowed and blasted it apart. Jaune attempted it 3 more times before finally stopping. He conversed with his dragons and theorized that with the Mate Mark, it forbade the mate from being bound, even if it was for training.

" _ **I guess it makes sense,"**_ nodded Fafnir, _**"We are very protective of our mates."**_

" _ **Plus, they draw more power from it that the Dragon Marks,"**_ added Aryz, _**"As long as they remain your lovers and mates, they'll grow stronger in time as you also get stronger."**_

" _ **Though it begs the question, how is it the Dragon Marks and Jaune himself allows these restraints?"**_ asked Andusk.

" _ **For Jaune, it is our desire to see him grow stronger. We are linked with him, and witness how it's done. There was never a technique back in our clan,"**_ surmised Lung Wang, _**"The Dragon Mark's do help provide strength, but it is mostly a loyalty oath. One that can be broken at any time. It is also not heavily linked with us, either."**_

"So in the end for team RWBY, only Yang and Weiss will be able to have the techniques applied to them," sighed Jaune, both girls were debating whether or not to undergo the training and decided to sleep on it.

"Worried?" whispered Blake from his side, looking up to him.

"A little, yeah," nodded Jaune, "What if I prevented you guys from becoming more powerful just because we rushed the Mate Mark? What if when the cuffs are applied, they interfere with the Mate Mark process?"

Blake sighed before reached up to caress her lover's cheek and replied "I can tell you, none of us have any regrets. Not one of us. We chose to become your mates ourselves. None of us were forced to. If anything we forced you. And I can tell you with confidence that Yang and Weiss would rather join us than take those cuffs. For Yang, it's only a matter of time. I know my partner well enough that she's almost ready. Weiss may take a while longer, but she's also the same boat."

"How did I get so lucky with all you girls?" smiled Jaune, "Beautiful, smart, kind, patient, compassionate, and understanding… you all have those in spades."

"It helps that you're the perfect gentlemen," smiled Blake as she gave him a light kiss to his lips, which turned to a full blown make out session.

"We should get some sleep," yawned Jaune as he took a peek at the clock, seeing it was already past midnight.

"Of course," replied Blake, but she had a naughty smile on as her hand reached downwards.

"Mf! Here? Now?" asked Jaune as he felt her hands touch below the belt, "You can't be serious? What if they hear us?"

"I'm not saying we should do it," answered Blake, "But just for tonight, I want to sleep with you inside me. Don't worry, I'm on the pill."

The two of them shifted themselves so Jaune was spooning Blake, wrapping his arms around her waist. Blake wriggled and shifted herself before gasping as it made its way in.

"Good night," moaned Blake as she turned her head to give him a kiss. Jaune replied with the same loving gesture before the two of them fell asleep in that position.

* * *

Jaune yawned as he woke up just to find himself in the same position as before he went to sleep, even with his member still sheathed inside of Blake. Slowly withdrawing from her, he heard a small schlurp sound. The sleeping Blake immediately tried to use her hands to put it back in, but Jaune managed to slip away. She curled up in the blanket after fruitlessly trying to find what she wanted.

Jaune had gotten up at six once more even though they were on break to train. As he managed to put on his exercise pants and shirt, a voice whispered out.

"So, how was sleeping with your manhood inside Blake?"

Jaune looked to see Yang, minus her cybernetic arm.

"How long have you been awake?" asked Jaune.

"Long enough to see you move and hear that noise," grinned Yang lecherously, "Which I'm quite familiar with, as it's almost the same sound when you pull out of me."

"Fair enough. What are you doing up so early?" He asked her.

"Dunno. Just woke up and couldn't fall back asleep."

Jaune gave her a slight glare, to which Yang sighed, "My arm acted up again in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep afterward."

Jaune's gaze turned soft as he asked, "Didn't they fix it?"

"They did, but every now and then the pain just spikes through. The doctors tell me I'm imagining it, that it's phantom pain. Dad told me about a few Huntsmen that had similar injuries and that it goes away in time, but when I asked how long, he admitted it took a year or so," Yang told her lover before letting out a yawn, "I don't think I can head back to sleep. You're going out to train, right? Mind if I join you?"

Yang jumped off her bed, quickly taking her right arm off the bed table and put it on to her stump. There was a slight hiss and wince as Yang moved her right fingers to get the sensation back online. She grabbed her clothes and swiftly changed out of her pajamas without hesitation, flashing Jaune her nude body. Jaune slightly blushed but shook himself out of it as Yang finished putting those tight exercise short shorts and a yellow tank top that allowed a generous view of her deep cleavage and only went midriff but clung tightly to her skin.

"C'mon, I got some new moves I wanna try out," said Yang as she pulled him out of the room, but not before Jaune grabbed his exercise bag.

The duo went to the newly constructed gym to begin their workout, going for a light run first before hitting the weights. Jaune focused more on his core and lower body strength while Yang focused on her upper body. Part of being top heavy was that she needed to make sure her chest muscles were strong enough so her beautiful breasts wouldn't sag. After that, the two of them went to the arena, which was luckily located close to the gym, for a light spar, with the definition of light being that Yang punched the ground so hard that it formed craters as Jaune dodged her attacks. The match ended when Jaune caught Yang's arm in mid-swing and kicked, managed to land a hit to Yang's midriff. It stunned her for a few seconds, allowing Jaune used the recoil to swing up and trap Yang's neck between his legs. With the momentum, he spun and took Yang off her feet before completing his move and hurling Yang into the ground. He quickly pounced on her, landing on her midriff before sending a fist to Yang's face, stopping before contact.

"That's game," smiled Jaune as Yang huffed and pouted.

She looked down and grinned before replying, "Why if you wanted me to give you another titty fuck, you could've just asked. No need force yourself on me and sit on me like that."

Jaune blushed at Yang's bluntness and actions as she raised her hands to cup her breasts, forcing him to shift back a bit as a reaction.

'Now!' thought Yang as the weight had shifted from her stomach to her waist, allowing her to bend her body upwards and fired a right hook onto Jaune's face. Jaune went flying, but he managed to tumble on the ground and recover just in time for Yang to attack once more, spinning in the air to kick him in the face. Jaune winced as he put both hands up to guard, feeling the impact but standing firm before pushing it off. Yang used the push off to spin the other way and try to land a backhand, but Jaune had jumped back a little.

"What's wrong? Don't you like being the dominant one? You sure acted like it in bed," teased Yang as she went on the offensive, throwing punches at fast speeds. Jaune parried each one, guiding them away from his body. Yang tried a different tactic and spun, trying to land a high roundhouse kick. Jaune quickly did the same thing, only a bit later but faster and in the same direction as Yang's kick. His foot was on top of hers at the top of the arc and guided it down right on top of a stone pillar, trapping her leg.

"What the?" said a shocked Yang, knowing that pillar hadn't been there before, "You made a pillar! Cheater!"

"It's part of my own abilities," huffed Jaune, "Plus, you suckered punch me after you clearly lost."

Yang pouted and attempted to escape, but Jaune's leg was firmly on hers. Yang stopped attempting to escape and attacked with her fists instead. Jaune blocked them easily and countered, but Yang managed to still dodge. Yang was about to jump, bending her knees when Jaune decided to shift the tile right under her left foot while suddenly lowering the pillar back down, sending her right foot down.

Yang's eyes opened wide in shock as she felt her balance slip and fell forward. Reacting quickly, her hands shot out to latch on whatever she could grab to keep herself from falling on her face or breasts, whichever came first. Her hands caught onto Jaune's legs and steadied herself, but her face ended up right in front of Jaune's groin.

"Wow Yang, I didn't know you were so eager," smirked Jaune, getting his revenge back, "You could've just asked for it."

Yang blushed crimson at this before returning fire by actually nuzzling her face at his groin, "I can do it right here and now if you want. Nobody's up yet, and I haven't had breakfast yet."

The two of them stared off at each other before finally cracking up.

"So, wanna go another round?" asked Yang.

"Let's try something different," replied Jaune as he dug into his bag and grabbed granola bar for them to snack on, "Junior told me he added something interesting in this arena."

He went to the control panel and began to go through it, seeing different programs before choosing one. At once, several mechanical floating spheres floated in the air.

"Junior had some drones programmed in with some of the latest technology. They shoot lasers but at low intensity so it doesn't really hurt, just impacts on you. Our objective is to dodge and neutralize."

"So we just punch it into pieces?" asked Yang as she pounded her fists together.

"That's the other part. We're not allowed to destroy them. Instead, we have to tap them at 3 random weak points on the sphere that are randomly generated to shut them down. We train in dodging, observing, and controlling out strengths so we don't just flat out destroy them."

"Sounds like a good challenge," grinned Yang, "Together or separate?"

"Let's try it together first," said Jaune as he started the countdown. The two of them got to the center of the arena to wait. As the countdown finished, the sphere droids began to move at random and fire.

* * *

"Sheesh, that was intense," yawned Yang as they made their way to the gym showers. It was roughly 9 in the morning by the time they had finished their workout, and both were quite hungry.

"It was still good training," replied Jaune, "Even my dragons told me they liked it."

Indeed, the one who liked it the most was Othim, for he kept yelling dodge every time the droids fired.

As they got to the showers, Jaune went to a stall, expecting Yang to go to another. The showers were mixed gender to save room, not to mention that since they were training to be Huntsmen and Huntresses they needed to get used to the other gender changing in front of each other. Privacy was respected, but sometimes in the battlefield, there was no choice. Of course, there were a few private stalls for some to use if they felt uncomfortable with others. Lastly, the students could just decide to head back to their dorms to take a shower.

Jaune didn't really care and was about to enter a public one when Yang suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into a private one with her.

"We can save some time and water if we do shower it together. Plus I could use someone to scrub my back and hair. And if you want, my front too. And I could use these babies to wash your body." Yang whispered as she pressed her body against him, holding up her wonderful breasts.

Jaune smiled and whispered back "I don't mind if you don't, I could use mine to make sure to scrub those hard to scrub places deep within."

Yang replied by fervently making out with Jaune as they began to strip. The shower heads were turned on as Yang jumped up and wrapped her legs around Jaune's waist. She could feel the love between them and made a choice.

* * *

"Hmm, I wonder where they are?" asked Ruby as she nibbled on her breakfast cookie.

The four teams minus Jaune and Yang were eating breakfast, though the time was approaching 10.

"Jaune is most likely training, though he should be finished," stated Ren.

"Yang's combat arm wasn't in the room when we woke up," said Blake, "Maybe she went out to train with Jaune?"

"Yang never wakes up that early," frowned Ruby, "Not unless her arm acts up."

"It still acts up?" asked Sun.

"Sometimes, especially if it's cold," replied Ruby.

"I thought the surgery was successful," said Pyrrha, worried.

"It was, but the doctors say that she would feel discomfort still, but it would all be psychosomatic," explained Weiss.

"Psycho whatzit?" asked Nora, along with Ruby and Sun looking confused.

"It means related to the mind," piped Neptune.

"I know a person who lost a limb," sighed Sage, "Yang might still be experiencing phantom pains. There's nothing wrong, but her mind says otherwise. He says that he can feel his leg even though it's not there. It's just something she has to get used to."

Just then, Jaune and Yang entered the cafeteria together in their usual clothes with Yang having the biggest grin in her life.

"What's got you so chipper?" asked Weiss as they approached.

"Oh, just made one of the biggest decisions in my life that I won't regret," smiled Yang, "Also, you're the last one now, Weiss"

Weiss took a second to register that before shouting "WHAT!?"

The other girls immediately understood and congratulated Yang.

"Err, I'm still lost," said Scarlet the rest of the team, along with Nebula, Gwen, and Octavia, agreed.

"I'll show you," grinned Yang as she took off her coat and pulled down her crop top down a little.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sun as he looked away as fast as possible, along with the other boys. Neptune would've gazed if Sun didn't know better and forced him to turn too.

"Relax, boys, I'm not flashing you," giggled Yang, "Though it'll be 50,000 Lien if you wanna see them, and that's if I feel like it, which would most likely be never."

The males turned back around just to see a dragon's head on the top of her left breast.

"Isn't that the same as Pyrrha's?" asked Sage, glancing at hers. Pretty much everyone knew about her mark as everyone witnessed Jaune giving her the mark on the television, along with the fact her armor didn't exactly cover all of it up.

"It's a Mate Mark," answered Ren, "Basically Yang has chosen to be with Jaune, which could be the equivalent of marriage."

"Huh. I noticed that mark on Dew but didn't know what it meant," thought Nebula out loud, "I thought she got a tattoo while we weren't looking. I know it wasn't there during our little party."

"I got it afterwards," confessed Dew, "I didn't feel like waiting any longer. Especially what's been happening lately."

"Am I the only one who doesn't have it?" moaned Weiss before pointing to Blake, Yang, and Dew, "I mean, why rush it? I know Ruby and Pyrrha didn't have much of a choice, but what about you guys?"

"Like I said, I wanted it sooner," said Dew.

"Same," nodded Blake.

"I decided I didn't want to live without him," said Yang, "I was scared that I might do a runner like my mom, but I'm not only Raven's daughter, but I'm also Summer's daughter in all but blood. She, along with dad, raised me and taught me everything I am. I won't do what Raven did, and I never will."

"Great, no pressure on me," sighed Weiss.

"Don't worry," smiled Jaune as he stood up to give her a light massage on the shoulders, "I would never force it on you. Just go on your own pace, to whatever you feel comfortable."

"Aww, thanks," said Weiss with a small smile as she placed her hands over his, "But I doubt it'll last long before I cave in. I have desires, too, Especially with our jobs, I don't want them left unfulfilled."

"So, what's the plan today?" cheered Ruby, "I vote we go somewhere fun!"

"The beach wouldn't be too bad," suggested Pyrrha.

"We can go to on an exotic luxury beach vacation at Weiss's island!" cheered Ruby.

"Ruby! I don't own an island, nor is there anything exotic," hissed Weiss.

The others turned to look at her with a slight deadpan stare.

"Well, _**I**_ don't own one," said Weiss meekly, "It's a family island. And it's not exotic... kind of... maybe. I can't deny that it has good beds, though. And drinks... and food... and servants..."

"All vote that we go to that island?" asked Octavia, "Raise your hands."

Nearly everyone did, even Neptune.

"Where's it located?" asked Sun.

"On the very east side of Sanus, directly east of Vale, on the islands," said Weiss, "Father wanted to buy one of the Vytal islands, but they were all declared international landmarks. He was mad, but our other island is quite good."

"It's near the equator, so that means it's going to be warm. And the island is bound to have some wicked waves, so that means surfs up!" cheered Sun while Weiss confirmed the island did have waves.

"I want all the fish," chirped Blake, imagining a seafood buffet.

"Oh fine, I'll call my father to tell him we'll be using the island for our vacation," sighed Weiss, even though she was smiling.

"This calls for a shopping trip!" declared Yang.

"I don't think we'll need new swimsuits," said Blake.

"Errr, I might need one," said an embarrassed Ruby, "I had to get a new set of underwear because my old ones didn't fit me anymore. I grew a cup size."

Weiss glanced at Ruby's chest and saw that they did seem bigger than last year. She looked down at her own budding size and cried, hoping that it would kick in any day soon. Maybe she should drink more milk, as Ruby had still been doing.

"Oh yeah, I heard that since we're all going to be in the same group, we're going to need a different name," said Sun, "So what's our team name?"

"I doubt all of our initials would work," added Gwen.

"Maybe a letter from each team leader?" suggested Ren.

"How about... Team Beacon?" suggested Pyrrha.

"Nah, sounds like we're all from Beacon, even if we did transfer in," said Nebula.

"We should try to put all of our names in together!" cheered Nora, "JNPRSSSNRWBYNDGO!"

Nora had attempted to say it all in one breath, which came out garbled.

"How about... Team Dragon?" suggested Jaune.

"Hmm, dragon. Not bad, I guess," nodded Scarlet, "The majority of us are linked up to that legend."

"All in favor?" asked Octavia.

"AYE!"

"And obviously team leader is going to be Jaune," cheered Nora. Sun, Ruby, and Nebula quickly agreed to that.

"All right, but I'm making you three vice-captains," said Jaune, pointing to the other three leaders, "First mission, though! Enjoy our vacation!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Natia was looking outside the cave for any signs of trouble.

"Nothing yet," she grumbled to herself. As soon as she woke up, Ezekial had already disappeared from sight. He left a note saying that because he had escorted her to the cave and stayed the night to help her bandage her wounds, his job was done.

"Jerk!" shouted Natia to the empty cave.

She slowly scanned the horizon when she heard the flap of wings above her. She looked up to see a crow and a raven circling around her before descending down towards her. The two birds suddenly shapeshifted to reveal Qrow and Raven.

"Raven!" shouted Natia in glee, "I knew you'd find me!" She quickly went to hug Raven and stopped when she saw Qrow. "You!"

"Huh, so you're the spring maiden," noted Qrow.

"Traitor! How dare you-"

"Enough," commanded Raven, "Natia, where is Vernal? We need to gather the tribe."

"She's in Anima, as you ordered, to help with the expansion."

"Then I'll head to Anima," said Raven.

"Yeah, with Vernal we can kick those guys' asses!" cheered Natia.

"No Natia, I said I, as in me only," corrected Raven, "You need to go with Qrow into hiding. Salem is actively searching for all Maidens now, and we have intel that says they've got the Fall Maiden. Summer is missing still, and I think she's been taken. That's two Maiden taken by Salem and we can't afford a third one falling to her hands."

"But I can help!" protested Natia, "I escaped, didn't I?"

"Yeah, with the help of a stranger," stated Qrow while taking a sip of his drink.

Natia glared at Qrow, unable to deny it. Though it was true, it didn't mean she had to like it.

"How'd you know?"

"Duncan told us before he died. Gave me the middle finger too."

"Qrow, you'll take Natia to Ozpin, to where it'll be safe. I'll go contact Vernal and gather the tribe." Raven said.

Natia was about to complain when she received a chop to the neck from Qrow and a punch to the stomach by Raven. Surprised and unprepared, she fell unconscious to the twin's attack. Qrow quickly wrapped her up while Raven cut open a portal that would lead back to Beacon.

"This is where we part ways brother," said Raven as she turned to leave, "Tell Tai and Yang... that I'm sorry. And that I won't be able to see them for awhile."

"You don't have to do this," said Qrow as he lifted Natia in a fireman's carry, "Jaune does have Junior and his connections."

"Those connections don't extend to the more desolated spots," replied Raven, "Plus, my people need their leader. To exact revenge onto Salem's forces. A small guerrilla strike team will be able to cripple Salem's forces for the long run."

"Fine. Long as you don't get yourself killed," sighed Qrow, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince his sister off her chosen path, "Just... try to avoid raiding some innocent villages."

"No problem," grinned Raven, "We'll be more selective of our targets. Choosing mainly the Blood Fangs or this new Cult of Drac."

Raven transformed herself back to a raven and flew off while Qrow walked through the portal, knowing he'd have to tell the others what happened.

* * *

"So she left?" asked Ozpin.

"Yeah," sighed Qrow, "She's set on doing this. You know how stubborn she is. Sometimes she's just like me."

Natia, of course, was upset and tried to escape, but a quick word from Ozpin and handcuffs that blocked off her Aura, she became more cooperative. She was quickly shipped to where Ales and Clodwal were, who would help her readjust.

"So what do we do now?" asked Goodwitch as she managed some paperwork. She was starting to find out why Ozpin's skill had rusted because of the overwhelming amount of paperwork that was coming in. Luckily, she was smart and hired two secretaries to help out with the paperwork.

"Nothing we can do. Raven has made her choice to become a guerrilla force specifically against Salem. This helps us as her tribe was neutrally chaotic."

"I just gotta tell my niece about this now," grumbled Qrow.

"You're going have to wait about a week then," said Goodwitch, "She left with her friends, who've dubbed themselves Team Dragon on a trip to one of the Schnee islands for a vacation."

"Is that alright, with what's happening now?" winced Qrow.

"It may be their only chance to relax," remarked Ozpin, "They're being dragged into a war our generation failed to prevent. The most we can do is to lower the burden before they have to take the mantle."

"Fine, but now I'm more depressed I didn't get to go and 'babysit' them," grumbled Qrow, "All those bar drinks that are sure to be there."

"Speaking of drinks, I'm thinking of heading down to Junior's for some," yawned Goodwitch, "I could use one, and I hear that he knows some good ones. Care to join me?"

"You asking me out on a date?" leered Qrow with a grin.

"Not on your life," scolded Goodwitch.

"I will tell the others of what has happened," sighed Ozpin, "Then perhaps spend some more time with my apprentice."

"Still in shock you have one after all these years," motioned Qrow, "Heck, Ruby kinda counts as mine since I taught her how to use the scythe."

Glynda shrugged and left the office to head to Vale for a drink. A girl deserved a night out every now and then, right?

* * *

Ghira yawned as he finalized some paperwork. The day had truly been a weird one. Besides getting used to Kali and Sienna talking to each other more for the past few days, Bal had left for Mistral to meet up with Hephaestus. And perhaps now, it was time for the Faunus of Menagerie to take a more active stance against Adam's Blood Fang. Being an old friend, Hephaestus could probably whip up some weapons for those who wanted to join in the fight.

The biggest surprise, though was that he actually received a missive from Jacques Schnee himself. He had requested for some of his people from the company to be allowed to stay in Menagerie. He heard rumors of a possible Dust mine at the island, and wanted to see if it could be excavated. In exchange for providing housing, they would construct a smaller version of the CCT in Menagerie, allowing the Faunus to have better multimedia communications without the usual delay or lag, which was something huge for the Faunus, and the fact Jacques 'Faunus Hater' Schnee was willing to fund for it was even bigger. The location of where to build it was still undecided, but the preliminary plans was to build it either at the highest point of the island or at the mayor's manor, aka his home.

Frankly, he didn't mind as the manor did need repairs after the fight. Perhaps having an office at the top of the tower like the Headmasters would be nice, and his home could be relocated closer to his people, so it didn't stand out.

"Must be because of Jaune that the Schnee is willing to do this," muttered Ghira as he denied a request asking for a bigger budget for hair dyes. Just because some customers had hairy appendages that could cost extra for the dye didn't mean it was important. They chose to build a hair salon in Menagerie, where the population was basically pure Faunus!

Stretching and cracking his neck, he left his study and decided to take a warm shower before heading to bed early. Humming to himself, he passed by Sienna and Kali, who seemed to be in a deep conversation about their favorite book. Quickly deciding to ignore them, he went into the shower.

Both Sienna and Kali noticed this and looked at each other.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Sienna once more.

"Oh stop asking," giggled Kali, "My answer still hasn't changed. Plus, you won't do anything to steal my big panther after this, right?" The usually kind face of Kali suddenly shifted from her kind face to a scary face that freaked Sienna out. She felt goosebumps erupting all over her body.

'Shit, I forgot how scary that face is!' thought Sienna, who would rather fight a Grimm Goliath without any weapons or clothes than see that face. "Of course!" Sienna said, with a bit of a cold sweat.

"Good! Then I see no problem!" chirped Kali as her face shifted back to her usual face, as if nothing had happened.

'Dammit! She's not a fighter, but she somehow scares me!' thought Sienna, 'How!?'

"Because I can," smirked Kali, as if reading her mind. Sienna would deny jumping in fright.

Ghira soon walked towards his bed, eyes blurry as he got into it. He noticed a bump on the bed and thought it was his wife and immediately hugged her. When he did so, he noticed something wrong. The scent was off, his hand didn't grip the waist as usual, and the ears felt different. He opened his eyes widely when he finally noticed he had been hugging Sienna instead.

"Sorry!" exclaimed Ghira, trying to get up when he felt someone behind him push him down. In a blur, he found himself on his back with Kali and Sienna on his chest, both giving him lustful looks.

"Shhhh," hushed Kali as Ghira tried to babble an explanation, "These past few days has taken quite a toll on you. You need to relieve that stress that's built up. Think of this as a birthday present as well as a thank you gift. For tonight, I'll let you taste another woman, as long as I get my usual share."

"You'd also be doing me a favor," smirked Sienna, "I've gone too long without a good fucking, being the High Leader."

"You sure about this?" Ghira asked his wife, making sure it was remotely alright.

"It was my/her idea," announced Kali and Sienna simultaneously.

"You may regret it," growled Ghira as he decided to allow his control go. Though Kali was mainly the dominant one, she did allow Ghira to control what they did in bed from time to time. And Ghira wasn't going to let them walk away from the bed that night until they were all completely satisfied.

* * *

"Woot! Exotic beach vacation!" cheered Ruby and Nora as they all descended from the Schnee private jet.

"Weiss, you understated just how cool this island was," stated Sun as he looked out at the beach to see beautiful waves lapping at the shore.

"The fish is going to be wonderful," Blake said excitedly.

" _ **Hmm, the beach. Some potential training could be done here,"**_ stated Lung Wang.

'Of course, you think of training,' sighed Jaune, but agreed to do it. It wouldn't do to stop training and get lazy, not with the threats still out there.

"Let's put our luggage away first," suggest Pyrrha, "Then we can have fun."

"Last one into the water a rotten egg!" shouted Nora as she rushed to the beach manor to claim a room for herself and Ren, and probably Octavia. Miltia and Melanie had managed to find some time to come, and would probably also join them in the same room.

"Let's go!" cheered Ruby, using her Semblance to speed past Nora to claim a room for herself.

"I call top bunk!" shouted Sun in glee as he dashed forward too.

"Dammit Sun, take your own luggage!" shouted Sage as he was left carrying it for him.

"C'mon girls, we can't let them take the good spots!" ordered Nebula as she also began to run.

"Let's go!" shouted Jaune as they all charged towards the dorms. Soon enough, the beds were claimed and were all changing their clothes when Yang suggested out of nowhere they just go to the beach in the nude. The thought was contemplated before ultimately rejected as there were two single males in their party.

While in the manor, Weiss stopped at a room to stare at it. Ruby noticed her partner stop and asked: "You okay Weiss?"

"Yes, it's just that... this is Whitley's room," sighed Weiss as Ruby flinched at the mention of the name, "Just wondering what else he could have hidden here. My family hasn't been here since I was 14, but who knows what's in here. And how my... relative is doing now."

Weiss no longer considered Whitley to be her brother. Afterall, the stain he had left on the Schnee family had hurt not only her, but her precious partner, friends, and lover.

Speaking of which...

* * *

 _At Atlas Boot Camp_

"Curse these plebeians," muttered Whitley as he scrubbed away in the bathroom. He never felt so humiliated in his life. Just because he told the truth didn't mean those imbeciles didn't need to take it out on him. What was worse that he was blamed for causing trouble and forced to do every menial labor they could pile on him. James Ironwood enforced each punishment, making sure there would be someone watching over him.

"Just you all wait! I'll work my way up this ridiculous chain of command until I'm the General! Then it will be you all that follow my orders!" cackled Whitley.

However, he forgot about the soldier monitoring him and shook his head in amusement as he added this latest report to the ever-growing pile of Whitley Schnee. The psychiatrist assigned to Whitley was admitting it would be very hard to break through Whitley, as he was extremely stubborn and unrepentant of what he had done. In fact, he was already plotting his revenge. If he kept this up, there would be no chance for rehabilitation at all.

* * *

 _Back at the Island_

"So what should we do?" asked Yang as she spotted the other two.

"I say we go inside and raid it to make sure there isn't anything else that's hidden," suggested Blake.

"Of course you'd say that," sighed Weiss but without any real snap towards Blake, "But I agree. Let's make sure nothing else compromising is in there."

Getting the help of everybody else, they raided Whitley's room in the manor and depending on each person's view, didn't find anything except for a few adult magazines and some clothes that were too small for Whitley.

When Yang suggested destroying them all, including the furniture belonging to him, they eagerly carried it all outside.

"Pull!" shouted Ruby.

Sage threw a cabinet into the air as hard as he could, letting it fly through the air before it was blasted apart by Crescent Rose's sniper mode.

"Pull!"

They all decided to let Ruby do the most damage as she was the victim in all this. After it was all said and done, Ruby admitted that it felt very cathartic.

Soon enough, they were all in their swimsuits and playing on the beach. Even Neptune went into the water, albeit hesitantly. When they got tired of the water, they would play beach games, including limbo. Out of all the females, Weiss was the best at that, though she wasn't sure she was happy about that, as it did show that she had the smallest breast out of all of them. Yang kept making a show of her breasts bouncing up and down as she went down. Sometimes she would 'accidentally' hit the limbo stick with the underside of her breasts as she did her attempt. Unfortunately for Weiss, Ruby and some of the other girls encountered the same problem. For Weiss, it was as she won the battle but lost the war. She vowed up to increase her intake of milk and meat to make sure that her breasts would grow bigger. Winter had a decent size chest, so surely that meant that she would at least be able to grow to a similar size.

After that, they began to play other games while the servants that were living on the island began to cook up a feast with a variety of fishes. Jaune went into the ocean to swim with Pyrrha, Weiss, and Dew. Ruby and Yang were playing Frisbee with Zwei, enjoying the time together. Team SSSN was playing a tug of war against each other, where Sun started to cheat and make clones of himself. Ren and Nora were busy building a sand castle, along with NGO.

Miltia and Melanie decided to just lay out on the sand to tan themselves. They even took off their bathing suits to lay on the sand nude, so as not to have any tan lines. This distracted SSSN for a bit before they managed to look away and stay away from the twins. Blake decided to head towards the manor and relax, reading some other books besides Ninjas of Love, as well as be the first one on the table when the fishes were done. Needless to say, all the fish cooked that night was mostly consumed by Blake.

The next day most of them found themselves surfing or kayaking, enjoying the weather for a bit. In the afternoon, almost every boy that was dating at least one girl went their separate ways on the beach before completely stripping down to their birthday suits, letting their man see them in full glory. Though it was not about sex time, it did lead to the inevitable orgy for them all except for Nebula, Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet. It was through there that Blake learned another thing about her new Semblance if given enough time to focus.

* * *

As the days passed by, Neptune suddenly holed himself up in the library, looking up several articles.

"C'mon Neptune, we're here to have fun!" ordered Sun, trying to pull him away from the computer.

"Yeah, yeah, just a minute," waved Neptune, his eyes never leaving the holo-screen.

"What's so important that you're not having some fun?" asked Scarlet.

Sage was currently sparring against Jaune, swords only, so he wasn't part of the conversation.

"It's a new relic, I think," replied Neptune, "From your ancestor Sun."

"You mean another item for me?" asked Sun, "Cool."

"It's not, this time," said Neptune quickly, "I decided to look at the tome another way and found something that might've belonged to the monk that traveled with your ancestor. Something about a scroll? Not the Scrolls we use, but the old-time scrolls people wrote on. Not too sure what it can do, but it's worth looking into."

"Did you find out where?" asked Scarlet.

"That's the thing, I think it's already been found," replied Neptune, pointing at an old article with a photo, "This article states that 20 explorers, fully trained, went into some sort of temple. Only 4 of them made it out alive, and one of them is Sun's relative I think."

"Hey that's my great-uncle Hozhi!" exclaimed Sun, recognizing the photo.

"Yeah, well they found some ancient item and put it up for display," continued Neptune.

"So does that mean we have to try to buy it, ask for it, or like, steal it?" asked Scarlet.

"No, that's the other problem," sighed Neptune, "It was lost when the city it was on display went down. Though it might be lucky for us."

"How?" asked Sun.

"Because the last place it was known," declared Neptune as he pulled out the last article, "Was at Mt. Glenn. We find the museum, we might be able to recover it."

* * *

 **Next semester is coming yaa!**

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 **And lastly... I'm going to give this story a small hiatus, 3-4 months max. I promise I'll come back to this story, the muse isn't lost yet. Just ask theMischievousPuppyDog, I talk with him sometimes to bounce ideas. Though I feel like the quality of this story might have gone done a bit compared to my other stories. So instead of putting out another lackluster chapter, I'm going to use the time to look back, replan out what I have written, and complete the whole plotline if I can. Then carefully type it out, maybe make changes on some ideas I had.**

 **The other stories will go on, though. Thanks for enjoying this chapter and my other stories, and I promise I'll update this story again in the future. Can't really say it's an Arc's promise, since Arc's don't got on their words, because in this story, Jaune isn't an Arc, lol. But I do promise to come back again!**


	60. Chapter 60 Returning to Beacon

**I know, it's been a long time since I updated this. But I'm still alive and kicking with this story! Though might consider making this a bi-monthly project. Who knows. Anyways enjoy reading this!**

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 **This story has been beta by UGX7 and TheMischieviousPuppyDog.**

* * *

Soon enough, Jaune and the others were all back at Beacon for the second semester of their second year. Most of Beacon's students had also returned, though a few decided to remain at their new school. A few first-year teams had also decided to enroll at Beacon, namely team MNKI, MAYA, and a few other teams from each Academy, though only five in total coming. They were all waiting at the auditorium to be instructed where to go.

"Welcome to a new semester at Beacon," announced Glynda Goodwitch, now Headmistress of Beacon Academy, "The faculty and I are pleased to see some new faces as well as many familiar ones. Thanks to a combined effort from not only Vale's citizens but other prominent names from the other Kingdoms, Beacon Academy was able to open its doors even after suffering severe damage last year. Please follow the staff members as we will attempt to explain everything new here as well as several additions to the rule and staff. We will assign your dormitories after orientation."

Though Jaune was familiar with the layout due to Junior owning quite a bit of property on Beacon, there were quite a few new things. The library had certainly changed from its rustic look to a more hi-tech approach and the new additions to the combat arena were also enjoyed by all the students.

After exploring the repaired Academy, the students were finally released to their dorms. As requested as well as being one of the main donors and savior, Jaune was able to get a three-story building for Team JNPR, RWBY, SSSN, and NDGO. The first floor was primarily used as a hangout/study, as there was a kitchen along with several entertainment systems as well as a dining room. There was also a large room where they could sing or dance should they feel like it, something Weiss was pleased with.

The second floor was comprised of multiple study rooms for them, enough that each one could get one for themselves, as well as a larger study hall for all of them to gather up.

The last floor was where they would all be sleeping, comprised of six rooms. There were no beds, something that they would have to order once they all figured out who would be sleeping where. Thankfully, there were three bathrooms on the top floor and two on the first and second floor.

"Nice digs," said Sun as he quickly made himself comfortable on a couch. Weiss was in the music room, taking the time to sing to her heart's content and enjoy the peace while it lasted. She was joined by Sage, who put his cello skills to use again, along with Octavia playing the violin. Scarlet, Ruby, Yang, Dew, Pyrrha, and Gwen were at the kitchen, cooking something to celebrate the new semester and keeping Nora out so she wouldn't turn it into a danger zone. Jaune and Ren were meditating on the roof. Neptune and Nebula had joined Sun in relaxing for a bit.

"I wonder how we're going to plan the sleeping quarters," wondered Neptune.

"Obviously Jaune gets his own room," said Nebula with an eye-roll, "Probably get the biggest bed so he can have at least three girls in bed with him. A room for all the boys together to make it easier, and a room for all the girls. Ren will probably get his own room, and I doubt Nora will sleep without him. Same with Octavia. The twins that are with Ren will probably come sleep over once in a while. That's two room we can still use."

"I wouldn't mind a sharing room with Gwen," raised Sun.

"Of course you wouldn't," answered Nebula, rolling her eyes once more, "And no Neptune, I'm not sharing a room with you yet. We may be doing it, but I've yet to decide if it's serious. We've only gone on a few dates."

Neptune pouted and curled up like a kicked puppy, causing Sun and Nebula to laugh. Soon enough, it was dinner time.

* * *

Back at an Atlas boot camp, Whitley Schnee was still growling about the unfairness he was dealing with back in his tent. Ironwood had sent a report back to Jacques stating that despite the punishment and attempted counseling, Whitley refused to change his ways and worldview. Right now, Jacques was very close to sending his son to juvenile hall if he didn't change for the better soon.

Whitley was once again plotting his future plans, this time including familicide. He saw the truth now, or rather his personal truth. _He_ was the true Schnee, not his father, and certainly not his sisters. His father was just someone who inherited the name when he married in. As he was muttering to himself, fortune shown upon him. Ironwood and Winter were off base for a military meeting, as well as few of the higher military ranking men and women. Security was rather lax at the moment. They were located at a very isolated place, surrounded by nature's fury. It was hardly a valuable place to attack, as the base had no valuable intel that could harm Atlas, nor did it have any sort of secret weapon. And yet...

 **BOOM**

The whole base was shaken from a devastating blast to the gates.

"What the?" said a guard before a knife to the throat silenced him permanently.

The Atlas guards began to fire at the invaders, but they quickly died from the mysterious invaders. Whitley stayed in his tent, quaking in fear until his tent opened. He let off a very high pitch scream as two men entered.

"Calm yourself, Whitley Schnee, you are among friends."

Arthur Watts and Merlot had entered the tent.

"We're here to rescue you," grinned Merlot.

"Afterall, it is unbefitting for the true heir to the SDC to be rotting in here while the others steal your family name and bloodright," praised Arthur, "Your assistance to our endeavor against Beacon was helpful, even if we did not succeed. And it occurred to us, we never rewarded you for your assistance."

"So what, you're breaking me out?" asked Whitley, "What good will that do if I can't inherit the SDC?"

"Ah but you are mistaken," Arthur gently corrected him, "There are a few ways to inherit it even if your father has 'disowned' you. While your father is a businessman, he is not of the Schnee bloodline. Meaning that you have a greater claim than he does by blood than by marriage. True, he is the current CEO of the SDC, but we can make sure that he... 'retires' early."

"Then what? My sister," a glowering Whitley spat with Venom, "Weiss still holds the greater claim than me."

"That's where you're wrong," smiled Arthur, "There are multiple scenarios that we can pan out to your favor. One is that we 'convince' the board of directors within the company that you are their best hope. Though Jacques may hold the board in his ironclad grip, Weiss does not. With some convincing, they can vote Weiss out and bring you in instead. If that doesn't work, then you can duel against Weiss for the position, as you did not refute it like your other sister Winter did."

"Aye, and with my help and some cybernetics, I can make you much more powerful than any Huntress," grinned Merlot, "Surely you've heard of my work."

"I have," admitted Whitley, "But on what grounds would they even accept a duel?"

"They have no choice," explained Arthur, "Nicholas Schnee was a businessman, but he was first and foremost, a Huntsman. And within those records, there are old rites that he kept hidden within the business that makes it legal for someone from the family to duel for the right to own the SDC. And even if they manage to somehow circumvent that, we can just force both sisters to an early retirement like their father. Or force them to choose."

"Good, good," grinned Whitley before frowning, "But it would be hard to get Weiss, especially with that blasted Ryu-Long, stealing MY toy and thunder."

"Not to worry, we are allied with a group that can take care of him," waved Merlot, "Plus, my newest inventions will surely give him trouble, if not kill him."

"And what do you want out of this?" asked Whitley, knowing there had to be something.

"Sharp as usual," complimented Arthur, "We won't ask for anything too big. Just perhaps delay an order of Dust to some places, maybe drop a crate at a certain location whenever we require. Minor favors here and there and nobody will ever know about our connection."

"And how will we do this?" persisted Whitley.

"Quite easy. We make it so it seemed like you died here. We bring you to our headquarters, help you get stronger. When we feel like you are strong enough, Jacques Schnee will come with a terminal illness. As he dies, you reveal yourself, the lost son coming back home to reclaim his position. From there, you can duel with Weiss and destroy her, and if she refuses, she comes down with the same thing as her father. A rather terminal illness," grinned Merlot, his left cybernetic eye glowing.

"I say get me out of here," snapped Whitley as he stood up and shook both man's hands.

'Finally I'm getting what I deserve,' thought Whitley, 'Soon I'll take the position as CEO of the SDC, and no filthy animal, man, or blasted Ryu-Long will block me!"

* * *

Winter and James Ironwood would return to see the camp completely desolated of life. This set off a chain reaction that no camp was safe, and security was tightened even more. Though the military couldn't figure out why that location had been important to the enemy at all. Jacques Schnee cried some tears about his only son now presumably dead, and even Klein raised a toast to the boy, though it was difficult for him to think of anything positive from Whitley. Weiss was promptly notified, and though she mourned, she couldn't really bring herself to be too depressed about him as he had tried to rape her partner.

* * *

Back at Beacon, the rooms were split exactly as Nebula had predicted. Already, items were being ordered to fill the rooms, kitchens, and anything else they needed. A few other students complained about how Beacon was prioritizing them over the other until they found out Jaune was part of the group, and that Junior had helped construct over 50% of Beacon, and merely asked for a personal building that could easily be converted into another dorm when Jaune and the others were finished with Beacon.

Of course, classes were already back in session. Being in their second year of the second semester, Jaune and the others found their classes being focused more into Dust research, missions, and adaptability. And even though Goodwitch was the Headmistress, she still found time to teach students in the battle arena every now and then, as it was her passion.

Today was no different as the second year students found themselves in the newest arena, which was roughly two times bigger than the old one. The stands that usually surrounded the middle had been collapsed into the wall to provide more room. They had been instructed to come without their usual choice of weapon. Ruby cried as she left Crescent Rose in her locker.

"As you've noticed students, I have called you in here to the battle arena without your usual choice of weapons," started Goodwitch, "The reason for this is simple. Today we will be conducting a mock battle against Grimm."

With a snap of her fingers, the arena changed scenes into a mock version of the city of Mountain Glenn.

"As you've heard, the Vale council has decided it is time to reattempt to take Mt. Glenn. The Grimm have made themselves scarce all around Vale, including the dead city, thanks to the events of last year's Battle of Beacon. Because of this, I've decided to combine a few lessons into one. Your mission today will be to defend an outpost from Grimm attacks for 48 hours. That means you will be living here at the arena for the day. The holographic Grimm will act like whatever Grimm it chooses, and will attack like it."

"Err, what about weapons?" asked a student.

"You will have to find them yourselves," smirked Goodwitch, causing a good many to gulp. They did not want to go hand to hand combat against the Grimm, no matter how good they thought they were.

"There will be times during your career that you may find your weapon broken, jammed, or lost due to a variety of factors," continued Glynda, "You are expected to find replacement weapons from whatever you can scavenge, or learn to beat a Grimm with your fists, Aura, or Semblance. If you think it's impossible, I suggest you listen to one of Professor Port's stories. To be more specific, ask for the one where he camped out at the outskirts of Vacuo and forgot his weapon Blunderbuss. He tends not to exaggerate that one." Glynda smiled at that before continuing, "Not only will you have to defend yourselves with your wits only, but there will be random intervals of Grimm waves. That means you are expected to stay alert, maintain constant vigilance, and schedule your own sleeping times. While outside, the Grimm do not care if you are using the bathroom. Even if you have to humiliate yourself, you are expected to survive. The training session will start in one hour. I suggest you all use the bathroom before we start the scenario."

As the students scurried to the nearby restrooms, Glynda called out to Jaune.

"And Mr. Ryu-Long? Please do not use the dragon that you summoned in Beacon for this, nor your flight ability. No need to make it easy for the other students, and we can't expect to have somebody with powerful allies by their side."

* * *

The simulation started as soon as one hour was up. They were all in a mock city of Mt. Glenn with structures and everything, even metallic parts on the ground. Each student was forced to wear a special suit with sensor nodes upon every inch. Quite a few students stood in awe the holographic projections of the arena while many other were already searching for weapons or anything to defend themselves with when suddenly...

"Oh shit Grim!" screamed one of the students. Before he could react, the Beowolves attacked the student, followed by three others. Some of the students panicked while the victim's teammates rushed in to save him with just their bare hands. By the time they managed to pry off the holographic Beowolves, a buzzer rang out.

"Jainil of team JAMM is dead. Please leave the arena."

The cold announcement had them all realize if this had been real, then Jainil really would've been dead. The suits they had been forced to wear also gave accurate results of their Aura levels and vital signs. Meaning that Jainil had received enough damage that it would have killed him. The suits themselves were designed so when, say, a Beowolf chomped down on a students hand, the suit would simulate the situation, making the student unable to use that said hand until the Beowolf let go. Of course, if it was 'bitten off', then the said hand could not be used anymore. It really drove the message into them all. They had to treat this as though it was real.

As the students began to realize this, more Grimm attacked. As if to taunt them, even a few Mutant Grimm had been added into the fray. As a Mutant Beowolf slashed down on a student, the student put her hands up to defend herself and waited for the attack to land. When it never came, she looked up to see Jaune had drop-kicked the Mutant Grimm away.

"Those who aren't confident in hand to hand combat, drop back and find something to use as a weapon! Everybody who is, form a perimeter and fend the Grimm off! Use your Semblance if needed!" commanded Jaune as he helped the girl up, his teammates behind him ready to help. Yang, Blake, Sun, Sage, and Nebula quickly ran forward with a few other students, including Cardin and Dove. The others quickly scurried back to find weapons fast so they could help out as soon as they could.

"Remember to cover for each other!" shouted Jaune as he kicked a Grimm Creeper away and ducked under an Ursa's claw, only for Pyrrha and Nora to jump up and ax kick its head.

One of the students got cocky and pushed too far ahead of everyone and was surrounded. He screamed in fear as multiple Beowolves jumped him when a whirlwind of rose petals surrounded him. In one second, he was surrounded, the next second, he was safely behind lines. Ruby had used her speed to save him.

"T-thanks," stuttered the boy.

"Just don't be too confident," lectured Ruby gently before dashing away to help others.

* * *

Soon enough, the scavengers quickly found some swords, spears, and staff lying about and quickly came to help. As the last Grimm died, the students managed to drag themselves to the place they were supposed to be defending. They soon found Jaune to be leading the whole group, taking count on who was still available.

Out of the thirty-two second years, or eight teams in their second year as a few who were supposed to be second-year students were dead or transferred to another Academy, four of them had 'died'.

"Gather up around the outpost we're protecting," started Jaune, "I want two teams to scavenge for any supplies. Anything that can be used, even metal poles. Pyrrha, I'll need you to use your semblance to help mold any metals into weapons. There might be some Dusts laying around here too."

They all listened, and teams were quickly tasked to do different jobs. Team leaders were quickly put as lieutenants while Jaune was the captain of their group.

"Status report?" asked Jaune after an hour.

"Pyrrha is currently helping manipulate some poles into makeshift spears," reported Ruby, "We've found a few Dust capsules on the floor. Weiss is checking to see if they're stable enough to use."

"No Grimm in sight so far," reported Cardin, "Sky is up on the highest roof, checking for any Grimm."

"Got a few staves and swords here," yawned Sun, "We're currently arming those who don't feel confident enough in hand to hand combat."

Nebula came into the meeting and gave her report, "We found some packaged food. Some are spoiled that we threw away, but the rest should be edible though the flavor may be lacking."

Others came in with their report of usable items, such as first aid kits or firewood. One even found a gallon of water that could be used once verified to be clean and drinkable. As they were setting up camp and rotation schedules, a voice rang out.

"Grimm!" shouted Sky from his position, "Several Ursa Majors from the North!"

"I've got a Deathstalker from the South!" shouted another student.

"Nothing on East!"

"Nothing on West!"

"Split up," ordered Jaune, "I want two teams on East and West just in case. Rest of us split in half to take care of the Grimm."

Everyone nodded, never questioning Jaune's order.

" _ **Not bad,"**_ nodded Lung Wang, " _ **You're getting good at this."**_

" _ **Seems like you have a natural talent for strategic thinking,"**_ added Ryo-Wo, remembering the times he played chess, Go, or any strategic game against him, except for that damn Stratego game. That game never made any sense.

" _ **This training is quite harsh but necessary,"**_ nodded Aryz.

* * *

The Grimm were quickly annihilated without any problems. As they finished, they heard yells from the East and West teams, calling for assistance.

"Ruby, take your team East, we'll take West," said Jaune, quickly using his Scroll to contact Ruby, who had her team in the South, "Have the other team standby their position just in case."

"Roger," replied Ruby before yelling out the order.

Team JNPR rushed to the West where the two teams were. Team SSSN had been part of the North team while Team NDGO had been in the South. As they arrived, they saw that the enemy this time wasn't Grimm, but rather human bandits. This was an unknown factor that Glynda decided was a good idea to put in without letting anyone know.

"S-stay away!" stammered a Huntress, panicking at the sight of her enemy, "You're not my enemy!"

The holographic enemy ignored her pleas and stabbed her in the stomach, taking a chunk of her Aura, before another 'sliced' her head off.

The buzzer rang to signify she was dead. Jaune quickly dispatched of the holographic bandit before turning to the 'dead' student.

"I'm sorry," cried the girl, "I know this was fake, but to suddenly deal with a human target to 'kill'... it was just too much!"

" _ **Seems like some of your fellow students isn't used to taking human life yet,"**_ noted Fafnir, " _ **Something that needs to change soon."**_

" _ **Looking back at your first year, it was mainly focused on Grimm studies,"**_ nodded Alaerth.

" _ **True, and looking at the missions for the first year, there wasn't much for dealing with bandits for first year students,"**_ continued Andusk and Othim together, " _ **The curriculum probably did not take account of fighting other people, possibly killing them.**_ _ **Luckily, we dealt with that early."**_

Jaune grimaced at the bunny memory and pushed it back in his mind, hoping his friends didn't notice him shudder.

Regrouping back to the outpost, Jaune found out they had lost another one in the East section, a male who turned his back to his human opponent after he disabled him, thinking it was over. The bandit, even with broken legs, managed to make one final jump on the student and bit him on the neck. The action was enough to shock him that he failed to get rid of the bandit before two more stabbed him in the body, 'killing' him.

* * *

"We can't afford to let our guard down," grunted Cardin as he tore through bread with his teeth. The outpost had a food supply as a water supply, but it didn't hurt to find some extra rations.

"I don't think some of the students were prepared to face human opponents and kill them," sighed Sun.

"We did get a crash course onto it," nodded Weiss, remembering their mission at Mt. Glenn. Adrenaline had been high during that time, not caring about what they did to the White Fang when they tossed countless grunts off to their doom. The aftershock had hit them hard, and only Jaune and Blake had been cognizant enough to help them get through it.

"We'll need to have at least a fourth of the group awake for each watch," stated Jaune, "Divide into three watches. We can decide who goes at what time. I'll take the second watch."

Time passed for the students with small skirmishes against both Grimm and bandits until there were about two hours left in the simulation. Out of the thirty-two students that went in, only twenty-two remained. Jaune had been forced to splinter regular teams to keep the groups even. Team NDGO, SSSN, RWBY, and JNPR were still intact but splintered. Team CRDL had lost Sky in an aerial attack from Nevermores and Griffons. Some of the students complained about the simulation, but the cold response from Goodwitch silenced them.

"Do you think the Grimm will play fair?"

Still, most of them were exhausted. Cardin had been one of the unfortunate students to humiliate himself, having to drag himself out of the bathroom with just his pants down when an attack came. Luckily, he had only been pissing. Still, he got his revenge by pressing the center of his armor with the bird insignia. The armor started to transform, leaving Cardin's body and forming back into his hand as a rifle. His vambraces were also quickly transformed into rods and attached to either side of his rifle, with electrical currents running through, powered by lightning Dust within the rods.

He deposited a metal bullet he had Pyrrha mold for him from the metal poles right in between the two rods and aimed it at the King Taijitu, whose heads so happened to be in the same line of sight from Cardin's point of view.

"Eat railgun!" roared Cardin as he fired his newest weapon he had crafted at Atlas Academy.

The slug penetrated right through both Taijitu's, splattering their holographic brains. The slug continued to blast a Nevermore off the sky until it hit the end of the simulation, burrowing itself deep into a wall. Cardin, however, didn't come out uninjured. He gritted his teeth as the recoil dislocated both his arms, even when he had focused all his Aura on his legs and arms to deal with the recoil. This weapon was better used when he had at least two teammates behind him to support him, one on each side. Russell was usually distracting the target as he was the most agile one of his team.

"Damn that was powerful," whistled Sun as he quickly went over to pick him up, bringing him to Pyrrha and Jaune. The two of them quickly shifted the dislocated arms back into position with a loud crack.

"FFFFF-" whispered Cardin as he felt his arms working again, "I'm not doing that again anytime soon."

"Hopefully you won't have to," nodded Jaune, "Simulation should be almost over."

Suddenly, the ground cracked from underneath Yang, and an eight-headed creature attacked her. It was the Grimm Hydra, the combination of four King Taijitu and a Grimm Tentacle. Ruby tried to activate her eyes but remembered these were holograms and couldn't affect them. The others attacked as soon as possible to save Yang. Blake summoned her clones to attack while Weiss used her glyphs to summon a Grimm Dawning Manticore that they had slain, though she was exhausted when she did it. Then one of the heads threw Yang up and ate her whole. Everyone almost froze at that sight, never thinking that within their group of friends one of them could die. But it was the harsh truth of being a Huntsmen or Huntress. Every day they fought could be their last.

The King Taijuta head seemed to smirk at them before it froze. Suddenly, it started to wail in agony as its body started to swell up before exploding. Out of the body came a ball of fire that was Yang Xiao Long.

"Eat this!" roared Yang, her hair lit in flames as well as her hands as she dove down and punched the Grimm Tentacle. Not only did the Grimm's mask shatter, but flames enveloped it as it turned into ash.

"That's new," noted Ruby, "She could produce fire when she activated her Semblance, but that's her releasing all the energy that she's stored in from getting hit. Her attacks never had any flame attribute, though."

" _ **Looks like my mark influenced her Semblance,"**_ remarked Lung Wang.

Without the Grimm Tentacle to hold the four King Taijitu together, they all separated, making it easier to kill.

"Simulation over," announced Goodwitch when the timer hit the 48th hour. It was only then did the students finally collapse to the floor out of exhaustion. Only a select few, such as Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, and Jaune, who had the most stamina in their group, were still standing, though Yang and Pyrrha were woozy and Jaune himself felt the yearning for a bed.

"So far, you all did better than I expected," nodded Glynda, "A few mistakes here and there, but the majority of you pulled together. As for those who 'died', I expect a two-page essay about your mistakes and what could've been done to avoid it, as well as notes on what you learned while watching the rest of the group run through the simulation. Everybody else, one and a half page of what could've been done better. Recording of this simulation shall be sent to your Scrolls momentarily to allow you to review it over."

As the students were about to leave, Glynda called out on Cardin for carrying a weapon into the simulation when he wasn't supposed to.

"The railgun is part of my armor," shrugged Cardin, "I didn't think that counted."

"A very powerful one," acknowledged Glynda, "But detention still for one night. It will be held with Professor Port and our newest faculty member, Professor Cognac of the Weapons Improvement."

Cardin was smart enough to recognize that this punishment also doubled up as another way to have his professors help him utilize his newest weapon and perhaps lessen if not take out the recoil punishment.

As the students settled down into the new semester, Jaune was at the roof meditating alone for the night. He was currently holding a discussion with his dragons about the tactics used today and the possible long-term mission at Mt. Glenn. Team Dragon would be posted there for at least two weeks before coming back to Beacon to attend lectures for a week. Then it would repeat until the end of the semester. Then they would be staying at Mt. Glenn until a week from Yuletide. Luckily, the Belladonna family, Nikos family, the Romee family, Gayl family, and even the Schnee family would be around Beacon by that time. Basically, all of Jaune's family and in-laws were coming over. Team SSSN would be heading back to Haven to visit family, and Gwen would be accompanying them. Nebula opted to head back to Vacuo, along with Octavia. Ren would be dragged over there to meet her parents, and Nora would come with because anywhere Ren went, she would go.

But for now, they were settling down in their new building. The males, excluding Sage, were headed to the gym. Sage was taking time to play his cello to make sure he didn't get rusty as he enjoyed playing it. Weiss and Octavia were with him, forming a trio.. The other girls were either studying or relaxing.

" _ **Good to see that the Aura Cuffs are doing their job,"**_ noted Lung Wang as Jaune allowed his Aura to flow throughout his body. He had noticed that Jaune's Aura reserve was still sealed, but was increasing at a much faster rate than before. Perhaps in time, it would be enough to even impress Bahamut, the King of all Dragons.

"Jaune, we're here!" cheered Ruby as she entered the roof with Dew and Yang.

They quickly assumed a meditation position and entered Jaune's mindscape to communicate with their respective dragons for some elemental training advice. Ruby was more interested in learning about her Silver Eyes and what else it could do. Jaune couldn't help but grin at Ruby's infectious smile and thanked Oum that he had rescued her from Whitley's clutches. Though he was presumed dead, Jaune wouldn't even bat an eye at his direction.

* * *

That night, when the beds had arrived and Jaune was getting ready for bed in his private room, there was a knock on the door. He quickly opened the door to see Weiss with her hair down, wearing a white nightgown.

"So you drew the first draw to cuddle with me tonight?" chuckled Jaune as he let Weiss in.

"That... and more," confessed Weiss.

That stopped Jaune in his tracks before slowly turning around to Weiss. She slowly slipped off her nightgown from her shoulders, letting it fall down.

"Weiss, we don't have to do this if you don't feel comfortable," urged Jaune as he caught the gown midway, just before it revealed her breasts.

"I've made up my mind," said Weiss as she stared into his eyes, full of confidence.

"May I ask why?"

"... The simulation. It made me realize just how fragile we can be."

"Weiss, we were severely limited on that simulation. Ruby couldn't use her Silver Eye powers, and I wasn't allowed to use my wings, dragons, and some of my other powers. Ren couldn't use his Semblance to help us either."

"But it still showed us that as Huntress and Huntsmen, we flirt with danger every day! I don't want to wait anymore, I don't want to live without regretting my choice! I'd rather choose what I can do now, and control my own life. And I choose to become one of your mate. Life is too short not to spend it with the ones you love."

The two stood silent for a bit before, looking at one another Weiss gently removed Jaune's hands from her gown, letting it fall down to reveal her pristine naked body. The two of them came close together for a kiss before the lights dimmed, and a gentle thud from the bed could be heard.

* * *

"You sure this'll work?" asked Whitley as he was strapped into a platform. He saw a lot of machines above him, with plenty of drills and sharp knives.

"Of course!" grinned Merlot from the side.

"I wouldn't underestimate our powers," nodded Watts.

"Apologies if I sound skeptical!" hissed Whitley as he stared at the rotating drill.

"Have no worries, young Whitley," said a soothing voice.

Salem had entered the room as if gliding on the floor. Whitley couldn't help but gulp at the sight of her. He could tell she was Grimm, but she seemed rather seductive in his opinion.

"I never introduced myself, did I?" smiled Salem, "I am Salem. I was Cinder's master, who was your boss for a bit. Although Cinder failed, you pulled through your bargain of the deal but was never rewarded. And, by your own initiative, almost took out the girl with the Silver Eyes and almost dealt a cruel blow to our newest obstacle, Jaune Ryu-Long with no training, only your wits and cunning. Such bravery deserves respect."

Salem held out her palm and closed her eyes to concentrate as darkness emitted from her whole body before it gathered in her hand. Soon, a small Grimm snake formed and slithered off her hands. It slowly made its way to Whitley, who looked at in fear.

"Tell me child, you have been jealous that your sisters could use the Schnee Semblance of glyphs while you could not, correct?" asked Salem, "What if I could tell you that those 'mock Grimm' that they summon would no longer be out of your reach. But rather, I could make you be able to summon real Grimm? Grimm more powerful than what your sisters could possibly imagine? Then you could show everyone just who the proper Schnee Heir is, along with all your enhancements. All you need to do... is to let that snake slither down your throat."

Whitley recoiled for only a moment before opening his mouth as wide as possible, trying to move his head to start eating it.

"Good boy," patted Salem as the Grimm hissed before throwing itself right down his throat.

As Whitley thrashed and writhed, feeling the snake go down his throat, Salem walked past him and opened the door.

"Oh, and to keep you motivated on surviving the coming trials, you may have this girl for a day before we dispose of her," offered Salem as she snapped her finger.

From the shadows crawled the Summer maiden with just a dog collar, crawling on all fours with no defiance in her eyes. Her will had been completely broken as she served Salem and Jazz as her masters in her sub role. Though Jazz had fun playing with her, she was getting tired of it and wanted her rightful powers soon.

"She's still yet to be defiled by a man," smirked Salem, "Perhaps you could break her in. Think of it as... motivation as well as a gift."

As the Grimm finally made it down his throat, Whitley gave the Summer Maiden a look of lust before his eyes glazed over, barely conscious for anything.

"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Watts hesitantly, "Does this not give the girl with the Silver Eyes an easier chance to kill him?"

"Ah, but I plan on having him face his family alone," explained Salem, "We only need to create a situation where Whitley is in position to commit familicide, and then spin the news off as a Grimm attack where Whitley, who was the prodigal son returning home only to be met with such a tragic... accident."

"Mistress, your devious cunning knows no bounds!" giggled Tyrian from the roof, where he had been hanging about.

"Of course, Dr. Merlot, the theory we discussed?" asked Salem.

"I shall be implementing the countermeasures against the Silver Eyes immediately," nodded Merlot as he pressed a button.

The gadgets above Whitley all came to life as they descended down towards the boy.

* * *

As the first rays of the sun began to emerge, Jaune slowly opened his eyes to wake himself up for training. He blinked as he felt something warm and fleshy on top of him, and looked down to see a mess of white hair and remembered what he had done last night. He had given Ryo-Wo's mate mark, his final one, to Weiss.

"Mmm so warm," moaned Weiss as she snuggled closer to Jaune.

"Weiss, wake up, I need to do my morning exercises," whispered Jaune.

"Don't wanna," mumbled Weiss, "It's comfortable like this."

Jaune chuckled before he managed to extract himself away from Weiss, using his pillow as a substitute for Weiss before heading to the showers, quickly putting on some underwear and pants. He found his waist to be a bit sticky, wondering why it was until he remembered Weiss was rather enthusiastic when she hit her high. Quickly taking a shower, he went out for a run.

An hour later, Weiss slowly woke up to see she had been hugging a pillow. Grumbling about how Jaune had left, she yawned and stretched. She was about to walk out the door when she remembered she was completely naked. She didn't want to give team SSSN a show, so she quickly grabbed her nightgown and made her way to the female sleeping quarters. As she entered, she heard a voice call out to her.

"So, how was it?"

Yang was looking down from her bunk bed with a grin.

"You're up," replied Weiss, knowing Yang preferred to sleep in if she could.

"Yeah, well ever since I got the Mate Mark, I tend to wake up when the sun hits my skin for a bit," replied Yang, "Probably a side effect, but I don't mind. I feel even more energetic than before."

"Mmm, I wonder how it'll affect me," mused Weiss.

"So you joined us?" grinned Yang.

Weiss pulled down her shirt to reveal the blue Mate Mark on her chest, right above her heart, in reply.

"Welcome aboard!"

Ruby jumped off her bed and hugged Weiss from behind, almost causing Weiss to fall down.

"Ruby! That was dangerous," lectured Weiss, though without any real heat.

"So are you able to walk?" asked Blake, popping up from her bed.

"... A little," replied Weiss, gingerly testing her legs and waist. She hadn't noticed she had hobbled into the room instead of walking normally.

"Not surprised, I was the same," piped Dew.

"Same!" raised Ruby.

"Eh, I was okay," shrugged Yang as Blake nodded with her. Then they all turned to Pyrrha as one, who had woken up already.

"I... was glad I stayed at the private house with Jaune the whole day," blushed Pyrrha, "Because of what was happening and the seed he had been forced to consume, he had a lot of energy from it and… well, let's just say I could barely walk when it was over."

"That's right, you went on for a whole day," snapped Yang, "I'm kinda jealous of you. I wanna try that too."

The girls just giggled as they continued to prepare for the morning to come.

* * *

 **Yea I know. Shitley is still alive. Why isn't he dead yet? Well that's because I have plans to use him to further my story! Frankly, I have the final battle stuff and ending already figured out. It's trying to connect the story into it that's a bit troubling. But oh well.**

 **Hope you've enjoyed the story! Review if you can! And yes, the special section will be updated to have Weiss in it. I'm not too motivated on writing those too much, but when inspiration strikes, I'll give it a go. It's mostly used for the couple's 'first time'. Rare exceptions are there, but yea.**

 **Next update... I will try for before the end of the year.**


	61. Chapter 61 Back at Mt Glenn, Trap!

**Told you guys I'd get this up before the year ends! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Yaa new chapter! Reminder, I have a pat reon, look up azndrgn making fanfic. Donators get perks!

 **This chapter has been beta by UGX7 and the MischeviousPuppyDog. Appreciate the help guys! We've been on this story for a long time now.**

* * *

"Are we ready?" Jaune asked as he looked out to all the teams that was ready for the mission.

It had been roughly two weeks since they had begun the second semester of their second year, and it was time for missions to begin. Except this one would be the biggest one yet; the retaking of Mt. Glenn.

Quite a few people thought that such an undertaking was rather ambitious and too risky, thinking that Vale should be focusing on shoring up its defenses. However, the fact that Grimm population around Vale was still rather low, the Council of Vale decided to push for it.

A mixture of teams from second years to fourth years was permitted to take part in the mission. First years were considered too under-experienced to be a part of something so dangerous, and thus were omitted, despite complaints from teams like Team MAYA.

Plans were already made to hire extra professors to lecture at Mt. Glenn, seeing as it would be a long term mission. Students couldn't afford to miss out on proper education that would be offered at Beacon just to protect the expansion of Vale. Doctor Oobleck had reached out to a colleague, who would be teaching the students at Mt. Glenn about history so they wouldn't miss out on his own lectures. Port was recording his lectures to inspire others to take up arms while explaining some Grimm anatomy. Glynda Goodwitch had reached out to her sister, Loreen Casta Goodwitch, to help teach at Mt. Glenn.

The Council of Vale didn't want to expand the budget on Beacon Academy to hire more professors, but Glynda was much more forceful than Ozpin had been on it. It made Ozpin smile, knowing that the future of Beacon was in good hands.

For second years, they would spend two weeks at Mt. Glenn before returning to Beacon to choose any other mission they wanted. For third years, it would be three weeks, and fourth years would spend a month. After choosing the Mt. Glenn mission, students would not be able to take it for at least three weeks before coming back again if they chose to.

Team DRAGON was a slightly different story, though. At first, the Council wanted Jaune spending all his time at Mt. Glenn, but the professors all shot that plan down, stating that despite being the Hero of Vale and a powerful fighter, he was still a second-year student, and shouldn't have that much responsibility pushed on his shoulders. A compromise was made that Jaune's team would spend three weeks at Mt. Glenn, and then two weeks for a break before coming back again. In short, their team had their mission assigned to them for the whole semester.

"Well, least we can use the time to go to that old museum," noted Neptune.

"Mt. Glenn... again," sighed all of Team RWBY.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," said Jaune.

"Oh no, you're not getting rid of us that easily," stated Yang, "Otherwise, Pyrrha and Dew would get you for three weeks straight."

"That's right!" chirped up Ruby.

"I need someone to snuggle with while reading," Blake commented.

"And I need someone to help me control my group," humphed Weiss without any real heat, causing her teammates to pout but giggle.

"Guess we're all going then," said Nebula.

"I guess it's for the best. Team DRAGON, let's move out!" shouted Jaune as they all quickly got onto a large Bullhead to fly to Mt. Glenn.

* * *

They soon arrived and helped set up a perimeter around the town hall of Mt. Glenn. Though Jaune raised concerns about the underground city, the head planner of the Mt. Glenn reconstruction act pushed it aside. Apparently, the underground city would be scavenged for all available resources before the majority of it would be sealed off. The holes in the subway system leading to Vale had been sealed, reinforced, and would be used as a method of transporting raw materials to Mt. Glenn. Of course, that meant half of the upper city would be blocked off, as the roads were constructed over the underground city and were weak from lack of supports and maintenance, making them too dangerous to use. Instead, a few buildings were collapsed to form barriers to help protect the more usable part of the city until a better barricade could be created. There were several people with earth moving Semblances to help build the wall or collapse tunnels, leaving Jaune available to go on patrols.

After two weeks of no real trouble besides dealing with a Grimm pack every now and then, buildings could be seen being constructed. The whole city was shifted to be constructed to be closer to Vale, with a few natural barriers helping protect them.

A month passed, and it seemed to be a thriving settlement, with hopes of becoming a city. Emergency evacuation procedures were constantly reviewed just in case, though. It was then that Team SSSN decided it was time to see if they could retrieve the scroll.

"Need any extra manpower?" asked Jaune as they gathered around in a room to rest.

"Well, since you're asking," stated Sun, looking at Neptune to see if they did need it.

"I suggest Jaune for obvious reasons," nodded Neptune, "And Blake. Though the scroll is said to be at the museum, I doubt it's still there. From what I've scouted from it while we passed by it during our patrols, there are a lot of holes in there. I'm betting the scroll fell down inside those holes. It's going to be dark in there, and only Faunus and Jaune can see in the dark well. I managed to snag night vision goggles, but I don't have enough for everyone. Plus, we can't all just abandon our patrols."

"I can make fire, and so can Jaune," suggested Yang.

"Yeah, but that attracts unwanted attention," Neptune pointed out, "We don't want that when we're exploring somewhere dark and unknown. Grimm could attack us."

"I could come and use the power of my silver eyes," raised Ruby.

"Our opponents aren't necessarily just Grimm," continued Neptune, "There could be bandits or White Fang, who can see in the dark as well. If we want to scare off Grimm, we have Jaune for that. Finally, it'll be easier with a small group. Adding more might complicate things."

Seeing Neptune's solid argument, the others could only agree to his plan.

"Relax, we'll be back at most in three days," said Sun, "We won't be off that long."

"Fine," pouted Pyrrha, who had been slightly spoiled by having Jaune to cuddle with for so long. She walked out of the room with her mate and leaned into him, saying "Be careful."

"I'll be fine, Pyrrha. I promise, and I'll be back before you know it." Jaune told her before planting a loving kiss on her, as well as to the others.

* * *

The next day, Team SSSN, Jaune, and Blake were off towards Mount Glenn's Museum of Interesting Artifacts, or MIA for short. They had already told one of the district leaders named Morado of their mission, who was a low ranked member of the Council, but still an esteemed member. The distance wasn't too far off from the main reconstruction area, and they encountered no Grimm on the way, though they took an entire day to arrive safely before camping out near the museum. They arrived at the museum, where they quickly split into teams of two. Blake was teamed up with Sage, Jaune with Scarlet, and Sun with Neptune. Each team had at least one person who had night vision, which was better than relying on goggles, and each team was composed of one bruiser and one agile.

"Okay, according to this old map," pointed out Neptune, who had managed to find and make a copy of the museum layout, "There are only three likely places the scroll will be. Hall of Ancient Items, Room of Unknown, and Gallery of Mystery."

"What's with these names?" asked Sun, "They don't sound... well... professional. I haven't been to one, and I know these names sound stupid."

"Bring it up with the museum curator," snorted Neptune, "Apparently his kid was the one who thought of the names."

With a nod, they set off with weapons out.

"So what's with these scrolls?" asked Sun as they were at the Hall of Ancient Items.

"Not sure," replied Neptune, "To be more accurate, they seem like scriptures. From what I was reading and what you told me about your Uncle Zhu Bajie, the main monk who guided your ancestor, the original Sun Wukong, used these scrolls to help contain and purify his enemy. Of course, purifying the enemy could mean different things. Either complete destruction of evil, the body, or the spirit. Either way, it sounds useful."

"Then who would use it?" asked Sun, "It doesn't sound like it's my sort of weapon, and if it some sort of monk weapon, it'll involve chanting and that sort of thing."

"That's for certain," said Neptune, "We'll think about it more when we find it. It should have the monkey sign and a small crown. The others already know about what to look for."

* * *

Jaune and Scarlet were scanning the Gallery of Mystery with no real success either. There were a lot of items that nobody knew came from when, where, or what it was, but in the end, it was mostly just junk.

"Let's hope the others have better luck," sighed Scarlet when they heard a loud bang, followed by the ground shaking.

"That came from the Room of Unknown!" said Jaune sharply, "Where Blake and Sage are, let's move!"

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Room of Unknown, Sage and Blake had stopped right at the entrance of it to see several gaping holes at where the several key exhibits should be.

"Think this was due to just faulty maintenance?" asked Sage as he examined whatever he could find.

"No... this doesn't seem like it," examined Blake, her eyes narrowing, "Two of these holes are unnatural. They don't have the decay or rust like the others. In fact, one of them seems quite recent."

Sage nodded as he examined an ofuda before taking it down to check behind it for any marks and frowned when he saw none.

"No luck," grunted Sage as he tossed the ofuda to the ground. He swore he could hear Doctor Oobleck and Horton yelling at him for tossing ancient history into the ground like that.

"Should we check if it dropped underground?" asked Sage as he began to step towards Blake.

A second later, the ground crumpled right underneath the both of them. Being skilled Huntsman and Huntress, the two of them easily landed on their feet, though it was very dark inside the pit they were in. Even Sage's night goggles had initial trouble penetrating through the darkness before it adjusted to it.

"Huh, a lot of stuff here," noted Sage as he looked around the floor and started to slowly pick through them.

Blake nodded as she made a quick count of the items that laid scattered on the ground.

"Sweet! Found it!" grinned Sage as he lifted up a scroll with the monkey symbol and a crown and quickly tucked it into his coat pocket.

"Something's wrong," declared Blake as she looked around, "There were five holes, excluding the one we just made. And yet, there are only at most two items, including yours, here. Where are the others?"

"Maybe only two fell down?" suggested Sage.

"No, I looked at the map before we entered the room. The outline of it had at least an item at where each hole was. So who was here then?" replied Blake, quickly scanning around the pit they were in.

Her eyes roamed about when she did a double take at a specific area. Soon as she did, chaos broke out in front of them. A person swirled his black cloak he was using to hide and lifted up two pistols, one black and one white, and fired at Blake.

As Blake quickly dodged, she saw the person was wearing a white robe under the black cloak, and on the robe in the front was two human palms crossing over each other, the right one being black and the left one being white.

"Blake!" shouted Sage as he charged forward towards the attacker. Suddenly, the objects filled the air, and brown gas hissed out of them.

"What the?" growled Sage as he used his sword and swung harshly in the air, clearing the gas, "Weird, what was that?"

When he didn't hear Blake answer, he turned around to see her on the ground twitching in agony.

"Blake? Blake! What's wrong!?" shouted Sage as he quickly kneeled over to her, checking to see if there were any injuries.

"Gas... hurts," gasped Blake as she tried to regain control of her body without any progress.

"Looks like these babies still work on Faunus," chuckled a voice.

Sage quickly whirled around to the source of the voice to see more people wearing the same uniform coming out from the darkness. He quickly found himself surrounded and pointed his sword towards the main bulk and the person who seemed to be the leader. Said leader was wearing a rather flashy cape of black and white, with black and white palm prints on his cheeks.

"What do you mean?" threatened Sage, his grip tightening on his sword, "What did you do?"

"Relax, brother," said the leader, "This Faunus is just experiencing the holy judgment she deserves, just as all Faunus will. They are an infestation that must be purged, as they are an abomination not created by the Deity brothers. Remnant belongs to us humans, not the animals!"

"And we meet a human version of Adam Taurus," grumbled Sage, "What did you do to her!?"

One of the grunts chuckled as he tossed another can near them, spewing out gas once more. Blake once again screamed in pain as she got a tiny whiff of it. Sage quickly grabbed the can and crushed the opening with his bare hand, closing it off. He took a closer look at the can to see a hazard sign with a Faunus photo on top of it. Quickly rotating it, he saw what it truly was.

"Faunus Nerve Gas," growled Sage, "Temporarily paralyzes Faunus while causing damage. Heavily used in the Great War. And its production was banned in the Treaty of Vytal from all Four Kingdoms. Anyone even in possession of this is sentenced to life in prison, if not death. I'm pretty sure the recipe for this was wiped out of all data systems."

"Indeed it was," said the leader, "But they had one here as a memorial. It was only recently discovered, and when we tried to reverse-engineer it, we found we lacked a lot of the materials. The whole recipe for it in itself is still incomplete, and the materials we need are highly regulated and very difficult to come by, even if we do try to supply it ourselves. The Faunus bitch here would've already been on death's door if she had been exposed to the complete formula, but for now, ours can only paralyze and cause pain."

"The cure?" asked Sage.

"Just for time to pass," said the leader whimsically, "But not like she'll have any. She's far too valuable for us to kill now."

"You're not kidnapping her," growled Sage as he held his sword towards the leader in a threatening manner.

"Sage, please stand down," said another man, walking towards the light and taking off his hood.

"Uncle Dahlia," growled Sage, "Should've known you'd run with these punks. They sound right up your alley."

"Sage, my dear nephew," said Dahlia, "You of all people should know the Faunus are parasites. Look at the White Fang. Look at what they did to humanity. We give them pity and a land to call their own, and they give their thanks by trying to destroy a kingdom. You have a leader that I hear you complain about, ditching class and is a kleptomaniac. We can erase that stain and make it a truly free Remnant for humans. Just stand aside. We can make it so it's not even your fault."

* * *

Sage looked down at Dahlia before seemingly relaxing, his sword lowered down to the side. Dahlia grinned and walked two steps towards Blake when he was tackled down by another grunt. He was about to scold the grunt when he saw Sage's blade swing right where his head had been.

"So willing to kill a fellow human and a blood relative at that? How sad!" snarled the leader.

"My family is usually named after plants," growled Sage, "And each one has their own symbolism. Dahlia, however, has the name red attached to his for quite some time. He was, is, and always will be, a betrayer."

"I was merely taking what should've been rightfully mine," whined Dahlia.

"By killing your friend for something you wanted," snorted Sage, "If you want Blake, you'll have to come through me first. And if you don't finish fast enough... well let's say her boyfriend won't be very happy to see this. And though Sun may be troublesome, he's more family than you'll ever be. Much more reliable than you."

"So be it," sighed the leader as he raised his palm up and clenched his fist, "Kill him, but keep the cat bitch alive. She'll be a valuable bargaining tool if our spy is right. A Belladonna would be most useful."

The grunts charged as Sage swung his blade around. Some were protected by Aura. Others were not so fortunate and were decapitated on the spot. Still, Sage would not give in, and dissuaded anyone from getting close to Blake, even taking several hits to the back to protect Blake.

"Get off me!" yelled Sage as one of them managed to jump on his back. Before he could throw the grunt off, more and more piled onto him, grabbing whatever they could to bring him down. Even with three grunts clinging on his sword arm, Sage managed to cut through a few more grunts before the sheer numbers brought him to the ground. He tried biting whatever he could when he couldn't move his limbs anymore.

"Blake! Get out of here!" shouted Sage as he saw people starting to tie the struggling Blake and pulling her away. He could see some of them leering at Blake, intentionally groping her breast when they had the chance.

"You had your chance nephew," said Dahlia as he kneeled down, a dagger in his hand, "But since you refused to join our righteous crusade, you can go to hell for being a Faunus lover."

Just as he raised the dagger, Jaune crashed down into the ground, his eyes blazing with power. He lifted his hands, and from the shadows, spikes erupted and stabbed all the grunts piled on Sage, killing them all. Sage quickly ripped the dead grunts off him and grabbed Dahlia by the neck.

"You wouldn't!" screamed Dahlia.

Sage tightened the grip on the neck before hurling Dahlia into a nearby wall, knocking him unconscious.

"You're lucky I have more important things," spat Sage, spitting a loogie at Dahlia's face.

"Let. Her. Go," growled Jaune, his sword pointed towards the leader.

"Well, well, if it isn't the so-called 'Hero of Vale'," spat the leader, "A filthy Faunus who thinks he's better than all of us."

'Faunus?' pondered Jaune.

"Well, since you're sooo 'strong', then try breathing this in!" shouted the leader as two canisters that had been hidden in the ground exploded. Brown gas surrounded Jaune, causing the leader and his grunts to laugh maniacally.

"You see! Even the so called hero cannot stand against this gas! The version we used on you is ten times more potent than the one we used on the Belladonna girl, and can possibly kill! We may not be able to mass produce it, but we made enough it... could... kill..."

The leader trailed off as Jaune continued to walk forward without any ill effects. Sage and Scarlet were with him, looking just as pissed.

"Why didn't the Faunus nerve gas work?" screeched a grunt.

Jaune didn't bother to answer and aimed his shield, _Dragonscales,_ towards them, switching it to hand cannon mode and fired, Scarlet quickly following his example.

"Protect me!" screeched the leader as grunts began to make a human shield around him as well as passing Blake to him and a woman.

Walls of Aura and Semblances of earth, crystals, and metallic shields sprouted forth between Blake and the others.

" _ **NO!"**_ roared Jaune as he raised his blade up, infusing with Othim's power. Nine simultaneous strikes struck through the barricade and shattered half of them. Jaune raised his shield towards the barricade, changing it into shotgun mode and infused the bullets with wind and light elements into them. He opened fire, creating a large hole within the barricade. Before it could be fixed, Jaune had tossed his sword up, grabbed a fire Dust crystal and wind Dust crystal in his right hand, and stuck his hand in the hole and to the other side. Before the enemy could react at all, Jaune crushed the crystals in his hands and amplified its power with Lung Wang and Aryz.

The result was a huge explosion that instantly wiped out most of the grunts and shattered the barrier. Sage had stabbed his sword into the ground and hid behind it to protect himself. Scarlet fired his hook up into the ceiling past the holes and dragged himself up to dodge any shrapnel.

As the dust cleared, Jaune saw that the man, woman, and Blake weren't close by. He closed his eyes and sensed Blake's Aura moving away from him very fast, faster than she could run. Quickly sprouting yellow feathery wings, he shot forward towards wherever Blake was.

"Go get Sun and Neptune!" ordered Jaune as he flew forward.

Sage nodded and dragged his uncle up back to the museum, where they met Sun and Neptune just as they got out.

"What happened!?" demanded Sun.

"We were ambushed," spat Sage, "Some new terrorist group that's the opposite of the White Fang. Some human extremist group."

"That's the Children of the Brothers," noted Neptune, glancing down at Dahlia's uniform, "It was recently formed in opposition of the White Fang, stating that Faunus are nothing but filthy animals that should be put down."

"Shit, and Blake was just kidnapped by them," cried Scarlet.

"Damn, that's bad. And who's this punk?" Sun inquired.

"My dear traitorous uncle," said Sage, kicking his uncle in the head, "I want to interrogate him on everything he knows about this damn organization. One of them mentioned a spy, so I want to know just exactly how they knew about this mission."

As Dahlia just woke up, he looked up to see four pissed off Huntsmen, all cracking their knuckles. Sun dropped his staff on Dahlia's legs, instantly crushing them so he couldn't escape at all.

"Filthy Faunus and Faunus lovers, you'll all die!" spat Dahlia.

"Well, this Faunus and friends are very interested in what you know," said Sun as he gave a dark chuckle.

"It'd be best if you gave it all up," smirked Neptune as he held up his weapon, volts of electricity flowing through it.

"Especially if you want to see another sunrise," continued Scarlet as he held his blade near his mouth, giving his sword a lick with his tongue.

"Trust me, uncle, we aren't going to hold back," finished Sage as he raised his fist high.

Screams of pain and begging for forgiveness could be heard.

* * *

Jaune grinded his teeth in frustration as he encountered another trap. He had to fold his wings back in as the enemy kept using piercing rounds or glueballs that stuck on him. The glue was composed of a special makeup that couldn't be dissolved even by heating it, nor electrocuting it. Instead, Jaune used brute force by freezing the glue on him and shattering it into pieces, though pieces of it still stuck on him.

" _ **This isn't normal,"**_ noted Lung Wang with a growl.

" _ **It's like they were expecting you,"**_ followed Ryo-Wo.

" _ **All these traps... they couldn't have been built in just minutes,"**_ muttered Fafnir.

" _ **But how and why?"**_ Asked Alaerth, " _ **There were only Jaune's friends and mates that knew of the mission."**_

" _ **But he did,"**_ stated Othim, his tone no longer carrying any humor, " _ **That supervisor."**_

" _ **Well then, we'll interrogate him when we rescue Blake,"**_ stated Aryz.

"That's it, no more mercy," growled Jaune as he cut his hand with his blade.

Quickly assuming the summoning form, he spun his blade before slamming it down. Dark circles formed around him, and from behind, out of the depths of what seemed to be hell itself, came forth a black dragon with jet black scales protruding all over, and a huge horn. Its eyes gleamed golden as it seemed to want to consume all others.

" _ **Oh, Nergigante,"**_ noted Othim, " _ **This will be fun."**_

"Nergigante, destroy them!" shouted Jaune.

The dragon roared and charged forward, instantly slaying all those who stood in his path.

"Kill it! Kill that giant lizard!"

"Help! It's smashing through our traps!"

"Use the damn heavy machine gun! Just use up the biggest caliber with explosive rounds!"

Nergigante roared as his claw slammed into the ground, crushing three more. Suddenly, black wooden vines shot out, wrapping the machine gun and crushed it, along with the explosive ammo crate next to it, causing a reaction of explosions.

"Now!" shouted Jaune as he spread out yellow scaled wings and shot forward. He had fully linked up with Alaerth and Fafnir, shooting forward like a bullet.

Jaune sensed Blake was up ahead of him when she suddenly disappeared, only to reappear above him at ground level.

"A teleporting Semblance?" questioned/growled Jaune as he angled upwards immediately and plowed through the earth, using Fafnir's power to shift it. Though if the enemy could teleport, why wait until now?

He burst out of the ground just in time to see Blake being loaded into the latest stealth plane on a ramp. Seconds later, he had to summon an earth dome to protect himself as thousands of bullets slammed into it. All around him were turrets manned by people with the same insignia on their clothes.

"Getting real tired of this shit!" roared Jaune as he suddenly ascended to the sky.

Taking a deep breath before the enemy could correct their aim, he channeled Alaerth's powers towards his mouth and roared. A beam of yellow lighting struck a turret, and Jaune swiveled around. The beam traveled along Jaune's pathway, destroying all the turrets in a radius around him. He stopped to see the stealth plane already taking off, and was about to chase when he heard a loud explosion originating near Mt. Glenn. He quickly turned towards the explosion to see it was at the new base they had made. He could spot Grimm flooding towards the open entrance and narrowed his eyes. There had been no Grimm earlier. He could see cages being opened to release a multitude of Grimm. This had been planned!

"You have a choice 'Hero'!" shouted the masked leader with a mocking tone as the ramp opened up to reveal himself, holding Blake, "Chase after us and abandon all those people at Mt. Glenn, or abandon this your lovely Faunus girl to save them all!"

Jaune grit his teeth in anger as a roar came out from the mountains. From the distance, a giant Grimm with one malevolent red eye came forth. Its height was roughly as tall as the CCT tower, with bone spikes protruding all over its body. It had two arms, and instead of hands, it had long razor-sharp hooks. A tail followed the giant Grimm, easily capable of knocking down buildings.

"Jaune!" shouted Blake as she managed to free the gag from her mouth, "Save them! Don't worry about me I'll be fine! I'm too valua-"

"Shut up!" shouted the masked leader, hitting Blake's head, "You're right you're too valuable to die, but it doesn't make you valuable enough that we can't hit you."

From the ground, Nergigante suddenly burst forth and fired several black vines toward the ship, right where Blake was. For a second there, it looked like it would succeed, until another person from a shadowy part of the ship, wearing high heels, stepped forward and kicked the masked leader in front of Blake while grabbing Blake away.

"Get us out of here!" screamed a voice as the ramp began to close.

Nergigante tried to extend its vines towards Blake, but the ramp was closing. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to grab Blake, he dragged the masked leader out of the ship instead.

"No, wait!" shouted the leader, "Don't leave me!"

It was too late. The stealth plane left, and Jaune could sense it was also equipped with Aura inhibitors, making it truly a stealth plane as Jaune could no longer sense Blake's Aura.

"Dammit dammit dammit dammit!" roared Jaune in anger. He glared at the now captive masked leader, who was looking nervous as the vines began to slither over his body. Jaune dismissed Nergigante, grabbing the masked leader and slamming him into the ground head-first, knocking him unconscious.

"I'll deal with you later," snarled Jaune as he took to the air towards camp with the hostage on hand.

* * *

"Where did all these damn Grimm come from?" cursed Cardin as he slammed his mace into the head of a Beowolf, "Didn't we scout out and see none?"

"Less talking more killing!" yelled Coco as she mowed down waves of Grimm with her Gatling gun.

"Team RWBY will assist in moving the injured!" volunteered Ruby as they quickly moved those affected by the explosion. Team NPR and NDGO quickly followed to help. For some odd reason, the explosion went off at part of the camp with the most Faunus.

Still, it was easy pickings as the Grimm were charging through just one hole, though admittedly quite a large one. The students along with Huntsmen and Huntresses easily routed the Grimm and had anyone with any sort of construction Semblance patching the hole. Then they heard a large roar and froze. They slowly looked up to see the towering Grimm coming closer and closer.

"It's a Grimm Giagan!" shouted Port in shock, "An ancient Grimm, same as the Grimm Dragon that invaded Beacon! What's that doing here!?"

"We must evacuate!" ordered Loreen, "Students, escort any civilians and get them to the Bullheads! Huntsmen and Huntresses, delay the Grimm and destroy as many as you can!"

Some of the students wanted to stay and fight, but before any of them could take any action, the Giagan was slammed with a lightning bolt, causing it to reel in pain. Seconds later, Jaune appeared before them, dropping his hostage with the professors.

"Make sure he doesn't escape," growled Jaune, "He can teleport. He's one of the main causes of this explosion."

He quickly flew towards the Grimm Giagan to deal with it.

"You heard him, get the Aura inhibiting shackles," said Loreen as people quickly moved to action.

As Jaune flew towards the Giagan, it roared in challenge and slashed at Jaune with its hooks. Jaune easily dodged them before flying to its eyes and raised his shield. The shotgun muzzle came out, and Jaune infused it with lightning before firing all rounds.

The Grimm roared in pain as it stumbled back and whipped its tail at Jaune, who failed to dodge it in time. He grunted in pain as he stumbled in the air before regaining control of himself.

"Fire at its feet!" shouted Port, "Make it stumble!"

Everyone quickly obeyed and fired, destroying the ground it was standing on. The Giagan stumbled, falling backward onto the ground. Jaune quickly used his link with Othim that he had done before arriving and summoned hundreds of shadowy rope and tied each of its limbs, pinning it to the ground.

"Dew!" shouted Sun as he and his group arrived in a stolen vehicle.

They had stuffed Dahlia in the trunk, hidden from view. They knew there was a traitor in their midst, and decided to hide the fact they had Dahlia.

"Sun!" shouted Dew in surprise, "Where's Blake?"

"No time, summon a tornado and fling me up in the sky!" said Sun.

Dew quickly obeyed, summoning a tornado that Sun jumped into. The tornado spat Sun up into the sky, right above the Grimm Giagan.

"Expand Ruyi Jingu!" shouted Sun as he used up all his reserves on his Aura, pouring them into his staff.

The staff smashed onto the Grimm's head, pinning it down as it roared in pain.

"Now's our chance!" yelled Yang, "Weaken it until Ruby can freeze it!"

Ruby and the others had experimented with her Silver Eyes and found out that though she could easily freeze Grimm, it varied on how powerful the Grimm currently was. The stronger the Grimm, the more backlash Ruby would receive. So they theorized that if they weakened the Grimm, it would allow Ruby to use her powers with less backlash.

Yang jumped up towards its chest raising her right hand high above her. She clenched her fist as her hair began to glow, he eyes red. She had absorbed a few hits while trying to save others from Grimm, and was using it all at once. Right behind her, Dew was already forming a small ball of wind right above her fist.

" _ **Blazing Typhoon!"**_ roared both Dew and Yang as Yang punched with the typhoon ball on her right hand. Just as it was about to make contact, Yang added the flame element into the typhoon with her newly found power, creating a huge firestorm right on the Grimm's chest.

"Fire in the hole!" shouted Cardin as he held up his railgun pointing right where the Grimm's groin would be. He had no idea if this would be effective, but he didn't have enough time to run and aim for the head. So he aimed it at where it would anatomically hurt anybody and hoped it would pierce up to the brain. His team was right behind him, ready to help with the recoil.

Cardin fired the shot, causing the Grimm to squeal at a much higher pitch.

"I think it worked!" shouted Russel excitedly.

"My turn!" shouted Nora as she turned around to reveal that she had been gorging on sugary treats and lightning crystals.

"Nora, no," moaned Ren quietly.

"Nora yes!" grinned Nora, "Pyrrha, give me a boost!"

Pyrrha nodded, summoning her shield to allow Nora to jump on. As soon as she was on, Pyrrha shot her upwards to the heavens.

"Nora smash!" yelled Nora as she jumped off, igniting the boosters on _Magnhild_ while pink lightning could be seen crackling all over her body. She began to spin and spin until she was a wheel of deadly lightning, letting gravity pull her down. At the very last moment, Nora smashed her hammer onto the Grimm's burnt chest, causing it to cry in pain. Bolts of electricity spewed out from her hammer

As everybody else wailed on it to do as much damage as possible, Ruby stood up, ready to unleash her secret power.

"Light!" shouted Ruby as her eyes shone brightly as if wings sprouted from her eyes.

The Grimm screeched before falling completely silent.

* * *

"Light, really?" asked Weiss.

"It was the only thing I could think of," blushed Ruby, "You know, like those shows where when they do some sort of special move, they shout it out! Well, I thought, you know, since I'm making light that freezes Grimm, I'd call it that! I haven't really thought of anything good," Ruby finished lamely.

"It's something," chuckled Weiss, "But I'll finish this off."

Focusing on her glyph, she made the attempt to summon the knight, the Arma Gigas. A flash of light appeared, and her knight stood at least 10 feet tall. However, her knight's appearance had completely changed. From the helmet, it was no longer slicked back but instead shaped like a dragon's head, similar to Ryo-Wo, with two horns protruding from the top of the helmet that curved back. Its whole armor scheme also changed. Instead of its usual slightly bulky armor, much of it had been slimmed down, and yet still protected all its vital parts. As Weiss wondered what had happened and theorized that the Mate Mark caused this change, a name went through her mind.

"Dragoon," whispered Weiss as she looked at her new summon in awe.

The Dragoon raised its hand, and in water streamed out from its gauntlet before it formed into a rather impressive weapon. Instead of the usual broadsword, it was now a long sword with elegant designs. Elegant blue handles, a light blue hilt, and an insignia of a dragon along the sword. The Dragoon swung the sword to show that it could transform into a lance.

"Finish it!" called Weiss.

The Dragoon jumped up into the air and reared its hand back as far as it could, aiming the lance right at the Grimm's neck. With a swift throw, the lance embedded itself into the Grimm's neck, completely going through it and hitting the ground. The Dragoon then landed right on the handle of the lance, causing it to go deeper as well as creating a crater. Finally, the summon grabbed the handle of the lance, forced it to transform back into a long sword within the Grimm's neck before severing the neck from the body with a spin attack.

"Brutal," commented Yang as the Grimm began to dissolve, "I guess he stuck his neck out where he shouldn't have? Eh eh?"

Most of the people who heard it groaned at the pun. With that, the remaining members of Team DRAGON went to ask Jaune what was up but saw anger flowing out of his body in copious amounts. Jaune didn't even acknowledge them but instead stomped straight where he had left the masked leader. His anger grew as he saw the person he wanted to interrogate closely was dead with a knife to the back of his head. Morado and several others were gathered around the body, examining it like a crime scene.

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked as others gathered around, "Who was this?"

"He was one of the scumbags behind this attack, a leader of a radical human extremist group calling themselves the Children of the Brothers. Someone killed him to shut him up so we couldn't force any more info out of him." Jaune told his scarlet-haired mate.

"It is rather unfortunate," said Morado with a silky voice, "Unfortunately, with all this chaos, we couldn't really afford to have someone watch over him. Wait, what's this?" He pointed to brown hair that decorated corpse. "Brown hair is on his body. Fur from the looks of it. Perhaps a Faunus with a grudge? A White Fang agent?"

Morado gave a glance towards Velvet, causing her teammates to stand in front of her.

"No way, Velvet's been with us the whole time!" Coco shot.

"She would never murder anyone like this, not even a loathsome racist such as this." Yatsuhashi agreed.

"Wait a minute, where's Blake?!" asked Ruby nervously, making them all look to him.

"Yeah where's my partner?" asked Yang, "I don't see her anywhere."

"She was captured," growled Jaune, "The Children of the Brothers ambushed us. I don't know how they incapacitated Blake, but they thought I was a Faunus too for some reason. They took my mate!"

While others were trying to grasp their minds on this, Morado replied, "Such a shame. But such is the life as a Huntress, flirting with danger. I know, I have a lovely niece about your age! How about I introduce you t-"

Before Jaune could strike, two hooks with wires suddenly wrapped around Morado's body.

"What is this outrage!?" raged Morado, "Do you know who I am? Let me go!"

"Yeah, not doing," replied Scarlet, holding the wires tightly with his weapon, "I think you know just how that guy died."

"It was obviously a Faunus!" shouted Morado, "That's right, I remember seeing Bunny ears! It was her! She's obviously a White Fang member!"

"Bullshit!" roared Fox as Yatsuhashi stood firmly in front of Velvet.

"You can't hide it," grunted Sage as he kicked open the trunk to reveal his uncle Dahlia, "We interrogated this asshole for everything. He dropped your name, the little coward."

"Not to mention when we were ambushed, it was as though they knew we were coming," growled Jaune, "Countless traps that could not have been done within mere minutes."

"You can't prove anything," spat Morado, "He could be a White Fang sympathizer, trying to shift blame onto somebody else! We humans have to stick together!"

"Humans, specifically?" interrogated Neptune, "And as Jaune said, the traps they laid out weren't done impromptu. They admitted to having knowledge of us coming. And we never told anyone about this trip except within our group... and you."

"Surely you're not insinuating that I told a terrorist group about your trip!" drawled Morado, "There is another Faunus that went with you. He's the one you should be suspicious of. I hear he has a tendency to steal things? Maybe he wanted the Belladonna girl for himself and put up an act."

Sage punched Morado in the stomach for even insinuating that.

"Enough," commanded Port, "Release him, Mr. David. None of you have the right to interrogate someone on the council, and will not do anything."

Each of them seethed in anger and was about to retort when Cardin put his hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Just wait, you'll see what the Professor is going to do," whispered Cardin.

As the wires loosened, Morado huffed, "You can be assured, I will be lodging a complaint about this. I am an esteemed member of the council, and I will not be-"

He didn't get to finish as Port slammed his head into the ground.

"Now, is there any proof that Morado is who you suspect to be now that I've silenced him for a bit?" asked Port.

A bit startled but able to move, Neptune quickly moved towards Morado and ripped Morado's expensive suit off him to reveal his back.

"Hope I don't have to pay for that," muttered Neptune as he looked to Sage, who nodded and tossed him a spray bottle.

"To hide their affiliation from other people, they've been using special tattoos that aren't visible under the sun. To everyone, it seems like unblemished skin," said Neptune as he sprayed Morado's entire back, "It's like those UV tattoos, except this one won't show up under UV light normally. In order to expose it, they first have to spray this special chemical before putting it under UV. "

With that, Sun tossed a UV lamp from the stolen vehicle to Neptune.

"We've already tested this out on a few other bodies, so it should reveal to us," muttered Neptune as he slowly scanned from the bottom up.

And lo and behold, the tattoo of the Children of the Brothers revealed itself on Morado's shoulder, two palm prints crossing over in black and white.

"That proves nothing," snarled Morado as he managed to get his head back up, "I have immunity! I am a part of the council! You damn idiots are so blind to what the true threat is!"

"And that would be?" hissed Port.

"Those damn Faunus!" shouted Morado as he started to babble, "They're the reason why Vale almost fell! Don't you see! If we can get rid of all those filthy animals, then Vale will be a true utopia! Never having to be diseased by those curs ever again! They are not part of this world's natural order, made from the two brothers! They are a plague! Long live humanity! Long live the Children of the Brothers!"

"Well I think it's safe to say you know where they took Miss Belladonna," declared Port, "And so you will tell me where, or I will force you."

"What are you going to do, bore me to death with your stories?" laughed Morado, "You'll never get me to talk. And all I have to do is remain silent, and the Council will get me off."

"I'm afraid that won't be an option for you," said Port darkly, causing all the students to suddenly shiver at this dark tone from the jolly old man, "Mr. Ryu-Long, if you could use your semblance to perhaps create a stone room and seal me with my esteemed guest?"

Jaune nodded and created a small house made of stone as Port entered in it, carrying Morado as well as a small bag.

"Thank you. I expect my guest will be spilling everything within the next few hours. On that note, everyone, please get some rest and stay vigilant!"

As soon as the door shut, Morado was about to sneer when Port unrolled his bag to reveal many knives, tool, and a few bottles.

"Now then, shall we begin?" said Port as his face took a much darker tone.

* * *

Back on the stealth jet, Blake glared at the woman who had kicked the masked leader.

"Take off her gag," sneered the lady as two grunts obeyed.

"Should've known you'd be with them," growled Blake as soon as she could speak.

"Your actions caused my husband's company to go bankrupt!" howled the woman as she stepped forward to reveal just who she was.

She was the trophy wife whose husband used own the Delaney shipping company, Mrs. Delaney.

"Thanks to your devious side, we were tossed out onto the streets," she howled, "Luckily, we were smart enough to have enough funds just in case something outrageous like this happened. We found the Children of Humanity group and poured all of our funds into it, gaining more and more influence than we ever had! Influence that has spread among all the kingdoms, to drive you filthy animals back where you belong. Below us, the chosen race to lead Remnant into glory! We were too nice to let you damn animals have your own little island. Once we win this, I'll be sure to have that town razed to the ground and the island remade into a resort!

"I doubt your group will last long," snapped Blake, "Once Jaune and the others find you, you'll be dead."

"We're ready for that freak," spat Mrs. Delaney, "By the time he finds us, we'll have perfected that gas that will instantly kill any Faunus, regardless of whatever they are or how strong!"

'And she thinks Jaune is a Faunus,' thought Blake, 'That'll bite her in the ass.'

"And don't think you're off the hook," growled Mrs. Delaney as she pulled Blake by her hair, "Though I've told the boys to back off, once we get back to base and the camera's rolling, we'll soon show the world just how useful you are. As a whore! Once the whole world sees that, I doubt your family or loved ones will even want to touch you!"

As she laughed, a mobile phone rang within the ship. A second later, another grunt showed up on the screen.

"Mi'lady," bowed the grunt, "We have managed to ambush a White Fang camp and captured one of their highest ranking officers!"

"Show me!" smiled Mrs. Delaney.

"It is believed this person is one of the leaders of the new White Fang," announced the grunt.

'Adam!?' thought Blake in worry and fury.

The person that showed up, however, was not Adam Taurus. Instead, it was someone who she could have considered as a friend long ago. It was Ilia Amitola, Adam's current lover.

"Good, good!" cackled , "Take her to the main base! She'll be an excellent addition to who we have here! This will crush the White Fang and all the Faunus. We'll force them to attempt to attack us! And we'll drive the media hammer on them, and humanity will soon drive these filthy animals to extinction!"

'Jaune, please hurry!' thought Blake as the stealth plane flew over the ocean.

* * *

 **Heads up, Mrs. Delaney is that trophy wife back in volume 4 that was dissing Vale during the after party of Weiss's opera performance. So surprise muhahah! Raise your hands if you expected me to bring her back!**

 **Might do a Discord chat to chat with people about the story, debating on that.**

 **Oh no, Blake gets kidnapped! What will happen next! Find out... next year! Anyways hope you all enjoy your Christmas!**


	62. Chapter 62 Invading the base

**Reminder, I have a pat reon** **, look up azndrgn** **making fanfic** **. Donators get perks!**

 **This story has been beta by TheMischieviousPuppyDog and UGX7.**

 **Also, a small A/N at the end of this chapter.**

 **Also, a huge heads up. Not all is what it seems to be! Read towards the end and you'll understand!**

* * *

The ship containing Ozpin and Headmistress Glynda, along with Oscar, landed in the camp, they disembarked and surveyed the damage.

"How could this happen?" sighed Glynda as they started walking towards the main camp.

"Clearly, information was leaked out," said Ozpin, slightly angry about what had happened. This was supposed to be a simple attempt to expand Vale's borders, though he had to admit, he was hesitant to do so. Even if the city of Vale had pretty much stabilized and its borders reinforced, he knew Salem wouldn't sit still for this. Still, Mt. Glenn had untapped resources that could be used to help improve the defenses of the kingdom. Not to mention the more greedy members of Vale's council had pushed strongly for this.

"Headmistress! Adviser Ozpin!"

They turned to see Loreen, Glynda's sister, quickly coming towards them.

"What happened?" snapped Glynda.

"Grimm attack by Grimm baiting," answered Loreen in a grim voice, "A Grimm Giagan. Luckily, with Mr. Ryu-Long and the other esteemed Huntsmen and Huntresses, it was quickly taken down before it could do any more damage. But it seems that our plans, blueprints, everything was leaked to a new radical group called the Children of the Brothers, given up by our very own Councilman Morado."

"Casualties?" asked Ozpin as he grimaced in disgust at the new terrorist group name.

"Thankfully, not too much," admitted Loreen, "Several Faunus workers dead, few human and Faunus injured as well as the Huntsmen and Huntresses. Unfortunately, one Huntress was kidnapped on a side mission prior to all this chaos, again leaked by Morado."

"Who?" asked Glynda, her eyes narrowing as she planned to have a personal meeting with Morado.

"Blake Belladonna, a second-year student of Team DRAGON."

Both of them froze at that name before frantically looking around for Jaune. They saw him sitting nearby with his friends, his sword and scabbard leaning on his shoulder as he waited. They could tell that anger was at the foremost of his emotions, as well as worry and anguish, just waiting to be unleashed. His Aura fluctuated as he waited, some people were too terrified to try and approach him.

"Where is the prisoner?" asked Ozpin as he glanced around him.

"Within that stone room with Professor Port," frowned Loreen, "Honestly, I don't know why that man teaches at Beacon. Much less get answers from the prisoner."

When she turned around, she saw Glynda and Ozpin stop in shock.

"Did you say Peter was doing the interview?" asked Ozpin cautiously, "Did he happen to bring a small blue bag with him?"

"Yes, why?" asked Loreen.

"...Loreen, Professor Port has seen quite a bit of action in his years. Do you know why he often regales his class of his storyies and that most of them are the more cheerful sort with a message at the end?" asked Glynda.

When Loreen shook her head, Ozpin took it up to answer, "It's because it happens to be one of his coping mechanisms. He once served in a few elite missions, even black ops. Some of the missions he took part in plague him, so he knows true horrors. But rather focusing on those, he tends to exacerbate on the heroics, not only to get the Huntsmen and Huntresses in training excited but to cling on those happy moments. But Port does know the importance of teaching, so he will insert messages within his stories. The only problem is that sometimes he forgets."

Loreen blinked as Ozpin walked past her, stopping to talk with Jaune for a second as well as waving his hand towards the stone room. Jaune nodded and allowed a door to form. Ozpin then told Oscar to stay with Jaune as he stood in front of the door. As soon as the door opened, everyone could hear someone wailing inside.

"WAAAAAA!" screamed the voice, causing those around to jump. They swore they could hear someone singing bass as the other voice continued to scream

"No, no, no not the du-!" screamed the voice once more before Ozpin shut the door behind him.

"Geez, what the hell's going on in there?" shivered Neptune.

"Whatever it is, he better be giving us all we need," growled Jaune, his foot tapping rapidly on the ground.

* * *

Minutes later, Port and Ozpin brought a shivering Morado out of the room.

"Hoho, you'll see he's much more cooperative now," announced Port, "Isn't that right?"

"Get him away from me!" screamed Morado, trying to crawl away from him, "I'll talk! I'll do anything and tell you anything you want, just get him away!"

"Your primary base location!" stated Jaune as he stood up and slammed his hands down on the table they had set up, "Talk! Where is Blake!?"

"Right over here!" said Morado, hastily pointing at the map on the wall, more specifically, to an island south of Saunus, south of Vale, "We set up base there!"

"What's your defense there, what do you have, how many people!?" growled Yang as she joined in the interrogation, "I want to know everything!"

Morado hesitated, but a quick reminder that they could send him back to Professor Port made him spill everything.

" _ **Should've left interrogation to me,"**_ growled Othim, " _ **I would've gotten the information faster."**_

" _ **Othim, the human would've fainted at the sight of you,"**_ sighed Andusk, " _ **Then it would've taken longer."**_

As soon as Morado was finished, Jaune spread his wings, ready to fly there.

"Mr. Ryu-Long, please wait," said Ozpin, quickly standing in front of him, "I know you want Miss Belladonna back. She is your mate, someone you dearly love, but going in head first into enemy territory is not the best idea."

"I won't wait for you guys to form a rescue group," growled Jaune, "Not to mention your precious Council might muck it up and delay it. Who knows what other spies are in there."

"I'm not convincing you to not leave," clarified Ozpin, "What I want for you to do is wait for us. Go first, but don't charge in alone until we are close by."

Jaune glared at Ozpin for ten seconds before nodding.

"Jaune!" Yang called, making him look back at his teammates and mates.

"Bring her back to us," Ruby added, concerned.

"And come back safely," Voiced Pyrrha

"You got this man, kick ass," Sun encouraged.

"And make them pay," Yang finished.

"I'll do all of that," Jaune nodded. Flapping his yellow scaled wings, he flew up into the air, and with a great flap, sped off into the distance.

* * *

 _At Kuo Kuana_

Ghira Belladonna was not a man who could be angered easily. Sure, he could be frustrated and annoyed, but never truly enraged. He had the patience of a saint, always pushing to look for peaceful ways for Faunus equality. Even Sienna, who had taken over leadership, had done so with his blessing though not agreeing to her tactics.

That patience was shot out of orbit when he received a text from Jaune that Blake had been kidnapped by a radical terrorist organization committed to wiping out the Faunus.

When the life of his daughter was endangered, all bets were off.

"What should we do?" asked Sienna, "We can't let those bastards harm Blake."

"I say we get there as soon as possible," suggested Bal, "Make them know what the cost of angering us is."

Kali looked in worry at the news, hoping her baby girl was safe.

"We ride for war," whispered Ghira, causing Sienna and Bal to whirl around to him in shock. For Ghira to suggest this meant he was truly angry. And none of them wanted to be in his path as he raged.

"Ready the airship that was recently given to us," snapped Ghira, "Sienna, Bal, I want you two ready. Bring whatever you need. I'll be in my office getting ready."

Sienna and Bal snapped to attention and quickly ran out to prepare. Ghira strode into his office, pulling several books out of his shelf before unlocking a hidden latch. Then he forcefully separated the bookshelf to reveal a hidden door. Opening it, he slowly took out something he never thought he'd wear again. His hands shook a bit as he stared at the mask.

"I know," whispered Kali as she hugged Ghira from behind, "That these clothes and mask are something you wanted to leave behind. But sometimes, in order to save the future, we must embrace the past."

Ghira let out a small sigh as he relaxed somewhat into the arms of the woman he loved. He looked at his old mask, and for a brief moment, he swore he could hear whispers emanating from it. "I'm afraid I'll relapse into my violent ways once more if I wear this," He said quietly.

"Even if you do, you have friends and family to pull you back," said Kali gently as she put her hands on the mask, "This doesn't define you. Not to mention we have a son-in-law that could easily drag you back from the depths of those memories."

Ghira looked at the mask once more before slowly donning the mask. It was a simple wooden mask, carved and shaped to cover his face, leaving holes for his eyes. But the mask was shaped like a panther, to signify Ghira's past.

Bal and Sienna were waiting at one of the only and fastest airships they had in Kuo Kuana. It was meant to be used for rescue missions or urgent care, but the people understood that this mission was too important for the mayor. They all respected the hard work he had done, and so did not complain. Some of the police force begged to help, but Bal and Sienna shook their heads.

"Ghira says he wants the three of us, he means it," said Sienna, tossing her rope dart in the air for a bit.

"Not to mention that Jaune fella will be coming with us," reminded Bal.

"Let's go," growled a low muffled voice.

Sienna and Bal froze when they saw Ghira coming out with his mask on. Not to mention, Ghira had abandoned his usual style of clothing for a dark long sleeved clothes, pants, and gloves with holes at the nails.

"Oh Oum the Black Panthers back," muttered Sienna, having heard legends about Ghira's past. A shiver of fear and interestingly enough, lust, went down her spine.

Without any hesitation, Ghira hopped onto the pilot seat, turning on the engine. Bal and Sienna quickly scrambled on the airship just as it took off into the air. Ghira glanced at his scroll to see coordinates from Jaune, and quickly input it into the navigation system of the ship before pushing the ship full throttle.

* * *

"Ilia's been what!?" shouted Adam at the main base of the newly reformed White Fang at Anima.

"Kidnapped by the newly formed group, the Children of the Brothers," reported one of the grunts, keeping his head low in fear of Adam deciding to shoot the messenger, "They came at us with the poison gas used back in the Great War. Half of our forces that were with Ilia are still in shock and in the medical room to recover from the attack."

"Faunus nerve gas," growled Adam, pacing back and forth, "These bastards will not live to see another day! Prepare for war! These humans want a fight, they'll have one!"

"Not so fast," said a voice from a Grimm Seer.

Adam snarled as he whirled around towards the floating Grimm orb to see Salem talking to them all.

"What is it, Mistress of Grimm?" asked Adam politely, careful not to offend her.

"If you expend all your resources on this fight, then you will not be able to invade Haven as planned," said Salem as she narrowed her eyes, "Do not miss the bigger picture."

"But this is an attack on us! On our pride! On our people!" Adam nearly shouted, "We can't take this lying down!"

Suddenly, the Grimm whipped its tentacles around Adam's throat, faster than he could react.

"Do you think I care about your pride ?" asked Salem almost tenderly as the sharp tentacles caressed his cheeks, "Did you forget who was it that broke you out of your prison? Do not forget, Adam Taurus, that while you are the leader of the White Fang, you ultimately serve me. And I do not have use for a mad dog that doesn't follow orders. Focus on building your forces to invade Haven. It is unfortunate, but your lover Ilia will just have to be another casualty of war."

As Salem was about to turn away, Adam went for a different plea, "Then what about a small strike force!? In attacking us, they attacked you! They spat on your pride!"

Salem stopped and pondered about this for bit.

"Mistress, if I may," asked Tyrian as he stepped up from the side.

Salem waved her hand to allow Tyrian to continue, "What Adam says is true. These people have had the gall to step on YOUR territory recently, raiding some of our force's resources. If it were up to me, I would have all those people hung by their entrails, offering them to you as their life faded away, making sure each drop of blood was collected! But at the same time, Adam's performance has been rather... lacking. So why not have him go save his lover alone? Let him prove himself of his worth, especially after the events at Akai Churripu."

Salem put her hands on her face to think about this while a Grimm Beowolf brought her something to drink.

"Tyrian... you've been a good boy," smiled Salem.

"I only serve to please you!" cackled Tyrian.

"Well then, I have decided," proclaimed Salem back towards Adam, "You have the permission to rescue Ilia and teach these upstarts a lesson. However, you will be granted only a single ship to travel, your current attire plus a few extra items you may take, and supplies for two people to last for three days. You will be the only one allowed to travel. This will also be a test to see if you can prove yourself and your organization worthy. I will have my people tell you where your precious Ilia is later."

With that, her image faded away from the Grimm Seer.

"Are you sure this is wise?" asked Ed, his right hand man with the chainsaw, "Going against that group alone will be troubling. They won't hesitate to use that gas on you."

"I'll be fine," grunted Adam as he headed towards the armory, "A gas mask will solve that problem. As for the rest, I'll just try to be stealthy. Done enough of those missions to know how to. Got any leads?"

"Our agents said they fled Southwest, but that's all we got," said Ed.

"That's all I need," growled Adam, "Having the Fennec brothers continue their negotiations with the new flying Faunus we found. Their alliance to aid our cause will aid greatly us."

* * *

Blake was being dragged by several members of the Children of the Brothers, being lead by a gloating Mrs. Delaney. She was bound, gagged, and blindfolded to prevent her from escaping, saying anything, or witnessessing anything. Still, she strained her other senses to get a sense of where she was. She could hear the wind when she was taken off the plane, meaning the landing pad had to be outside. She was dragged for a good twenty seconds on the concrete ground before the floor changed to what felt like was smooth tile. The air quality and temperature itself didn't change until the she felt the cold tiles, meaning that the chance of the base being located outside in plain sight was high, and not underground. The air itself felt thin, meaning they had to be high up in the mountains. She felt the ground slant down slightly as she was still being dragged, doing her best to memorize the turns.

Soon, she was tossed into a room before the chains on her hands were released. Blake quickly took off her blindfold and gag, quickly looking around to see herself in a sealed room with blue tiling on the floor, wall, and ceiling. They had taken her white cloak away from her.

"Enjoy your stay here!" shouted Mrs. Delaney from a speaker placed at the corner of a room, "Don't worry, you'll soon get what you filthy animals deserve and learn your place!"

Blake scowled, but calmed herself down and quietly meditated, hoping Jaune would arrive soon. Those men had taken her weapon and conducted a rough search of her body for any hidden weapon. They were none to gentle, and the damn perverts groped her breasts a few times, saying that they wanted to make sure she wasn't hiding bombs.

A few minutes later, she heard some noise before the door open and saw Ilia tossed into the same room as her.

"Ilia, are you alright?" asked Blake cautiously as she helped her up.

"What do you care about, traitor?" snarled Ilia, slapping Blake's hands away, "You abandoned us! Our cause and our people!"

"I abandoned the White Fang, because instead of fighting for equality for all Faunus, they're now just terrorists lusting for racial supremacy, Much like this group," said Blake lightly.

"We're different from this damn group," growled Ilia.

"Really? Tell me, just how different are you?" asked Blake, "Both groups have the same goal, superiority over the other race. Both are just different sides of the same coin called bigotry."

"Shut up!" shouted Ilia as she tried to tackle Blake, only for her to move out of the way.

"Let's not fight, Ilia," stated Blake as she glanced around the room once more, "For now, we should focus on escaping. I don't trust these scoundrels to leave us alone for long."

"You're telling me," scoffed Ilia in disgust at the mention of that, "One of those perverts groped my breasts and said there wasn't much there before slapping my ass. They took my weapons and everything except for my clothes."

"Same with me," said Blake before lightly touching her butt, "Except for here."

"You hid something in your ass?" asked Ilia with her eyebrow raised.

"I did it before back in the White Fang days," replied Blake, "Sometimes we had to bypass security and the easiest way was to just hide it in there. Security fails to check there for a lot of reasons."

'Not to mention I'm more used to it after Jaune buggered me there several times,' thought Blake mentally. She removed the object from her rear, broke open the capsule, and hid the item in her cat ears.

Minutes turned to hours as the two waited in the room. Every now and then, food would come, but the two knew better than to eat it, knowing it was likely drugged. Men would come in and leer at them, spraying them with water from a hose before leaving, leaving them soaking wet and shivering, laughing cruelly as they did so.

"We need to get rid of these clothes," shivered Blake as her black top stuck on her chest uncomfortably, "Otherwise we'll develop hypothermia."

"That's what these perverts want, isn't it?" said Ilia while gritting her teeth while curling up into a ball to keep warm.

"I know, but we don't have much of a choice," grumbled Blake as she started to strip. "It's either give them a show or get sick, which we can't afford right now."

Seeing no choice, Ilia did the same. Both used their clothes to dry out themselves as much as possible before draining their clothes and underwear of water as much as possible at a corner. They then laid their clothes at the hottest spot they could find, which was under the light before huddling together to share warmth.

Blake's pale skin touched Ilia's tanned skin, with the Chameleon Faunus glancing away and turning beat red at the close contact.

"Ilia, I didn't meant to leave everyone behind. To abandon friends… I… I just couldn't live with Adam anymore. I couldn't be a part of what the Fang was turning into." Blake said to her.

Ilia glanced at her, shivering a bit. "Blake, do you honestly think humans and Faunus can live together?"

"I do." The Cat Faunus answered truthfully. "It's not going to be easy, and there will always be bigots like this group. But the day will come when humans and Faunus will live side by side, in harmony, in peace, just as it should have always been."

Ilia looked away, thinking about what Blake had said.

* * *

 _Hours later_

Jaune had arrived at the said location, scouting the island while the shattered moon of Remnant was up. He was using Othim's power to cloak himself in darkness while locating the said base of the Children of the Brothers.

" _ **Those two have a lot to answer for,"**_ scoffed Lung Wang, " _ **Seems like every single trouble comes from those two."**_

" _ **From the Grimm to the relics and now to their own little group,"**_ agreed Ryo-Wo.

" _ **Over there,"**_ noted Fafnir, " _ **The mountain seems suspicious."**_

Jaune flew over the mountain and noted a base in plain sight.

" _ **What arrogance,"**_ sneered Alaerth, " _ **Not even attempting to hide their base. They're even waving their flag high above their base."**_

Indeed, their flag was waving on top of most of their buildings.

" _ **Forget about them, let us find a good spot for the others to come,"**_ reminded Aryz.

" _ **The sooner they get here, the faster we strike,"**_ nodded Andusk before noticing Othim seemed silent.

" _ **Othim, are you alright? You've been unusually quiet."**_

" _ **...Kill them all,"**_ growled Othim in anger, his joking tone completely gone, " _ **Make them suffer for kidnapping your mate! Make them pay!"**_

"Will do," replied Jaune before sensing someone behind him.

Jaune quickly drew out his sword and turned towards whoever was coming near him. Moments later, he got his answer as Adam Taurus stepped out of the bushes, looking disgruntled.

"You!?" hissed both Jaune and Adam in anger, both swords drawn, "What are you doing here!? Me!? I'm here to save my mate/girlfriend!"

"Hold on, let's get this straight," waved Jaune, putting his left hand up to halt Adam from talking, "I'm here because those assholes kidnapped Blake."

"They kidnapped Ilia, my lieutenant and girlfriend," replied Adam, "What's wrong, the mighty hero of Vale couldn't protect his slut?"

Jaune growled, furious at the insult used for Blake and what Adam was implying, but did his best to keep cool, "You're in the same situation as I am…"

"Enough," said a muffled voice, causing them both to turn towards the source, though never leaving their back towards each other.

"Well isn't this a surprise," growled Sienna as she appeared into view, "What do you want, traitor?"

"I'm not the traitor," growled Adam.

"I dunno, killing a leader and trying to shift the blame sounds pretty damn traitorous to me," piped Bal as he also appeared.

Adam growled and was ready to attack when a hand gripped his shoulders. He almost jumped in fright at the sudden touch, and slowly turned to see Ghira with his mask on.

"Enough," stated Ghira in a muffled tone that chilled both Adam and Jaune for a second, "In short, we have two Faunus girls being held captive in there. Our objective right now should be to free them. I'll take lead on this, and I expect you all to follow my orders. Once we have them safe... you all have my permission to go wild and after this group has been dealt with, we can settle things between us, Taurus."

Adam stared at Ghira as if he had grown five heads at once. Where was the naive fool that once stood before him, not this towering threat?

"Ghira's always been scary," whispered Bal to Jaune, with Adam eavesdropping in, "He was once an assassin before he gave that up for us and his family."

While Ghira and Sienna were carefully studying the patrols, Adam decided to get the nagging thought off his chest.

"Who was that old man that was with you back at Akai Churripu?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Fired back Jaune with an icy tone.

"Just... he seemed familiar," admitted Adam, "I don't know why. Some reason, before he died, his last word directed to me wasn't of hate or anger... but of familiarity and softness. To add to the strangeness, his face keeps appearing in my dreams."

Jaune gave him a measured look before turning away to stare at the base. As Adam was about to walk away, he heard an answer.

"Hong Wong. His name was Hong Wong."

Adam slightly shook at that last name. Wong was the same last name the dog eared faunus that took care of him, but it was a rather common name...

"Just a coincidence," Adam muttered to himself before walking away from the group to rest under a tree.

* * *

"We strike now," stated Ghira as soon as he finished observing the base, "I've got a good lock on their timing and schedule."

The other four nodded and followed Ghira's lead. They soon found themselves at the backdoor, where Adam was ready to kick it in when Ghira stopped him.

"Too obvious to go through like that," gestured Ghira before pointing to a vent, "I'm going in there first."

"Isn't that a bit small for you?" asked Adam.

Ghira merely slid into the shadows before suddenly disappearing. A shadow slid right into the ventilation shaft in front of them all.

"The hell!?" whispered Adam loudly.

"That'll be his Semblance," explained Sienna, "He can meld into the shadows. It isn't so far-fetched to say Blake was born from shadows."

" _ **Damn, I like this guy,"**_ grinned Othim.

A few seconds later, the back door was opened by Ghira.

"There were alarms on this door set to detonate if opened from the outside," said Ghira, "Let's go."

As the rest entered, they noticed two guards with their neck broken via head twist. Sienna and Bal shuddered before continuing on.

"Any idea where they're being held?" asked Adam.

"No, but if we head to the security center, then we'll be able to find them," explained Ghira.

Jaune placed his hands on the wall, already having fully linked up with Fafnir and Othim for this. He closed his eyes as he tapped the wall, letting his senses spread out. After a few seconds, he could feel Blake and another person whom he assumed was who Adam was after. He frowned when he noticed a rather large crowd was heading to their location.

"I have their general location," stated Jaune, "But we have to move now. A large crowd of people are heading into their room and I don't like it."

"Move," stated Ghira, and the five of them began rushing off.

* * *

Blake and Ilia could also hear a murmuring crowd coming towards them. About 30 seconds later, the door opened to reveal Mrs. Delaney with a wide smile, followed by a group of men with leering smiles.

"Well, I've decided to make you two useful as well as show you your proper place in this world," declared Mrs. Delaney as walked forward and grabbed Blake's chin, lifting her head up to look at her face, "As whores for my people, to show you and every Faunus where you belong. Slaves. Below our feet, groveling like the animals you are. You're even naked to play the part already! You must have been waiting for this, haven't you? And to make this memorable, I'll be recording and streaming this for our absent allies to see. Have fun boys!"

At that, the men began to give even bigger smiles as they stripped their clothes off and grabbed the girls.

* * *

"Geez this place is a freaking maze," grumbled Sienna as they rushed through another hall.

"My question is where the all guards are?" noted Bal.

Soon enough, two guards happened to be walking by, talking quite enthusiastically while staring at their Scrolls.

"Dude, that's hot," commented one of them.

"Damn, look at the ass on that cat bitch! I wanna be there so bad!" groaned another, "Why the hell did we get patrol duty on this shift? I'm getting horny as well right now!"

"Hey, let's just ditch patrol and head over there now," suggested the first guard, "I wanna bust a nut on that Belladonna girl a few times. Not like anybody else is gonna come rescue them."

"Ha, only we're going to 'cum'!" cackled the second one, "Get it? Hey, how come you're not-?"

The second guard turned around just to see his partner's neck broken by a metal chain, wrapped around his neck before being twisted backwards. The dead man's scroll dropped into Sienna's hand, where she took a glance at it before anger began more apparent on her face. The other guard tried to run away, only to turn right into Ghira's chest. Before he could say anything, Ghira's hand grabbed the man by his throat.

"Tell me where you're holding them, and you'll get to live a little longer without suffering," growled Ghira. As if to make the point clearer, both Adam and Jaune had drawn out their swords and had them hovering right next to his wilted manhood.

The man blabbed out everything, from the location to his own code through the door.

"You'll let me go now, right?" sobbed the guard.

"Yes, you'll go without much suffering," replied Ghira.

Before the guard to say anything else, Ghira snapped the man's neck.

"Let's move, the faster we get there, the better," snapped Ghira, the others nodding, "Anyone you see, you kill."

Adam had to blink a few times, not used to Ghira taking command and giving such violent orders. He remembered in the past how Ghira always tried so desperately for peaceful solutions. Shelving that for later, he turned his attention towards the scroll. It was playing a streaming video of Blake and Ilia being raped by multiple men, all going at it without mercy. With a growl, he stomped the Scroll and dashed along with the others.

* * *

Back at the room, Mrs. Delaney revelled in what she was recording. Filthy Faunus being put in their place below humans, as it should be!

She felt her underwear getting wet as she continued recording the scene before her. Blake was being forced to ride on someone while all her holes filled while her breasts and butt were roughly groped, moaning and crying while Ilia was suffering the same thing on her back. Any time someone finished, another would take his place and continue. The girls struggled, and were still doing so, but she imagined by the time this was finished, they would be nothing be whores, always begging to be filled.

A few minutes later while the men forcefully changed positions, the door was flung open. It didn't swing and hit the wall with its hinge on, but instead was kicked out of the hinge and sent flying into a few men, doing extra damage since they were naked.

"Who's there!?" screeched Mrs. Delaney.

Three people rushed into the room, and started slaughtering the naked men without mercy. Jaune furiously cut off three heads in one stroke, and then raised his shield up, the port opening to reveal shotgun muzzles, and fired. Adam bisected another in half, kicked another in the balls before shooting said balls with his spike gun in his fake arm. Certain men ran towards the exits, but seemingly tripped on nothing only to be killed by one of the attackers. Sienna was whirling her rope dart, slashing throats with unerring accuracy before having the dart detach from her chain, and sent it flying into Mrs. Delaney's Scroll, freezing it and her hands.

In mere seconds, the whole room was a bloodbath. The only survivor of the Children of the Brothers inside the room was Mrs. Delaney herself, who found herself bound in chains by Sienna.

"You're too late!" spat out Mrs. Delaney as she maliciously grinned towards the girls covered in semen, "They're ruined! They'll never be able to feel normal again, not after this!"

Adam growled as he drew his sword, ready to slit her neck. Jaune, however, glanced around before locking his eyes at the corner of a room where one of the rapists had tripped. His eyes narrowed for a bit before smiling, which surprised them all.

"It's safe now, you can drop it," said Jaune.

Before anyone could even comprehend the statement, the viciously raped and unresponsive bodies of Blake and Ilia in the middle of the room suddenly disappeared. A second later, three copies of Ilia slowly appeared in the corner, her skin color changing from matching the blue wall back to her usual tan skin. The two others disappeared to reveal a naked Blake in the corner.

* * *

 _Moments earlier_

"Shit, that doesn't sound good," noted Ilia as she heard the clattering of feet coming in as well as chattering.

"We need to hide," stated Blake, "This many people coming in, Mrs. Delaney will probably have them rape us. She's been itching to send me into the whorehouse ever since the event back at the ball at Atlas."

"How?" questioned Ilia, "I can probably disguise myself to match the wall's pattern, but they'll notice me missing. Won't take long before they find me again."

"I have a plan," said Blake, taking out the item from her ear, "But I'll need your help. If I put enough aura into it, I can use my Semblance to make a clone for both of us to fool them for as long as possible."

"Ok, disregarding the fact that that sounds impossible, how long could you hold it?" asked Ilia.

"As long as it takes," breathed Blake, "I know help will be here soon."

Seeing no choice, Ilia waited for Blake to do whatever she claimed she could do.

Blake took a look at the item she had kept hidden. It was a dragon seed that she begged Jaune to give her one in case of emergencies. Taking a deep breath, she threw it into her mouth and ate it.

Ilia could instantly see Blake's nipples suddenly harden as well as liquid beginning to trickle down from her womanhood. Before she could ask, Blake grabbed her hand and focused. Suddenly, there were four of Ilia and two of Blake. Blake had been talking with Sun and comparing notes with him about their Semblances before coming to this breakthrough. As long as she touched a person, she could make a copy of them with her Semblance. This, however, took a lot of her Aura to do so, and to maintain it to take more hits, it would continue to drain it. This was why she kept a Dragon Seed with her now.

"Come on, to the corner," hissed Blake, her face turning red while almost panting, "Blend in with the wall. I need your clones to also cover me as much as possible.

Quickly doing so, all three Ilia began to change their skin color to match the room while covering Blake as much as possible, who had made herself as small as possible. If one was to look around the room carefully, one could tell that the corner wall looked off. But everyone's attention was on the naked ladies in the middle of the room, so they all missed it. Blake continued to focus all her will and Aura on making those constructs solid, even as one of the brutes started piledriving her clone.

* * *

"Thank Oum you're alright," said Jaune as he quickly hugged Blake. Quickly noticing she and Ilia lacked clothes, he quickly grabbed two blankets from his bag. He tossed one to Adam to let him wrap it around Ilia while he took care of Blake.

"Please...I need...your," breathed Blake heavily, slowly being unable to even make coherent sentences.

"Shh, I have you," said Jaune softly, trying to calm her, "I guess you took the seed?"

She nodded and Jaune sighed, "We can do it after we get out of here."

"Ha, you'll never get out of here alive!" spat Mrs. Delaney, "Pull the trigger!"

Suddenly, the vents began releasing the Faunus nerve gas.

"Don't breathe it in!" warned Ilia as she tried to cover her face. The others were quick to do the same, but Jaune was prepared. Having already fully linked with Aryz as well as Fafnir and Othim, he raised both his hands in the air. A ball of wind quickly started sucking all the gas towards the sphere he was making.

"Let's get out of here," snapped Jaune.

The others nodded and began leaving. Ghira picked up Blake and held her gently in his arms.

"You'll be alright, my baby girl," whispered Ghira.

"Dad?" whispered Blake.

"That's Ghira?" hissed Ilia, "He looks so... different."

"And he's bloody violent," answered Adam, "He snapped necks in half as if they were made of sticks."

"C'mon, no time for chatting," said Bal as he scooped Ilia up, much to her annoyance, "Adam, you'll need to be the front line. Be careful."

"Let's go bitch," snarled Sienna as she dragged Mrs. Delaney out with her in chains.

When they all left, Jaune was the last one to leave before banishing the gas back into the room. Quickly, he slammed door shut, drawing out some fire Dust and used it to melt the edges to seal the gas inside. After he was sure it was safe, Jaune quickly caught up with the group, taking the front line along with Adam.

* * *

 **Whew. I admit, it's getting a little harder to write this story now. I might consider doing a small time skip to speed the story up to the ending.**

 **And now for the bad news... kinda. Next month, I will NOT be updating ANY of my stories. The reason for this... is basically because I'm going to be spending pretty much all my free time playing KH3. No life threatening crisis or anything, but let's face it, I'm not going to have time to write, nor will I want to, when I got KH3, which I have been waiting for ages.**


	63. Chapter 63 Destruction of Base

**Hello Everyone! I'm still alive, thank you very much! Hope you enjoy this new chapter.**

 **Reminder, I have a pat reon, look up azndrgn making fanfic. Donators get perks!**

 **This story has been beta by TheMischieviousPuppyDog and UGX7.**

* * *

"Shoot them! Shoot them all!" shouted one member of the Children of the Brothers.

"Open fire!" shouted another.

Dozens of men and women were using guns to fire at Jaune and Adam, who were the vanguard of the group. Yet in face of such overwhelming amount of firepower, Jaune and Adam still managed to cut them down to size. Despite the fact Jaune and Adam hated each other, they worked together in sync, barely needing a glance to know what the other wanted. They both knew that it was better to work together than to let these hate mongers win.

Jaune raised his shield to block the bullets while running forward, with Adam right behind him. As soon as they neared someone, Jaune shield bashed them while Adam swerved left and immediately unsheathed his sword, slicing the nearest enemy in half. While Adam cut one down, Jaune immediately slashed at another trying to take advantage of Adam's blind spot.

Adam then leaped forward, using Jaune's back to spring off and cut down three more. He then tossed his sword up just for Jaune to kick the hilt of his sword, driving it into several other grunts.

The two became a bloody tornado, crashing through the enemies with no mercy. One enemy, who seemed to be higher in the chain of command, tried to challenge them hand to hand combat. Jaune and Adam merely glanced at each other, sheathing their weapons before calmly walking side by side towards the man who was taller and bulkier. The man grinned as he tried to kick with his right leg, only for Jaune to suddenly kick said leg down. He tried a left hook, only for Adam to block it and force it back down, allowing Jaune to punch him in the face. The man winced in pain as he tried to grab Adam, only for him to jab him in the throat. Now stumbling backward while Jaune and Adam never broke a stride, he desperately tried to kick one of them while clutching his throat, only for Jaune to catch the offending leg, allowing Adam to punch him in the face. Suddenly, Adam grabbed the man by his arm and twisted it, while holding the man's throat with his other hand. At the same time, Jaune kicked at the back of the man's knee, forcing him down. The man was now kneeling while slowly being choked, but that wasn't what the two was aiming for. In the same breath, Jaune lifted his leg and ax kicked the man right on his forehead, snapping the man's neck with an audible crack.

Adam allowed the man to collapse on the floor lifelessly as he drew his sword up to block some bullets aimed at him. Jaune immediately created and sent several wind bullets towards them, knocking them all down. In a flash, the two were on them, instantly killing them all.

"Geez, those two are on a killing spree," commented Bal as he, Ghira, and Sienna walked through the bloody halls.

"They have a lot of anger, and these idiots are the outlet for that," shrugged Sienna as she dragged Mrs. Dewlaney on the floor with her chains still wrapped around her and her mouth gagged.

Ghira didn't comment as he wanted to join the boy/s in the slaughter spree, but his daughter was the highest priority. She was breathing rather heavily with her eyes closed as if trying to keep herself calm. To be honest, it was because he could trust his future son-in-law to protect them and his constant worry for Blake that prevented him from slaughtering the CoB members. He could feel their warm blood on his hands as their body turned cold, his claws ripping them apart, limb by limb... Ghira shook his head to shake these thoughts out of his head. He was no longer the Black Panther, but Ghira Belladonna, mayor of Kuou Kuana and a father and husband.

Jaune sliced a stolen Atlesian Knight in half, most likely stolen from Atlas itself. The CoB decided to send in these robots in hope to delay them further, though it made little difference. These knights, which were originally pure white, had half of their body spray painted in black, similar to their uniforms.

" _ **Disgusting,"**_ breathed out Othim.

" _ **Indeed, using our colors for their own perversions,"**_ agreed Andusk.

Suddenly, another heavily modified Atlesian Knight appeared behind Adam, wielding a high powered chainsaw as it attempted to cut Adam down. Adam's eyes widened as he whirled around and tried to get his sword up. He could tell the chainsaw blades had been specially crafted to cut through Aura and steel. However, before the android could land the hit, Jaune threw his sword right into its head, instantly destroying it. Unfortunately, this left Jaune without a sword, to which the androids started to converge on him. As Jaune blocked the attacks with his shield and sent elemental attacks back, one android was about to stab him from behind when a loud bang could be heard, followed by Adam's sword flying into the android. Adam grabbed Jaune's sword and parried an attack, flipping his hilt to blast his enemy's torso into pieces. Jaune grabbed Adam's sword and began wielding it the same way. The two glanced at each other, and before anyone could react, Jaune sent the sheath of his sword to Adam while Adam did the same. After quickly placing his shield on his back, Jaune began to slice his enemy with the red sword.

* * *

Then, a very familiar looking spider droid came crashing through the walls.

"Eliminate!"

"Take this! Our strongest unit!" shouted a male's voice from the intercom, "Atlas discontinued this model, but we took it and made it stronger. Though we have yet to mass produce these, once we do, the Faunus will finally be exterminated! And give me back my wife!"

"Well we know how that is now," chuckled Bal, "Need any help?"

"We got this," replied both young men.

The spider droid's leg armor suddenly slid open to reveal hidden missile ports and opened fire. On the underside of the spider droid was a mounted turret that began firing heavy caliber bullets at them. Jaune and Adam dashed forward, deflecting/dodging bullets and missile barrage. Using Adam's blade, Jaune launched 9 simultaneous slashes, cutting off spider's limbs.

Using its emergency pack, the spider droid suddenly sprouted engines beneath its body to stabilize itself in the air before transforming its body to a laser cannon and fired at Adam. When compared to the firepower of the older model, this one was was much more powerful. Its laser was twice as big and five times more concentrated. Even Adam would've have not attempted to block this with his own blade, fearing that the excess energy would break his blade, allowing the backlash to kill himself. However, Jaune's sword felt stronger than his. Betting his life on it, Adam blocked it with _Crocea Mors_ , using the energy to fuel his semblance.

To his amazement, the blade managed to contain all that power before Adam finally sheathed the blade after the energy beam tapped off. His whole body was filled with even more power than he thought possible, his robotic arm bathed in red light.

Jaune finished off the robot with a spinning slash to its body and turned around just to have three more spider droids scuttling towards them.

"Oh c'mon!" groaned Jaune.

"Move!" shouted Adam, not knowing why he did so. If anything, he could've attacked Jaune along with the spider droids. The thought passed through his head, but he pushed it away. They were temporarily allies in this endeavor, and Jaune was the only one that could fight in case they were hit with the Faunus nerve gas.

Jaune quickly leaped up into the air as Adam ran towards the three spider droids. With his last step, he activated his Semblance, Moonslice, and drew his blade out. The results were even more devastating than Adam imagined. The spider droids had tried to put up some defensive looking barrier made of light and metal, only for his attack to cut right through all three droids. Not only that, but the attack continued to fly through the walls, wilting everything in its path.

"That's one way to clean up," commented Jaune as he landed next to Adam, holding out Adam's sword, sheathed into the shotgun sheath.

Adam hesitated for a moment. He knew _Crocea Mors_ was a powerful weapon now that he tested it out, and wanted to keep it for himself. With it, he could easily bring the White Fang to new heights. However, despite all that power... it didn't suit him. It wasn't his weapon. It wasn't the weapon that he meticulously crafted, along with the man who saved him and taught him how to fight. Making his decision, he sheathed _Crocea Mors_ and handed Jaune back his weapon, grabbing his own. He felt the familiar weight and warmth back in his hands, knowing he made the right choice as he tucked it back to his waist.

"Let's go," grumbled Adam as he quickly strode away.

They finally found an exit and kicked the door down, walking a few steps forwards when seven searchlights beamed down on their location. Jaune and the others blinked as they found themselves surrounded by mounted turrets, stolen Atlesian spider droids, paladins, and knights, and more CoB members.

"Surrender, and you may live to be our slaves!" shouted a commander from a distance with a loudspeaker, "Though no promises! We have no need to honor our words to filthy Faunus like you!"

Each one of them growled in anger until Jaune heard Othim speaking to him. A few seconds later, Jaune strode over to Blake, who's struggling was getting more prominent. Her pupils were now narrowed like a cat, her gaze looking predatory as she looked everywhere. When Jaune approached her, Blake's gaze snapped to his face, her face forming a predatory grin.

"Let her go," said Jaune softly to Ghira.

Ghira was a bit reluctant to do so but trusted Jaune, and whatever he was thinking would work. As soon as Blake was allowed on her feet, she pounced onto Jaune's arm, rubbing her face on the arm. Jaune ignored the soft sensations as he held his hand up and make a cut on it with his sword. With the preparations done, he gently placed the bleeding hand on her left chest, or rather more specifically, on her mate mark. Blake shivered as felt his hand on her chest, though it was not something she wasn't used to. The blood, though, was something new. The Mate Mark began to glow as Jaune pulled back, putting blood on his blade as he spun the blade once more, opting to use the summoning ritual. The enemies did nothing as they weren't sure why Jaune was spinning his blade around. It wasn't until when Jaune stabbed the blade into the floor did commander react.

"Fire at will!" commanded the commander, prompting everyone to fire at Jaune.

The four summoning lights came out momentarily before suddenly sinking into the ground. Darkness suddenly sprouted forth from the ground, black walls erected in front of Jaune and the others, protecting them. The shadows slowly grew larger and larger, blocking all the bullets and explosion until it finally took form. A long serpentine body with black scales coiled around Jaune and the others, while wings spread out as if to stretch.

" _ **Guess who's here!?"**_ growled Othim before roaring to the heavens.

* * *

"I hope we're not too late," whispered Ruby as she and the rest of Team Dragon were on their way in a Bullhead.

"We could've gotten there faster if it wasn't for those annoying assholes!" growled Yang.

They had been held up when they had to report the Council of Vale about the councilman Morado's betrayal and the current status of the expansion project. The council, in their 'infinite wisdom', demanded that Jaune abandon his rescue mission and reinforce the expansion. They wrote Blake off an unfortunate loss, and even said that she knew the risks when she became a Huntress. They were stubborn to not allow Team Dragon to leave Mt. Glenn in the hopes of expanding Vale, and privately, their own riches. It was only when Ozpin subtly suggested that Jaune would abandon Vale if they continued their current path, along with Glynda glaring and forcefully telling them they would be going as Blake was still a student and not a full-fledged Huntress, and she had a duty as the Headmistress to ensure the safety of all her students.

"Have hope, children," placated Glynda, "I'm sure Mr. Ryu-Long has managed to find a secure route to rescue Miss Belladonna... or is it Mrs. Ryu-Long-Belladonna now?"

"Haven't had the official wedding, so I'm going to say the former," suggested Neptune, only to be slapped in the back of the head by Nebula, "Ow, what was that for?"

"Just because," shrugged Neptune.

Along with Team Dragon were Ozpin, Glynda, Oscar, and an ace pilot.

"Hey, I'm getting some weird readings up ahead," notified the pilot, "Should we just dive right in?"

"Find an area so we can land on, as close to the base as you can get," said Ozpin, "We'll investigate these readings."

Suddenly, the skies clouded over, and a roar that shook the Bullhead could be heard.

"What was that?!" gulped Scarlet.

A second later, they all saw Othim rising from the base, his black scales gleaming as searchlights lit the area. Glynda and the others gasped at the creature that had somehow appeared in the middle of the base. They thought the worst of it, thinking it was another Grimm variant when...

"Hey, isn't that Othim?" asked Ruby, "Did Jaune summon him?"

"He must be really displeased," blinked Weiss.

While the rest just gaped, somewhere in Ozpin's heart, hope rose in him. Perhaps with Jaune and his dragons, he would be finally be rid of this curse. That he would no longer suffer the cycles of reincarnation, to have to form bonds just to break them throughout the ages. He had no doubt that all the troubles he went through would end soon.

* * *

" _ **So, you wanted to rape my contractor's mate?"**_ growled Othim, " _ **Well too bad! Only person who's wrecking that piece of ass is Jaune Ryu-Long!"**_

"Not sure I'm wanted to know that," groaned Ghira, "Though it's good to see that he's here."

"What the hell is that!?" gaped Sienna, "And you know that... monster!?"

"And are we sure that... creature is with us?" added Bal.

"Ah, that's right, you two don't know the full story," said Ghira as he bopped one hand on the other, "I'll give you the details later. In short, just know he's a dragon and that's he's with us... even you Adam, though that won't be for long."

Ilia shivered at the thought of fighting such a being. She had heard rumors of a huge creature that completely destroyed an Ancient Grimm, but until now she had written it off as an exaggeration.

Sienna's nose suddenly perked up before looking back at her prisoner, the chained up Mrs. Dewlaney, with her eyes widened with fear. Then the prominent stain at her crotch began to grow.

"Oh dammit, she just pissed herself," groaned Sienna, "That better not stain my chains!"

Othim took a deep breath and fired streams of darkness from his mouth. The darkness slammed into tanks and completely destroyed them. Othim turned his head while still firing out streams of darkness from his mouth. Anything in its path was instantly annihilated. Othim raised his tail and lashed it out against a building, crushing the foundations and watched it crumble. The CoB members screamed in fear and horror and anger, but none mattered to the angry dragon. Several tried to escape, only for Othim to tap his claw into the ground. Seconds later, shadowy tendrils caught them and painfully ripped them apart. In minutes, the base was completely destroyed.

" _ **Hmph, wasn't a challenge,"**_ huffed Othim before noticing a male trying to crawl away. He was dressed in a suit that would have been quite nice if it wasn't covered in dirt and blood.

" _ **Ooh, who are you?"**_ grinned Othim as he picked up the man with his teeth.

"Honey!" screamed Mrs. Delawney, who finally managed to spit out her gag.

" _ **Ahh, the husband,"**_ nodded Othim, " _ **You. I want that girl."**_

Sienna didn't dare to disobey and quickly pushed the woman towards Othim.

" _ **So... you two thought it would be funny to rape my contractor's mate did you!?"**_ roared Othim as the two hugged each other in fear, " _ **Especially one with MY MARK! What gave you the right to decide such a decision! Don't answer that, I already know your answer. Now what to do with you?"**_

Othim closed his eyes, as if pondering something deep. Thinking he was distracted, the couple tried to run away once more.

" _ **Now, that won't do,"**_ huffed Othim before smacking his tail on the ground. Instantly, black whips rose from the couple's shadows and chained them to the ground.

As they whimpered in fear, Othim leaned forward, bearing his teeth towards them, " _ **Should I just eat you? You might make a good snack!"**_

Othim clacked his teeth a few times, causing them to scream until...

"Othim!"

Othim turned around to see Jaune waving at him and pointing at Blake.

" _ **Ah, yes there are more pressing matters,"**_ nodded Othim, " _ **In that case... die."**_

Othim whipped his tail up and slammed it down on the Delawaney couple. The others had to look away as the couple now looked like the result of an egg being smashed into a sidewalk. As soon as that was finished, Othim allowed Jaune and Blake to climb on before flying away to a private spot for the two. Though the others did not see it, Jaune and Blake were both perspiring heavily, both almost out of Aura. However, that did not change Blake's current state of mind. The faster they had their privacy, the better.

It was time to mate.

* * *

As the dragon flew away, Ghira could only sigh as he knew what was going to happen. His only hope was that they weren't going for children anytime soon. He was too young to be a grandfather.

"Well, I guess that's a wrap," shrugged Sienna as she contemplated about washing the stained chains.

"We'll wrap things up here," nodded Ghira before glaring at Adam, "You two should go. I'm sure Blake's other friends aren't far behind, and I doubt any of them will be willing to look the away."

Adam scoffed but nodded, getting ready to take Ilia to his ship he had used to drive here.

"Wait," said Ghira, suddenly, stopping Adam, "You wanted to know more about Wong, didn't you?"

"Which one?" replied Adam, "The one who taught me and cared for me, or the old one I killed?"

Bal bristled and was about to retort when Ghira stopped him. His next words chilled Adam to the core.

"Would it matter? They are the same person."

"No..." stammered Adam, almost dropping to the floor, "Y-You, you lie! The one who taught me was a Faunus with dog ears! He rescued me from those assholes, and taught me all I know!"

Adam then ripped off the mask he always kept on his face to reveal his right teal eye... and a scar on the left side. With a faded SDC brand covering the more than half of his other eye, up to his nose. It was one of the main reasons why he wore a Grimm mask. Not only to intimidate others, but to hide his scar. His shame.

Adam had gotten this brand due to a bastard of a master he had been forced to serve when he was a child. He had been trying to lift up some bags he had been forced to carry when someone from the SDC bumped into him, forcing him to lose all his items. And yet, the man had the audacity to accuse him of attempting to mug him and smearing his coat.

"I'm going to make sure you never forget about this!" sneered the man before telling his men to hold Adam hostage. The man whipped out the SDC brand, heated it up, and stamped it right on Adam's face.

Due to some miracle, Adam didn't go blind after the incident. Though afterward, he had been severely punished by his master for being late.

Adam had wanted to die and contemplated ending his life when he had been saved. When he woke up, he found himself at Kuo Kuana, with Wong nursing him back to health. He refused to believe that a human, who had been the one to cause him so much pain and agony, was also one who nursed him back to health and taught him all he knew.

"You know it's true," glared Ghira, "Look inside yourself. Does his face keep haunting you?"

"Wait, Wong, the one who was killed by Adam and his gang, is the same one who stayed in Kuo Kuana with the dog ears?" asked Bal in surprise, "The one who volunteered to take care of all those kids when someone raided half of Mistral's rich district?"

"Which was him and a few others," pointed out Ghira, "He knew that some of the freed Faunus had been abused by humans, and wouldn't trust a human caretaker. So he put on some dog ears and wore clothes that had been worn by a dog Faunus. The children couldn't tell the difference, and most of the adults were grateful for someone to help out."

Adam's face was in shock at this revelation and almost threw up. Luckily, Ilia managed to snap Adam back to reality, reminding him that they needed to leave. Giving one last look at Ghira and the others, Adam took Ilia and ran off into the woods.

"Well, that's that," commented Bal.

Sienna nodded and was ready to leave when she noticed one soldier that had somehow managed to survive pointing a gun at Bal.

"Get down!" shouted Sienna as she shoved Bal away. However, such action wasn't needed as Ghira somehow managed to get behind the grunt and snapped his neck in half. Clearly, there was a lot of pent up frustration within him.

"I'm going to find survivors and make sure they don't group up again," grunted Ghira as he marched away, "Sienna, Bal, you two stay here in case Blake's other friends arrive."

Both Bal and Sienna shivered at his tone of voice and saluted in fear. Minutes later, a Bullhead arrived, carrying Team Dragon, who quickly jumped out of the ship.

"What happened?" asked Ruby quickly.

"Quite a bit," explained Sienna, "Where to even start? Though watching that huge dragon annihilate almost everyone was impressive. Cathartic, even. Especially after that damn scene."

"What scene?" demanded Yang, her eyes narrowed.

"Err...," hesitated both Sienna and Bal. None of them wanted to tell them they had seen a brief video of Blake and Ilia getting raped, even if it had been clones of themselves.

"OH GODS NO-!" **Crack**

A voice shrieked out, only to be suddenly silenced suddenly.

"That'll be Ghira," shivered Sienna, "He's making sure nobody comes back for revenge. If you're looking for Jaune and Blake, they left with the huge dragon to who knows where. They'll probably be back... after Jaune takes care of Blake. She looked rather... thirsty if you know what I mean."

Everyone understood what Sienna had said... except for Ruby, who asked, "Thirsty? If she waited then we could've given her some water."

It was roughly two seconds she said that did she realize what Sienna had truly meant and blushed.

"Gee, she couldn't wait to scratch the itch," murmured Yang to her sister mates, who nodded in reply.

"Trust me, you can't," Pyrrha confirmed, remembering her own first, frenzied love session with Jaune.

"Regardless, we should search the area," suggested Ozpin, "There may still be others who are in need of our help, or enemies waiting to strike."

They heard another crack and decided to quickly avoid that source of noise.

* * *

A group of three survivors was running for their lives. As soon as they saw just who had invaded under the searchlights, they booked it. There was no way they wanted to tangle with Jaune Ryu-Long, Hero of Vale!

"I think we're safe now," huffed one of the female grunts, "Hey Bob, can you check where we are? Bob?"

The two of them looked back to where Bob was just to see him missing.

"Hey, where'd he go?" asked the second one, "He was just here a second ago! Julie?"

The man turned around to his other survivor to see her missing now.

"Guys? Guys!? Come on, this ain't funny!" cried the lone survivor.

"We're over here Jac!" shouted a voice.

"Oh Bob, thank heavens!" said Jac in a hysterical tone, "Seriously don't leave me alone... like... that."

His tone trailed off as he saw Bob's body hanging off a tree, his spine completely snapped in half.

"Holy!" cursed Jac, only for a mouth to clamp over it.

"Shhhh," whispered Ghira, "It'll all be over."

Jac's eyes open for a second before Ghira ended his life.

* * *

"Oh geez that was close," huffed another CoB grunt. He had managed to evacuate the whole place when he heard that Jaune Ryu-Long had invaded. Sure, he deserted, but he was still alive! Not to mention, he had another job that he had been paid handsomely up front, and would be paid even more upon finishing!

"Hello, I'm here!" shouted the grunt when he stopped at a seemingly empty location.

Seconds later, Arthur Watts stepped out of the shadows, along with a few Grimm Ursa.

"Did you bring it?" asked Arthur.

"Yea I got the sample," grinned the grunt as he tossed a small box to Arthur, "Faunus Nerve Gas samples ready to use."

"Mmm, excellent," nodded Arthur as he opened it the box, looking at one of the many vials inside it, "Dr. Merlot, if you could confirm it?"

Dr. Merlot suddenly appeared from the shadows, grabbing one of the vials and carefully pouring it into an apparatus on his hand. A few seconds later, a green light and beeping noise came out of the machine.

"Yep, that's the stuff," nodded Merlot, putting the apparatus away.

"Excellent, you followed through," nodded Arthur.

"Yea, and my pay?" asked the grunt excitedly, "You promised you'd reward me even more!"

"Ah yes, I did," acknowledged Arthur, "Then for your reward... you shall have a place in the new world order."

"Uhh, world order?" asked the grunt in confusion.

"Of course, not in a way you expect," continued Arthur, "Sacrifices have to be made. Yours will have to do."

Before the grunt could even speak, he felt something painful erupt from his chest. He looked down in horror to see his heart slowly beating out of his chest, being held by someone's hand.

"How do your upgrades feel?" asked Merlot nonchalantly.

"Very well," laughed the voice behind the grunt, "With this, I will be able to take over the company and bring it to new heights."

"Since we have that cleared up, Whitley, do clean up after yourself. And why don't you test out your new power on the human that you have now?" coughed Arthur.

Whitley grinned as he crushed the man's heart with his new hands. Suddenly, black strands shot out from his hands, attaching themselves onto the grunt himself. The grunt could only silently scream in his mind as black veins traveled up his body, quickly taking over his body. His eyes dulled and turned red as bones started to protrude out of various parts of his body, blood bursting out. As Whitley withdrew his hand away, there stood his new Grimm Death Knight. Though weaker than the usual Grimm and very ugly for a human-like figure, Salem had assured him that he could improve it as he got stronger and sacrificed more humans to it. Whitley merely flicked his arm up, and a glyph appeared before the new Grimm before it dissolved into it. Now Whitley had his own summon to use.

As he grinned and looked down at the base, Arthur put a hand over his shoulder.

"Not now," explained Arthur, "Though you've gotten much stronger, you still have much to learn before you're ready. If you go down now, you'll only expose yourself and our mistress wouldn't like that. Plus, after all that, I'm sure you wouldn't want to keep your toy waiting."

Whitley huffed but agreed as the trio turned around to leave. A few seconds later, they were on Grimm Gryphons, flying away from the base.

* * *

 **Well whatever, hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter!**

 **As for KH3, well I beat it in two days. Spent the rest of that time getting 100% on my trophy list. Also got a quite a bit of guest reviews 'spoiling' the ending for me. Luckily, those came AFTER I beat the game. I deleted those because I didn't want the unfortunate chance of someone who hasn't beaten the game, going through the reviews, and getting spoiled, though at this point it's highly unlikely.**

 **As for the ending... well let's say I might do another one-shot about KH3, about how the final battle SHOULD have gone. Look forward to that... if I get the time to do so.**


End file.
